The Mace Brown Museum of Natural History

On our trip last summer to South Carolina visiting our friends the Beckleys, we got to visit the Mace Brown Museum of Natural History at the College of Charleston which, as small museums go, I was definitely impressed with.  They had quite the collection laid out in a very pleasing fashion, the lighting was great, and I definitely recommend stopping by for a visit.  They had a very nice assortment of fossils that were either local critters, or animals that had been found nearby and likely would have also been found in the area.  I started making this post way back then, and I never got a chance to finish it, so I just wanted to share a few pictures of some of the interesting animals that they had on display.

For me, last summer was the "Summer of the Giant Ground Sloths."  Up until that time, I had only seen a few ground sloth skeletons on display, including the skeleton at The Living Desert in Palm Desert, California and a mounted skeleton of a Harlan's ground sloth (Paramylodon harlani) behind the scenes at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.  But last summer, I got to see mounted specimens at the Mace Brown Museum, the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center, and the American Museum of Natural History.  The sloth skeleton above is the mid-sized ground sloth Glossotherium, from approximately 1.8 MYA during the Pleistocene Epoch in Florida.  The arm below is from the enormous Eremotherium, one of the earliest South American animals that migrated into North America during the Great American Interchange, approximately 2.2 MYA.  This specimen is thought to be approximately 1.6 MY old, from Florida.  That little sign placard next to the arm was probably about 2x3 inches.  These sloths were simply enormous.

I also got my first good look at a bizarre group of bizarre, dermal-armored animals known as pampatheres.  Below, we have the giant armadillo-like pampathere Holmesina septentrionalis from the Pleistocene Epoch, between around 2 - 1.5 MYA, also from Florida.  According to the signs, Holmesina is one of the largest pampatheres, and was given its current name by the famous paleontologist George Gaylord Simpson, which can be read by clicking HERE.  Originally, Holmesina was described as a species of Glyptodon by Joseph Leidy, who later thought that the animal was actually a type of giant armadillo, but Simpson was able to set the record straight in 1930.  This animal is in the same order as the armadillos and the glyptodonts, and like the other two groups, is completely covered in dermal armor.  The second picture shows a close up of that dermal armor on the front legs.

This picture displays the skulls of two rodents.  The one on the left belongs to Castor canadensis, the North American beaver.  The one on the right, however, that is freaking huge, is also from a beaver, just a gigantic extinct beaver.  Meet Castoroides ohioensis, a beaver the size of a black bear!  From what I have been able to find, it is unknown whether Castoroides built dams like its modern counterpart.  What is known is that it was one gigantic enormous beaver.

I also got to see my first fossil penguin (cast or otherwise) not still surrounded by matrix.  This is a cast of the skull of the penguin Palaeospheniscus, a genus of fossil penguin that was abundant during the Miocene of South America.  Their fossils have been discovered in Peru and Argentina, both places where penguins of the genus Spheniscus, such as the Magellanic and Humboldt penguins, are found today.

Works Cited:

Animal of the Day: Viscacha

Today's Animal of the Day is the viscacha and, in my opinion, the viscacha is one of the cutest animals in the world!  There are five species of extant (still living, opposite of extinct) viscacha, composing two genera.  The viscachas live in the South American Andes, with one species, the plains viscacha, inhabiting the Pampas of Argentina.  The plains viscacha can apparently live in warrens (groups of interconnected burrows) of up to around one hundred individuals!  

Now what exactly is the viscacha, anyways?  Except for the long tail, it sure looks like a rabbit, now, doesn't it?  Well, the rabbit-like features of the viscacha actually evolved through a fascinating biological process called convergent evolution, in which organisms evolve a similar adaptation to other organisms, but did not receive the adaptation from a common ancestor.  For example, the antlers of the elk and the moose are not an example of convergent evolution, as the common ancestor of the two animals both had antlers.  

However, the saber-teeth in the Chinese water deer and the musk deer DID evolve via convergent evolution, as their common ancestor did not have these features.  And yes, that picture of the Chinese water deer to the right is a real picture.  We'll talk about these fascinating animals at some point in the future.  

