Mike Burns, paleontologist at Jacksonville State University, who worked on ankylosaurs, passed last week. I knew Mike, travelled with him and took him in the field. A nice and funny man who was way too young and will be missed! #paleontology proze.jsu.edu/u/lp/employe...

And here it is: www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3Qt...

Talking #cryptozoology and # fossils today! Two of my favorite things

Visited the original carved skull for Haddy, #Hadrosaurus foulkii, at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philly yesterday! #Leidyiswatching #dinosaur

Here’s a note from the OG Turtle paleontologist Oliver Perry Hay to the NJ State Geologist in 1906. Hay described a fossil turtle from NJ called Amblypeza entellus. The taxon is no longer valid, it is a jr synonym of Taphrosphys sulcatus, but we still retain the holotype and Hay’s note #Fossilfriday

How do you move a 200 million year old #dinosaur trackway that weighs a few tons? Very carefully!

We sent out our Nile Crocodile mount for restoration. It’ll be included in a new upcoming exhibit and needed freshening up!

It’s cold enough for walruses in New Jersey this week! But it wouldn't be the first time! During the Late Pleistocene (over 30,000 years ago) the area that is now New Jersey had walruses! We still dredge their fossils along the coast today.

Talking to the DVPS in a few moments online about the Ellisdale fossil site! Since I’m doing it from my office, I can show off some specimens including this large theropod phalanx!

RIP Lungy 😞 I don’t know how old he was but I had him for about 20 years and he was already a good size, I would guess he was at least 30…. He moved with me from Florida to Jersey to Alabama and back to Jersey again

#svp2025 today is my poster on Hybodont shark egg capsules from New Jersey! Poster number 393. Come say hi!

#2025SVP has been great thus far!

Princeton Allosaurus! Giving a departmental lecture today

Saturday, Sept 20th at the NJ State Museum!! #ecology #conservation #endangered #nj

Press Coverage for my latest exhibit: Ecosystems at Risk: Threatened and Endangered in New Jersey! whyy.org/articles/new... #endangered #ecosystems #newjersey

This past week a program about Natural History in Quebec came to the NJSM to film about the dinosaurs of Appalachia!

I didn’t know I was mentioned in this #shark book about the #Megalodon !

Before and after shots of drawer installation in our #naturalhistory collections #museumlife

The New Jersey State Museum is hiring a Curator of Archaeology and Ethnography!

#SharkWeek appearance #2 filming completed! Look for me talking about fossil makos this summer!

It’s been 5 years since we lost paleobotanist Brian Axsmith to Covid… he was a good friend and I still think of him every time I see a plant fossil

Died This Day: Joseph Leidy (Sept 9, 1823 - April 30, 1891). The Father of American Vertebrate Paleontology described the holotype of Hadrosaurus foulkii, the 1st American mostly complete dinosaur. He also mentored a young E.D. Cope and pointed he and Marsh to the rich fossil resources of the West

Great day giving a tour to a Princeton University comparative anatomy class at the NJ State Museum today!

Our newest exhibit, Ecosystems at Risk opens on April 19th at the NJ State Museum! I’ll be there to give tours and talk to visitors!

Happy 95th (!!) birthday to John Astin aka Gomez Addams! @iamseanastin.bsky.social

Among the “largely obscure” (to use the NYT’s phrasing) agencies included in this order? The IMLS. [gift link]

The Democrats on the House Science Committee have set up a website to collect stories from fired federal employees, anonymously if desired. Please amplify. (This helps the lawyers establish standing for bringing legal cases against the administration!) democrats-science.house.gov/sciencefirings

Today we had to move our ‘Ornithomimus’ sculpture at the NJ State Museum. This was done by Louis Paul Jonas for Sinclair’s Dinoland exhibit at the 1964 World’s Fair. Ours is not the original but was made from the same mold in the mid 1960’s #FossilFriday

Back to teaching at Monmouth University this Spring! It’s been a hot minute!

14 years since my PhD! It’s my ph-anniversary! #GoGators

Ho hum… O. Megalodon

I’m down at the National Museum of Natural History this week working on Late Cretaceous Appalachian faunas and it’s AGU! Who will I see??

Coolest thing I've seen today, from the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme Ethiopian Wolf Is First Known Large Predator-Pollinator to Feed on Nectar www.ecowatch.com/ethiopian-wo...

This fossil represents an armored tail of a late Triassic (~215 mya) reptile named Aetosaurus arcuatus. Aetosaurs were herbivorous or omnivorous reptiles.This fossil once was the type specimen of 'Stegomus arcuatus jerseyensis'. It was found in Somerset Co., NJ #FossilFriday

#Heelerholidays #blueheeler #cattledog #Bluey

Bottosaurus harlani was a late Cretaceous/early Paleocene (~65 million yrs. old) crocodilian related to modern caimans. Some researchers believe their unusual rounded teeth were used for crushing their prey. This mandible (lower jaw) was found in Gloucester Co., NJ #FossilFriday

What is that in my cover photo? Why that’s a Northern Harrier I captured recently while birding in Mercer County, NJ #birding

When my supervisor runs outta steam #rangerdanger

Sneak peek at #FossilFriday, a Castoroides incisor fragment from New Jersey recently donated by an avocational paleontologist to the NJ State Museum!

Starter pack of vertebrate paleontologists! There are a fair few slots left so if you’d like to be added or nominate someone to be added, drop a comment or shoot me a DM! go.bsky.app/VLmSB1B

Oh my! A freeze dried Sabre toothed kitten!! 😍 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Welcome new Blue Sky-ers! About me: I’m a Natural History Curator and paleontologist mainly studying 🐢 and 🦈! You may have seen me on Shark Week or the Smithsonian Channel years ago. I’m here to share science, nature and pics of my dogs!

Future #ichnology in action! White tailed deer tracks on the beach in New Jersey!

On my way to #2024SVP my favorite conference for all things vertebrate paleontology! I will also be presenting on a new Cretaceous turtle from New Jersey!

Snake filled day in the NJ Pinelands! 3 hognose and one Pine snake!

First Devonian glacial erratic trilobite I’ve found in New Jersey!

Last public fossil trip of the season is in the books!

New paper out about an unusual Eocene shark species

I had no idea one of the largest black bears caught was from New Jersey!

I was at the AMNH for research today and we had an 4.8 #earthquake!! No worries, the whale is safe!