Tag: paleontology

Profiles in History: William Harlow Reed: Wyoming’s Fossil Hunter

April 15, 2023
American EssenceArts & CultureBrightHistorypaleontologyUniversity of WyomingWilbur Clinton KnightWilliam Harlow Reed
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William Harlow Reed (1848–1915) was the eldest of 10 children born to Scottish parents. Born in Connecticut at the start of the California Gold Rush, he grew up hearing stories about western expansion, Indian fights, great discoveries of natural fortunes and fossils, and battles of the Civil War. He ran away from home several times…

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Is the Fascination With Dinosaurs a Manifestation of Colonialism?

February 20, 2023
decolonizationOpinionpaleontologyViewpoints
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Commentary There’s a stage that all young boys go through—at least all the young boys known to me—that is so consistent that it seems almost biological in nature: namely that of a fascination with dinosaurs. Of course, it can’t really be biological, because dinosaurs weren’t named as such—”terrible lizards”—until 1841, by the comparative anatomist Richard…

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‘Gasps All Around’: New Burgess Shale Fossil Sheds Light on the Evolution of Bigness

September 8, 2021
CanadafossilpaleontologyprehistoricWorld
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It was getting late and the team of paleontologists excavating a previously unexplored outcrop of the Burgess Shale was ready to call it a day. A camera crew filming the dig in Kootenay National Park had already packed it in. Then one of the team members split open a large plate of shale. “I just…

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