Tangents aside, I never actually answered the question: what are the viscachas related to, if not rabbits?  Rabbits, along with hares and pikas, are members of the order Lagomorpha, or the lagomorphs, contrary to the belief of many people, who (understandably) think that the rabbits are actually rodents.  If you were to say that the viscacha was a rodent, however, then you would be correct!  The viscacha is indeed a member of the order Rodentia, and are fairly closely related to the chinchillas, one of which is pictured off to the left.  The chinchillas, just like the viscachas, are also native to the South American Andes.  The chinchillas, despite being a very popular pet (I remember my preschool had one when I went there), are not doing too hot in the wild: both extant species, the short- and long-tailed chinchilla, are labeled as "Critically Endangered" by the IUCN.  

This was the birthday post of Isabel Lippincott! Happy birthday, Isabel! If you have a birthday coming up, just email me the date at cuyvaldar123946@gmail.com with the date and your favorite animals, and I will do my best to get a post in! And if you like what you are reading, please feel free to follow us here or via Facebook!

Animal Spotlight: Gasparinisaura

Gasparinisaura is just one of those many dinosaurs that are not very famous at all, and not very well known.  In fact, I hadn't even heard of it until this morning, when my episode of Dr. Who made the computer momentarily freeze, so I picked up my Jurassic Park Institue: Dinosaur Field Guide by Dr. Thomas R. Holtz and Dr. Michael Brett-Surman that was sitting next to me on the computer table and turned to page 74.  Learn something new every day!

Gasparinisaura is considered to be a part of the basal, or primitive, ornithopods.  Ornithopods are different from other ornithischian dinosaurs in that they have a premaxilla bone that reaches further than their maxilla bone, and that their jaw joint is further down than in other dinosaurs.  Most of the basal ornithopods were around during the Jurassic Period, such as the Late Jurassic Othnielia rex, who inhabited what would become the rocks of the Morrison Formation of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming.  Most of the rest of the basal ornithopods didn't survive past the Early Cretaceous Period, but Gasparinisaura has been found in rocks dating from around 80-90 MYA, right smack-dab in the Middle Cretaceous Period of Argentina.  According to the Jurassic Park Institute, "Remains of dinosaurs from this time span are so extremely rare, all the specimens in the world would fit in one small exhibit hall!"

Let's take a brief look at what we know about the evolution and the dispersal of the basal ornithopods, shall we?  According to my massive, 861 page book called The Dinosauria, every member of the clade Ornithopoda (which includes the iguanodonts and the duck-billed hadrosaurs, as well as the basal ornithopods) had a common ancestor that came from Asia.  This is interesting to note, because two other major clades of dinosaurs, the Marginocephalians (which includes the ceratopsians like Triceratops and the Pachycephalosaurs like Pachycephalosaurus and Stygimoloch) and the Thyreophorans (which includes stegosaurs like Stegosaurus and ankylosaurs like Ankylosaurus [yes, I know, that sounded incredibly redundant]) are hypothesized to have originally evolved in Asia, before spreading out to other parts of the world.  Whew, that would have been a mouth-full if I had had to say that out loud.

Anyways, paleontologists believe that this common ancestor would have inhabited Asia during the Early Jurassic Period, or perhaps even before that.  According to the book, prior to the Late Jurassic, a "major dispersal to North America took place."  Following this dispersal to North America, two "subsequent dispersals from North America" followed, one to Europe, and the other to South America.  (Keep in mind that, at this time in Earth's history, the continents were intermittently connected, allowing for the over-land dispersal of animals that would be entirely unable to do the same thing today.)  The European dispersal contained ornithopods of the lineage that would one day lead to the relatively famous dinosaur known as Hypsilophodon.  This dispersal is thought to have occurred before or during the Early Cretaceous.  Meanwhile, the South American dispersal "took place (at the latest) during the early Late Cretaceous," and was composed of members of the lineage that would one day lead to our home-dawg, Gasparinisaura.  Boy, am I the only one who just skimmed those last two paragraphs?

