Interview with Paleontologist: David Wilcots

David Wilcots is a geologist, paleontologist and artist living in Philadelphia where he grew up.  Mr. Wilcots is a registered professional geologist in Pennsylvania and Delaware.  He earned his Bachelor’s degree in geology at Temple University in Philadelphia, and Master’s degree in geology from Fort Hays State University in western Kansas. His master’s thesis was entitled, “Functional Morphology, Phylogeny and Paleoecology of the North American Miocene Rhinoceros, Aphelops”.  

Wilcots has over 29 years experience working as an environmental geologist and has worked for several environmental/engineering consulting companies in the Philadelphia region.  Currently David is the senior geologist for Sci-Tek Consultants, Inc., an engineering and environmental consulting company in center city Philadelphia.  

Mr. Wilcots is also a volunteer paleontologist at the Academy of Natural Sciences museum in Philadelphia in its Dinosaur preparation lab. For nine days each summer David is an expedition paleontologist in Wyoming for the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture of Seattle, Washington.

David has also been an expedition paleontologist for the: 

 • Utah Geological Survey, Salt Lake City, Utah 

• The University of Utah Museum, Salt Lake City, Utah, and the 

• American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY.

He has given presentations about fossils at schools and has presented at S.T.E.M. programs for young people.  In 2012 David was featured on the Discovery Channel Global Education Partnership DVD entitled “Life in the Age of the Dinosaurs”.  In December of 2014 David launched the website for Dinosaurs Fossils and Adventures; DinosaursFA.com which is an on-line paleontology website for ages 8 to 18. In February 2020 he was a S.T.E.M. presenter for the Franklin Institute’s Color of Science Symposium.

Question 1: What was your earliest sign of interest in paleontology that you can remember?

DW: When I was four my parents took me to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.  I saw the dinosaurs there and was just transfixed.  It was out of this world for me. I've been excited about dinosaurs and fossils ever since.  

Question 2: Did you have anyone who served as a role model when you were younger?  Do you still have any now?

DW: I did not have anyone that served as a role model for paleontology or geology.  I had role models in my parents when it came to how to learn and talk to people and overall how to be professional.  They were both very supportive of my interests- my brother too.  I did not grow up wanting to be like a certain paleontologist who was out there, though.  In my teenage years I didn't know any geologists or paleontologists except for Louis Leakey in in National Geographic Specials.

Question 3: You are a geologist full time.  Tell us more about your work and what its all about. 

DW: I am an environmental geologist.  I work for an engineering/environmental consulting firm. (Sci-Tek Consultants, Inc.)  In my capacity at this firm I manage environmental projects, which includes environmental site assessments, soil and groundwater sampling, borehole drilling supervision, and sometimes air and rock sampling.  I sample these media for environmental quality to test for potential contamination and to report on site contidions.

Question 4: How much of your work in geology and paleontology overlap?

DW: My job as an environmental geologist does not overlap with paleontology.  However, when I'm doing paleontology, I need my knowledge and experience as an geologist to do it effectively.  Geology allows me to read the rocks and strata that I see.  

Question 5: Was there anything you did or learned as you were on your way to your current career that you feel got you to where you are?  What sort of field experience, a class, networking with the right people, or possibly something different?

DW: My interest in geology probably kicked in during my teenage years.  Going on field trips and stopping along the highway to look at rocks fueled my fire and inspiration for geology going.  I also made a point to go to a lot of museums and as I learned more, my interests in both geology and paleontology grew.  I also watched a lot of science-based TV, like National Geographic, NOVA, Wild Wild World Animals, Marlin Perkins' Wild Kingdom, Jacques Cousteau, and several other shows kept me inspired.  

Question 6: Are the fields of paleontology and geology different now than from when you started as far as you can tell?  What would your advice be to anyone trying to make a career in paleontology (or science in general)

DW: As for geology, ground-penetrating radar technology has improved. Paleontology, however, has some newer technology, like 3-dimensional printing that has really changed the field.  You can shrink giant specimens down or expand tiny specimens up.  You can also make copies of specimens.  Twenty or thirty years ago, making copies of specimens was a long and arduous process.  3D printing has made is much easier to study fossils as well as communicate and work with a team.  You can simply send a file to someone on the other side of the world and they can reproduce it.  

