Back to the Triassic!

My last flight was very empty and reminded me of a Jurassic Park III movie moment.

Yesterday began my second trip of the summer field season.  I am currently writing you from New Mexico where I will be starting another Triassic adventure. Tonight I will be meeting with the field team and going over preparations for tomorrow at which time we will be heading out early in the morning.  Our field class will be exploring an area called the Redonda Formation which dates back around 200 million years ago (the late Triassic Period).  The Triassic Period comes before the Jurassic and is filled with all sorts of interesting prehistoric beasts.  The unique place we will be digging contains specimens that existed just before a mass extinction wiped them out.  This mass extinction eventually gave rise to the dinosaurs which flourished for millions of years after.  I am very excited to be here and have been visiting this site with my professor, mentor, and good friend Dr. Axel Hungerbuehler for many years.  One of my first treks to this site was mind blowing and can be read about here!

Field work being done during 2013 season.

This field season should be a grand one!  For the first time, I will be posting live from the field. I am limited as to what I can post as always, but I will do what I can to take you along with me.  Over the years, I have accumulated 1,000s of photos, videos, and documentation.  One of the questions I get a lot is "Gary, how come you don't show anything?"  Some things can not be shown on social media.  The reason(s) being is because a lot of what we do is still in research.  Not to mention it is also important to respect the land we work on and to protect it from the public.  My field work is not volunteer and involves working with academia.  That being said, we still have a lot of fun!

I get plastered during the 2013 field season.  

Field work can be a lot of fun, but the "work" end of it for sure holds up to its name.  If you click here, you can read an example from our 2011 field season.  OK, I'm off to a lecture about our field studies, but tune in tomorrow for a post about our first day's work.  As an added bonus to my recent adventure out west, I found out today that I was featured in a newspaper article back home!  It is about blockbuster movies and opening weekends.  I simply give my take on the opening of Jurassic World from an entertainment perspective.  Click here to read!

Lego Jurassic World!

The park is open and everybody is talking about Jurassic World!  My family and I loved it and you can say for sure that we are definitely obsessed with the movie.  I love having the feelings I did when I first saw the original film.  Seeing Jurassic World brought back old memories and created new ones for my son Joey.  Along with making a day of going to see Jurassic World, we picked up the Lego game featuring all four films!  Lego Jurassic World is an epic game.

Lego Jurassic World is an amazing game.  We picked it up prior to seeing the film, so being that the game featured all four films, we were careful to not play the new movie levels.  After all, this game is like playing the movies, but with Legos!  One aspect of the game that definitely stands out is the soundtrack.  Wow, truly wow.  We were so excited and blown away listening to Lego Jurassic World's stunning musical score. From the music to sound effects, this game was perfect.  The game also features the actors voices from all four films!  Another great part of the game my son Joey loves is the comedy that the game implements into the levels and cut scenes. I don't want to spoil the game for those who haven't played it, so I will just say the game has a lot of surprises that are cute and funny.  

OK, so as if this game wasn't awesome enough, it also allows you to create your own Lego characters!  That being said, my son Joey was so excited to create some of daddy's friends that are real people working in the field of paleontology!  How cool is that?  Below are a few examples and I will continue to add more in time as he creates them, so check back to this post soon.  Each character Joey created has a code that you can enter in the Jurassic World's Visitor Center via the game.  Simply enter the code and play as the Lego character you want.  I also included links to learn more about the real people.  Happy Lego building everyone!

Paleontologist Dr. Thomas Holtz

Unlock Code:  sBzBCQCyBCDBDBC

Paleontologist Lee Hall

Unlock Code:  DDBSBCGBVCVChBC

Paleontologist Jeff Martz

Unlock Code:  hCBVBCrCcBCjCQCH

Paleontologist Ashley Hall

Unlock Code:  BWBXBCnBdBCfBTB

Mixologist Gary Vecchiarelli

Unlock Code:  QcBwBCwCRCCpBFBJ

Paleontologist Heinrich Mallison

Unlock Code:  QBxBPBVCCVCfC

Paleontologist Andrew A. Farke

Unlock Code:  BBBSBCQCXCCqBxBN

Paleontologist James I. Krikland

Unlock Code:  DBBZBCFDWCCwBMCC

Paleontologist Donald Prothero

Unlock Code:  QwBfBClBmBClBxBH

Paleontologist Steve Brusatte

Unlock Code:  WCBkBCZCVCCXCxBJ

Paleontologist Anthony Maltese

Unlock Code: kCBDCCrCVCCXCxBJ

Paleontologist Tony Martin

Unlock Code:  hCBDCCpCVCCXCxBN

More Coming!  Check back soon!

New Jersey's Diplotomodon!

Image from Jurassic Park Institute.

In 1865, paleontologist Joseph Leidy described an isolated tooth found in Gloucester County, New Jersey. He believed it to be a marine reptile at first and named the beast Tomodon. As fate would have it, Joseph Leidy later changed the name to Diplotomodon in 1868 because the original name had been taken for another animal. Ironically enough, a dinosaur by the name of Dryptosaurus would suffer this same name ordeal years later.  Diplotomodon means "double cutting tooth." It lived during the same time as Dryptosaurus.  

In 1870, paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope described the tooth and believed it to be from a carnivorous dinosaur.  This idea is pretty much shared today.  Today, the tooth is mostly regarded as a nomen dubium or simply put, an unknown.  The sad part of this story is that although the tooth was described and photographed, it was lost. Hopefully in the future more will be discovered, but only time will tell.

Works Cited:

Gallagher, William B. When Dinosaurs Roamed New Jersey. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers UP, 1997. 104, 110. Print.

New Jersey's Dinosaurs On A Jurassic Park Website?

Wow...remember the Jurassic Park Institute website?  For those of you who don't, the following article appeared in a 12/01/2001 issue of THE Journal:

Universal Studios has launched the Jurassic Park Institute (JPI), a science-based and educationally focused program that will include a Web site, a dinosaur-themed in-school program, traveling dinosaur-themed museum exhibits, and an online kids club in partnership with education.com. Working with some of the world's leading paleontologists, JPI will be factual and scientifically accurate.

The first phase of the institute's development is the launch of http://www.jpinstitute.com/, a Web site that features a variety of news, information, games, activities and guides for dinosaur enthusiasts. Visitors will find the latest dinosaur news, ranging from recent discoveries, to editorials from leading paleontologists, to entertainment news. Students will also be able to play a variety of dinosaur-themed games, and search through the Dinopedia to learn about their favorite dinosaurs and the world in which they lived. They can also locate dinosaur exhibits in their local areas. Beginning in early 2002, the site will be expanded to include a dynamic, in-school program. A series of traveling dinosaur exhibits is also set to begin in spring 2002.

The institute continues with the launch of JPI Rangers Club, a membership-based site located in education.com's KidSpace channel. The club will provide members with exclusive educational online games and activities, an online journal and more. Universal Studios, Hollywood, CA, http://www.universalstudios.com/.

I remember logging onto this awesome site on a daily basis and couldn't wait to see what was new!  I hope one day we will see this amazing site resurrected.  It really was a great idea and the possibilities could have been endless.  One part I remember most from The Jurassic Park Institute was a section called "DINOPEDIA".  On this page, you could access information on pretty much any dinosaur known at the time.  You could even look up three dinosaurs from New Jersey!  Well, Diplotomodon today is mostly considered a nomen dubium, which basically means "unknown."  Below are the cards from the site that are no longer accessible.  Enjoy!