Gasparinisaura, like many of the basal-most members of the ornithopods, was just a little guy, only around two feet long, and probably weighing about as much as a chicken.  Remains of Gasparinisaura are found in the Río Colorado Formation.  With further digging (oh so witty) in The Dinosauria, I have been able to come up with other dinosaurs found in this formation. Here is a list of all of the dinosaurs mentioned in the book. 

Alvarezsaurus, a member of the group of dinosaurs known as the alvarezsaurids, a group of Maniraptoran dinosaurs thought to be fairly closely related to the ornithomimosaurs.  

Patagopteryx, a flightless bird that probably weighed around as much as a turkey.  

Neuquenornis, a small, pigeon-sized bird.  Apparently, paleontologists have not only discovered a partial skeleton of this animal, but also some eggs with embryos!  Pretty neat!  

Velocisaurus, a four or so foot long ceratosaur, not very well known.  A noasaurid, and, as you can see in the pictures below (all four of the pictures are of Velocisaurus), looks a lot like its close relative, Masiakasaurus, whose picture you can see if you click on the word "Masiakasaurus" where it is yellow. 

Aucasaurus, a thirteen or fourteen foot long abelisaur, thought to be a close relative of Carnotaurus.  Known from a skeleton that is quite complete, but not yet fully described.  

Neuquenosaurus and Titanosaurus, a pair of sauropod dinosaurs. 

Top 10 Favorite Dinosaurs by Zack Neher (Part 2)

Part two of my Top Ten Favorite Dinosaurs list.  Enjoy!

6. Pachycephalosaurus

The largest of the pachycephalosaurs, the name Pachycephalosaurus translates to "thick-headed lizard."  A large orbital socket indicates good vision, and, according to my "Prehistoric Life" book, the small teeth in its mouth indicates either herbivory or omnivory.  I have never heard anyone ever say anything about the pachycephalosaurs being omnivorous, so I have doubts about the authenticity of the statement.  Jack Horner suggested that Pachycephalosaurus and the other two pachycephalosaurs that lived in North America at the same time, Dracorex and Stygimoloch, were actually the same dinosaur and just represented different ontogenetic stages in their growth development, but that hypothesis has been almost completely refuted.  Due to the extremely tough-looking and thick skull, many paleontologists also have suggested that the pachycephalosaurs would clash heads much like the extant bighorn sheep, but studies of the necks of these animals indicate that these animals were likely not able to do this without breaking their necks.  Needless to say, this behavior was probably not something that they would attempt to do more than once.  Remains of Pachycephalosaurus have been found in the United States in the states of Wyoming, South Dakota, and Montana.

5. Amargasaurus

A fairly small sauropod, Amargasaurus is certainly quite unusual, as you can see in the pictures below!  On each of its twelve neck, or cervical vertebrae, a pair of spikes project out.  The functions of these spikes are unknown, but many theories have been put forth, from defense, to a sail being attached between each of the spikes to make the animal look bigger, even for heat control.  If a sail was not attached to the spikes, it is likely that they were covered in a layer of horn.  Whatever was on those spikes, it doesn't look like Amargasaurus had a very wide range of vertical mobility in its neck, so it seems likely that the small sauropod would have been mostly a ground-level feeder.  Amargasaurus has been found in Argentina in South America.

4. Utahraptor

While making Jurassic Park, Steven Spielberg decided that the real-life Velociraptor wasn't scary enough for his movie.  Not only was Velociraptor actually pretty small (see the size comparison chart below), it was feathered!  But while they were making the movie, remains of the creature that would one day be known as Utahraptor were uncovered, and Spielberg had his monster.  (If you want to read more about this interesting happenstance, check out the introduction to Robert T. Bakker's FANTASTIC novel, Raptor Red, one of my top five favorite books of all time).  Utahraptor remains have been discovered in (can you guess?  I hope you can!) Utah. 