Question 7: What was or is your favorite project so far? (geology or paleontology)

DW: For paleontology it would be when I was working summers in southwestern Wyoming with John Alexander with the AMNH and later the Burke Museum in Seattle.  He was looking for middle Eocene age fossils. The rocks there are about 47 million years old and the faunal variety was incredible.  We found fossil primates, early carnivores that preceded dogs and cats, rodents, birds, turtles, crocodiles, rhinos, tapirs, and large herbivores like titanitheres.  This was a very interesting time in earth's history because there were archaic animals living side by side with the ancestors of the animals we have now.  There were ecosystems dominated by browsing herbivores which isn't the case now since most modern mammalian ecosystems now are dominated by grazing herbivores.  There was a myriad of condylarths, hoofed mammals whose connection to modern mammals is still unknown.  That part of North America (Wyoming) was also home to at least three kinds of primates.  The biggest one was about the size of a house cat, the medium-sized one was about the size of a squirrel, and the smallest was the size of a mouse.  The environment had to be rich enough and have a forest canopy expansive enough to support primates, which is totally unlike anything in the United States today.  

For geology my favorite experience was hiking the Grand Canyon top to bottom to top in one day.  That was just stunning. 

Question 8: Do you have a favorite destination when it comes to fossils?  Why?

DW: Southwestern Wyoming for reasons stated above.

Question 9: You work out of Philadelphia, a major city.  Most people imagine open wild places when they think of fossils and geological formations.  What do you think people should know about the deep time history behind Philly?

DW: The bedrock in Philadelphia is hard metamorphic rock thats around 500 million years old, and devoid of fossils.  On top of that bedrock is two kinds of sediments. One is about 3 million years old and the other is only about 17 thousand years old.  These may be devoid of fossils also.  So there is a huge span of time missing from Philadelphia's observable geologic history. 

Question 10: A popular image of paleontologists is that they are constantly out in the field digging up fossils, which is true sometimes.  What people don’t realize is that a lot of paleontology work is conducted in a lab as well.  In your experience how much time have you spend in the lab and in the field?  What do you prefer?

DW: I prefer fieldwork.  I like discovering new things and being the first to see them.  I have done lab work, like cleaning and reassembling specimens.  I've also cataloged and organized specimens.  That's all fun, but I ultimately prefer being out finding and excavating fossils.  The fever for discovery is real.  

Question 11: You also run a website aimed to educate young people about paleontology.  Can you tell us more about that?

DW: I started the website to make paleontology more accessible to young people.  Some videos are on there as well as many photos that show viewers different aspects of paleontology.  One of my main goals here is to show that paleontology more than just dinosaurs. The website also features girls and boys of all colors in an inclusive environment working in the field, so all viewers can see themselves in this context.  

Question 12: Are there any fossils you’d like to work with that you haven’t yet?

DW: YES.  Shovel-tusked elephant!  I think an elephant with four tusks, like the gompotheres or Platybellodon is so cool.  I'd also like to work with pterosaurs and giant snake, like Titanoboa.  There were probably snake fossils around when I was working in Wyoming, but their bones are so delicate, they are hardly ever found.  Given how many small and medium sized mammals were out there that could serve as prey, paired with the hot, humid climate, there HAD to be large snakes around back in the Eocene.  It's just a matter of finding one.

Question 13: Do you ever get criticized on any of your work?  How do you handle it?

DW: Talk it out. Most disagreements I've experienced have been about whether or not to take a fossil out of the ground.  Collecting fossils early in the field schedule can sometimes be favorable because it seems like a good specimen and we have the means to collect it.  However, sometimes when it's early in the field season we decide to leave it there in favor of possibly finding an even better specimen int he field.  Sometimes we ultimately decide not to collect a particular fossil because doing so will be too much work/effort, or they're just too close to a major road to safely do so.  

Question 14: A common idea is that paleontology is just a “for fun” science, with no real impact or noticeable effect that helps the world.  Do you think paleontology has a bigger part to play to than this?  How?

