Monday 29 October 2012

How Leopard Seals feed

Serial dig volunteer David Hocking has written a paper on how Leopard Seals feed.  They're not dinosaurs, but check it out at http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00300-012-1253-9.
Video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtNGSAGvbR8,

Sunday 28 October 2012

Field Report Day


Lesley introduces the Field Report
Tom talks about Plesiosaurs
Dave points to Noddy's ribs
Doris tells us about pollen

Friday 26 October 2012

Field Report Day tomorrow

Field Report Day tomorrow!

The 2012 Field Report Presentation is scheduled at 1:30 tomorrow Saturday 27th October at the Melbourne Museum. I've got a couple of hundred Field Reports in the boot of my car ready and waiting to hand out to diggers and Friends of Dinosaur Dreaming (not a Friend? - join here - or print the form and bring it with you tomorrow) Great talks are planned by Lesley Kool, me, David Pickering, Dr Tom Rich, Mike Cleeland and our newly minted PhD, Dr Doris Seegets-Villiers.  You will also get to see some of the prepared fossils.

Sunday 21 October 2012

Less than a week until Field Report Day!

A reminder: The 2012 Field Report Presentation is scheduled on the afternoon of Saturday 27th October at the Melbourne Museum.  We are busy putting the final touches to our information talks and the field reports will be available from the printers tomorrow.  Diggers and Friends of Dinosaur Dreaming (not a Friend? - join here) will also get to see some of the fossils that have been prepared by Dave, Lesley and their teams.

Thursday 18 October 2012

Stan Wood

Alan Tait stumbled across this obituary in the Glasgow Herald whilst in Scotland.  Fascinating read.  We would have loved to have Stan on our crew.

Monday 15 October 2012

Field Report Day

The 2012 Field Report Presentation is scheduled on the afternoon of Saturday 27th October at the Melbourne Museum.
Diggers and Friends of Dinosaur Dreaming (not a Friend? - join here) will be treated to talks by our lead researcher Dr Tom Rich and Dinosaur Dreaming Coordinators David Pickering and Lesley Kool.

Here is a sneak peek at the cover of our report, with brilliant new artwork by Brian Choo - a reconstruction of the ceratosaur whose ankle bone was discovered in 2006 near San Remo.

Tuesday 9 October 2012

Free Range Science tours of our site


Paul, Dave and Rohan
Last weekend, the Free Range Science team led by Dr Paul Willis (of Catalyst fame) came to visit the Dinosaur Dreaming site.  They organised tours every hour that the tide permitted so we ended up with about 200 people learning about Victorian Dinosaurs.
It was a bit cold and wet on Saturday, so it was particularly impressive that so many smiling but shivering visitors made the trek. Sunday the weather was far more kind.
The erratics searches (where children and parents examine rocks loose on the beach for signs of fossils) were very popular. Not a lot of dinosaurs were found, but one visitor found a lovely plant fossil (and these plants were, of course, dinosaur food). 
The Free Range Scientists ran a fun quiz on Saturday afternoon, and dig crew teams (Flat Rock Femmes and Living Fossils) took out both first and second prize (third prize, impressively, went to a team called Pleiades with only one member).


Paul, the crowd (and MuiMui)
Rohan explaining our dinos
Hala, Mary, Wendy and mascot MuiMui
Free Range Science is a partnership between RIAus and the Victorian government to bring live science events to regional Victoria, and Dr Paul Willis is a palaeontologist (his thesis was on fossil crocs) so hopefully we'll see them back again some time soon.

Wendy and the "Noddy Board"

Flat Rock Femmes

Living Fossils
Tooth found by Mike last week