TO BE CONCLUDED IN PART 2

Penguin Party: The Korora and the Magellanic

Today's post is devoted to two of the seventeen (debatably a lower number) of the extant penguin species, the Korora (commonly known as the little blue penguin, the blue penguin, the little penguin, or the fairy penguin), and the Magellanic penguin.  What's the connection with these two penguins?  Well, not really anything, except for the fact that we had just talked about the Korora in a post a few weeks ago, and I had found a few funny videos of both the Korora and the Magellanic! 

The Korora is actually believed to be fairly closely related to the Magellanic penguin, compared to most of the rest of the penguins.  Despite the differences in their genus (the Magellanic belongs to the genus "Spheniscus" and the Korora to the genus "Eudyptula,") most scientists believe that the Eudyptula penguins (only one extant, but likely extinct ones) were the last ones to diverge from the Spheniscus genus. 

As we talked about a few weeks back, the Korora is labeled as "Least Concern" by the IUCN, and inhaibts Australia and New Zealand, as well as a few other random islands in the vicinity.  Interestingly enough, the Korora has also been reported in Chile and South Africa, although the probability of these animals being vagrants (essentially, lost) is quite high.  However, most penguinologists are certain that many populations of penguins started out as vagrants, so who knows!  It is how they would get from one place to another. 

The Penguin Parade (see below) is a major tourist attraction.

The penguin parade.  Photo Credit Mark and Julie Neher

HERE is a link to a clip talking a bit about the Penguin Parade.  The clip talks a bit about the work done by the rangers and scientists regarding the Korora, including ranger Ashley Belsar.  For over thirty years, since 1968, this research team has been recording information about the penguins as they come ashore.  An interesting statistic that I learned from this video is that the average penguin spends about 80% of its life in the ocean!

And for those of you who want something a bit more"cutesie," HERE is a video of Cookie, the Korora, being tickled by humans at the Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio!

Native to the South American countries of Chile, Argentina, and occasionally Brazil, the Magellanic penguin is one of four of the Spheniscus genus of penguins, including the African, Humboldt and Galápagos penguins.  Labeled as "Near Threatened" by the IUCN, somewhere in the neighborhood of 40,000 of these penguins are killed each year by oil spills, which has resulted in their decreased IUCN status.

Next, we have two amusing Magellanic penguin videos.  The FIRST is of a Magellanic on a plane, and the SECOND is a trio of Magellanics who accidentally knock over the camera that is filming them.  Enjoy!

Now, we have a few really cute pictures of some of the Magellanic penguins from Sea World: Orlando in Florida!  The second two photos are from a publicity thing where some people from Sea World: Orlando brought some Magellanics to the Star newsroom!  How cute!

Phillip Island on Dwellable

Animal Spotlight: The Capybara

Today, we are going to investigate the capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris).  Listed as "Least Concern" by the IUCN, both parts of its scientific name, hydrochoerus and hydrochaeris mean the same thing.  As you probably noticed, they both contain the Greek root "hydro," which, as you probably know, means "water."  The second half would be forgivable if you were unfamiliar with it: it means hog, or pig.  So, from its scientific name, we can assume that the capybara is a water pig.

Again, it would be understandable if you were to think that, as the capybara most definitely resembles a pig, at least superficially.  However, the capybara is not pig: instead, it is a rodent, related to creatures such as chinchillas.  As a matter of fact, the capybara is the world's largest extant rodent! 

Semi-aquatic, the capybara has evolved webbed feet, like many other semi-aquatic animals, like the POLAR BEAR.  An herbivore, the capybara must face attacks from many predatory animals, including the caiman (a relative of a crocodile), eagles, ocelot, puma/mountain lion, jaguar, and the anaconda, for who the capybara is its favorite meal.  The capybara generally travels in herds of around ten or twenty, but groups of up to one hundred have been seen before.

Capybara are fairly common zoo animals, and, when they escape into the wild, if they can find a semi-aquatic habitat that they like, they can often survive and thrive.  Sightings are common throughout Florida, and there have been sightings in California as well. 