DW: Yes, paleontology absolutely plays a bigger part.  First of all, the world needs more paleontologists because we need to understand how life on this planet developed over geologic time.  Second, and maybe even more importantly, is that paleontology is a gateway science for really young people to get interested in other sciences.  The world needs more doctors, energy engineers, and waste management engineers.  Toddlers don't roll out of bed interested in, let alone understanding, these things, but they are interested in paleontology.  If you want more people in these important science fields, medical, and engineering fields, paleontology is the way to get it.  Paleontology teaches kids how to think scientifically, how to collect and interpret data, how to form a hypothesis and so on.  Most kids interested in paleontology don't stick with paleontology.  They usually go on to other sciences as they get older and progress in school.

Question 15: Who was the first paleontologist you met?  How was that interaction?

DW: I first met a paleontologist when I was volunteering at a museum when I was eighteen years old.  Later on as I kept my interest, however, I did meet some really incredible people in the field.  John Alexander, from the Burke Museum in Seattle, Jim Kirkland, of the Utah Geologic Survey, and Richard Zakrzewski at Fort Hayes State University in Kansas (now retired) are probably the top three when it comes to people who have inspired me.  Also Christian Sidor.  I med John Alexander and Don Prothero at the AMNH when I was measuring Miocene rhino specimens for my graduate research.  

Question 16: What is your favorite prehistoric animal?  Was it different when you were younger? 

DW: When I was a really little kid my favorite was Brontosaurus. Now my favorite dinosaur might be Kentrosaurus. (which I chose for the logo on my website). This is probably because when I was younger my dad got me a book about dinosaurs and when I opened the book and noticed on the inside cover was a world map with dinosaurs illustrated over each continent.  I remember seeing what I now know was Kentrosaurus (which wasn't labeled in this book) placed over central Africa.  I remember immediately looking through the rest of the book for this awesome spiky dinosaur, but couldn't find it!  They mentioned Stegosaurus, of course, but it didn't match the image on the inside cover.  I felt ripped off.  When it comes to prehistoric mammals, I love rhinos, saber-toothed cats, and four-tusked elephants, like Stegotetrabelodon.  

Kentrosaurus by Christopher DiPiazza

Question 17: If you could use a time machine to go back and pick only one prehistoric animal to bring back from history and observe alive and in person, which would it be and why?

DW: Quetzalcoatlus.  I want to see an animal with a 45-foot wingspan take off.  I would love to see how it does that.  If you ever watched a large heron or eagle takeoff it is not easy.  I'm so curious to see how these gigantic pterosaurs achieved the same thing.  I'd also love to see a sauropod migration.  I try to imagine a herd of 30-40 ton animals all together in a group going back to their ancestral lands.  It must have been a sight to see.  

Question 18: Back to the time machine.  This time you can go back to any place and time period and have a look at what the environment was really like.  Which one would you pick and why?

DW: I'd have to go back and look at Antarctica when it was tropical.  I'd also want to see Antarctica when it was in transition from temperate to boreal.  There must have been a whole community of miocene mammals there that dealt with snow seasonally.  We know very little of this part in earth's history.  It would have had about 20 million years worth of evolution there we have never seen any trace of.  Marsupials with thick fur?  Cold-adapted monotremes?  Who knows?  

Question 19: Which is your favorite museum?  Why?

DW: The American Museum of Natural History in New York.  It has almost everything.  If you're looking for the biggest prehistoric science buffet (literally and figuratively) this is the place to go.  I could go there every week and always learn new things.  

Question 20: What hobbies do you have?  (Don’t have to be paleo-related.)

DW: I like to do pen and pencil illustration and woodworking.  The logo of my website of Kentrosaurus I illustrated.  I like to bake and am a foodie as well.

Gritty...

Question 21: What prehistoric beast do you think shares the most in common with Gritty?

DW: Back in the pliocene or late miocene there were probably species of primates that had long hair.  I refuse to believe that the longest haired primates alive today are the record holders.  So if there was a prehistoric monkey with extra long orange hair, that would be a reminder of Gritty.