It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s… a dinosaur? Nope to all of the above. This Fossil Friday, let’s talk about pterosaurs—the first animals with bones to evolve powered flight. Though they were related to dinosaurs, pterosaurs evolved on a separate branch of the reptile family tree. They ruled the skies for more than 150 million years, evolving into dozens of different species. Some were as small as a paper airplane while others, like Pteranodon pictured here in the Museum's Hall of Late Dinosaurs circa 1940-1960, had a wingspan of more than 20 ft (6 m).
Along with other large pterosaurs, Pteranodon longiceps was first discovered in western Kansas, near a chalk formation called Monument Rocks. Today the region is dry, but at the time this species lived, about 85 million years ago, central North America was covered by a seaway. This large pterosaur likely spent its days flying over the sea. Unlike early species of pterosaurs, Pteranodon and many other Cretaceous-era species didn’t have any teeth. In fact, its genus name means “winged and toothless,” while the second name, longiceps, means “long-headed.”
Today, you can find Pteranodon in the Hall of Vertebrate Origins. We're open daily from 10 am-5:30 pm! Plan your visit.
✨🦐Behold the brilliant blue blasts of barf that best baddies in the black of the bay!🦐✨
Okay, it’s technically not barf… This vibrantly vermillion little deep-sea shrimp, Acanthephyra sp., is a savvy spewer that spits up a sparkling secretion to outsmart sneaky shrimp snackers.
That glorious glowing goo is a special fluid it creates in its hepatopancreas (kind of like an all-in-one liver-and-pancreas combo organ), which lights up upon contact with oxygen in the surrounding seawater. By blasting a predator in the face with bioluminescence, it distracts them long enough for the shrimp to make a swift escape!
🎥: Shoutout to our fronds @mbari-blog for the first three clips!
Happy birthday to Junichi Kanemaru, a Japanese voice actor (seiyuu) known for voicing Sonic the Hedgehog himself (for almost 25 years ago) since the original 1998 release of Sonic Adventure on the Sega Dreamcast! 🦔 🌀 👟
Happy Fossil Friday! This photo is a blast from the past. Snapped circa 1959, it features a visitor admiring the iconic Stegosaurus. With its plated back, spiked tail, and tiny head, it’s one of the Museum’s most recognizable dinosaurs. This large herbivore, which lived during the Jurassic some 140 million years ago, could reach lengths of more than 28 feet (8.5 meters).
This armored dinosaur likely used the distinctive plates along its back for display, to attract mates, or signal its own species. Fossils of stegosaur plates are criss-crossed with grooves for blood vessels, indicating that they were covered with skin or keratin (the material in your fingernails) when the animal was alive.
See Stegosaurus up close in the Museum’s Hall of Ornithischian Dinosaurs! We’re open daily from 10 am-5:30 pm. Plan your visit!
I know that in this capitalist hellscape turning everything we do into some form of income is pretty much necessary, but doing something just to make us happy is important for our mental health.