When it isn't an escaped convict of the zoo, the capybara lives throughout most of mainland South America (thus excluding Trinidad and Tobago), except for the country of Chile.  These countries are Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guyana, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia.

Not enough capybara for you?  Well just check out these two amusing video clips below!  The first one shows a capybara with a case of the hiccups at the Bristol Zoo in England (UK), while the one below shows squirrel monkeys riding capybaras at the Saitama Zoo in Saitama, Japan.

The Hiccuping Capybara

Squirrel Monkeys Riding Capybaras


Finally, here are a pair of pictures that I took of one of the capybaras at the San Antonio Zoo in Texas.  Enjoy!

One of the capybaras sleeping at the San Antonio Zoo in Texas.

One of the capybaras sleeping at the San Antonio Zoo in Texas.

The Biggest Carnivorous Dinosaur Part 1: Move Over, T-Rex (Kind Of)

Tyrannosaurus rex, the "Tyrant Lizard King," has long been a dinosaurian favorite the world over.  He is quite the interesting animal, and simply massive; the publicity received by him and the giant-sized Velociraptor in Jurassic Park helped a bit, I'm sure!  However, T-rex is no longer thought to be the largest carnivorous dinosaur.  Well, yes he is.  But he isn't.

A picture of the Tyrannosaurus rex specimen Stan at the Morrison Natural History Museum.

Imagine someone who has never heard of the giraffe and elephant asks you which one is biggest.  You might say the elephant, because the elephant is much heavier and has more bulk.  But what if they mean which animal is taller?  Somewhat of a dilemma.  So using words like "biggest" (as I have done here) is not the best way to go.  So Tyrannosaurus still seems to be the heavyweight champion, there are other dinosaurs that, while more slender, were probably longer.  Kind of confusing, I know.

The fact that T-rex has some serious competition has put barely a dent into his popularity, and some of the other larger carnivores are receiving a lot of attention, too. The longest of these carnivores, which we will learn about on Wednesday, was possibly around 20% larger than Tyrannosaurus Rex!  Today, we are going to look at another enormous killer, of South American origin; the massive, the monstrous, Giganotosaurus.

A Giganotosaurus on display at Fernbank Museum, in Atlanta, Georgia

Giganotosaurus is an estimated 46 feet long, comparable in length to the average Tyrannosaurus!  We do have some specimens of Tyrannosaurus that are around the same size as Giganotosaurus, but either way: Giganotosaurus was a massive animal! Of course we don't actually know for sure what the maximum size for any dinosaur is as, unlike for most living animals, we generally have a relatively small sample set, but we can make close estimates based on the finds we have.  And these estimates indicate that Giganotosaurus grew to simply massive proportions.  One of the largest terrestrial animals that we know of is Argentinosaurus (who, like Giganotosaurus, was also found in Argentina), a sauropod dinosaur that lived at the same time as Giganotosaurus.  For Giganotosaurus to prey on even the juveniles of such a large herbivore, it would similarly need to grow to massive proportions.

Giganotosaurus vs. Argentinosaurus at Fernbank Museum, in Atlanta, Georgia

Giganotosaurus vs. Argentinosaurus at Fernbank Museum, in Atlanta, Georgia

This pattern repeats itself all over the world, the pattern of gigantism evolving in sauropods, along with the subsequent evolution of gigantism in the theropods (meat-eating dinosaurs), is a pattern repeated throughout the world, and throughout the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods of the Mesozoic Era, the two periods in time when the rule of the dinosaurs was absolute.  Here are some more of the predator-prey, giant-sized carnivore/giant-sized herbivore relationships seen throughout the Mesozoic.  The first animal named will be the predator, and the second will be the sauropod.

Asia, 160 MYA: Sinraptor, Mamenchisaurus
Europe, 125 MYA: Neovenator, Ornithopsis
North America, 150 MYA: Allosaurus, Diplodocus
North Africa, 95 MYA: Carcharodontosaurus, Paralititan

In tomorrows post, we will look at the last relationship, and focus on another larger (or longer) than life carnivore, Carcharodontosaurus.