I visited Philadelphia's historical natural history museum, The Academy of Natural Sciences, my first weekend after moving to this city, almost three years ago. I also landed a job working in their education department, and regularly volunteer prepping fossils in their lab. That being said...for some reason I never wrote a proper post about it. Let's fix that now.
Outside of the museum. (Photo by Ashli Lenox)
The Academy of Natural Sciences is the oldest science research institution and museum in the United States. This is the museum where Edward Drinker Cope worked out of during the infamous Bone Wars in the late 1800s. It's also the resting place of the first two dinosaurs to be formally described in America, Hadrosaurus and Dryptosaurus. Needless to say, it's a special place and should be one of the top museums to visit for anyone who likes paleontology or American history.
This awesome life-sized statue of two running Deinonychus, sculpted by Kend Ullberg, was erected in front of the museum in the 1980s. At the time this was an extremely up-to-date depiction, especially since the idea of light, fast-moving dinosaurs was still novel. (photo by Ashli Lenox)
When you first walk in the front doors, you are greeted by the skeleton of the giant marine reptile, Elasmosaurus, swimming at you from the ceiling. This creature has more significance than just looking cool, however. It was this Elasmosaurus that in some ways started the Bone Wars, the historical event when Othniel Marsh embarrassed fellow paleontologist, Edward Drinker Cope, by pointing out during Cope's debut of this skeleton, that the skull was put on the tip of the tail, instead of the neck.
In the back of the front lobby is a cast and 3D life reconstruction of Tiktaalik, a fossil that helped prove the evolutionary connection between fish and land vertebrates. The actual fossil of Tiktaalik is currently in Northern Canada, where it was discovered, but it was brought to the Academy of Natural Sciences to be studied and published.
Tiktaalik cast and life reconstruction. (photo by Ashli Lenox)
The T. rex is the central attraction in the Acdemy's fossil hall. The scapula (shoulder blades where the arms attach) are erected too close together.
Right next to Tyrannosaurus, is a medley of other meat-eating dinosaur skulls, including Acrocanthosaurus, Majungasaurus, Dilophosaurus, Velociraptor, Herrerasaurus, and Eoraptor. Lots of people come into the museum asking to see a Velociraptor, then get really disappointed when they are shown the actual skull and see how small their favorite Jurassic Park monster really was. Luckily for those folks, we have a lovely mount of the larger dromaeosaurid, Deinonychus, in all its predatory glory, attacking a family of Tenontosaurus.
Meat-eating dinosaur skulls that are not T. rex!
While we're on the subject of Jurassic Park, the Academy of Natural Sciences showcases almost all of the main dinosaurs featured in the beloved franchise. This is actually really cool from an educational standpoint because educators giving tours can show visitors the dinosaurs they are already somewhat familiar with and therefore, more effectively implement the real science behind them. Not sure if having all these specific dinosaurs was on purpose, but it's convenient.
Deinonychus attacking a family of Tenontosaurus.
Another notable skeleton on display is that of the crested hadrosaurid, Corythosaurus. It's a massive specimen, towering over almost everything else in the room, flanked by the ceratopsian, Chasmosaurus, with two Pteranodon skeletons suspended near its head. What I really like about this display, is that the Corythosaurus mount is almost all the original fossil bones, not casts. The only exception is the skull, which is a lightweight cast since the real one was too heavy to be safely mounted up that high.
Corythosaurus
The main fossil hall has a fair share of marine fossils. Most impressive, in my opinion is a beautifully preserved Ichthyosaurus that spent over one hundred years at the Academy, mostly in the behind the scenes collections. Only very recently, in 2016, it was realized, upon closer examination, that this specimen was a previously unnamed species. It was given the full name Ichthyosaurus somersetensis, and is now on full display in the main fossil hall.
Ichthyosaurus somersetensis
The Academy of Natural Sciences has a fossil prep lab, where paleontologists and volunteers work on cleaning off and assembling pieces of dinosaur bones collected every summer in Montana. Most of the fossils that are currently being worked on are from the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation. The sauropod dinosaur, Suuwassia, was discovered, prepped, studied, and scientifically described by folks from the Academy of Natural Sciences. A glass case with a few bones from this amazing dinosaur is on display right next to the lab. Visitors can walk right in, look at the specimens currently being prepped, and talk to /ask questions of the scientists and volunteers as they work.
Neck vertebrae of Suuwassia on display in the Academy's fossil lab. There are more bones from this dinosaur in the museum's collections, and even more in the lab that have yet to be prepped. We are learning more about this relatively newly discovered dinosaur every day.
Finally, I'd like to share what I am most impressed by at this museum, the first and second American dinosaurs ever described by science! (and they're both from my home state, New Jersey!) Hadrosaurus and Dryptosaurus are both on display at the Academy. Casts of Dryptosaurus' bones are in a glass case in the main fossil hall, across from a wall mount of casts of the known skeleton of New Jersey's official state fossil, Hadrosaurus foulkii. On the second floor, however, there is a full skeletal mount of Hadrosaurus on display. The unknown bones of this skeleton are filled in with the bones of more completely known hadrosaurid dinosaurs, like Maiasaura. Not only does the Academy have these two important dinosaurs on display, it is also the housing place of their real bones down below in its collections drawers.
Casts of some of the bones of Dryptosaurus on display in the fossil hall.
Known skeletal elements of Hadrosaurus are mounted in the museum's fossil hall.
On the second floor there is a full skeleton of Hadrosaurus, supplemented with bones from other related dinosaurs to fill in the gaps. Because of this, the right femur (from a Maiasaura) is longer than the left one (from Hadrosaurus)
There are lots of fossils on display that I did not include in this post. In addition, there are many other exhibits, other than the fossil hall, that are worth seeing at the Academy. If you are ever in the Philadelphia area, make sure to go see for yourself! Stay tuned for part two of my tour of the Academy of Natural Sciences, where we will take a look behind the scenes and see fossils that you don't get to see on a regular visit!
Last time I gave you a taste of the Academy of Natural Sciences' main fossil hall. If you missed it, check it out here. Today, we will take a look behind the scenes at some of the fossils that most visitors to the museum don't get to see.
Remember, most natural history museums aren't just for the entertainment of the public, they are also working research facilities, so the exhibits you see on display are usually just a tiny fraction of what that museum actually has to offer. A big reason why so many specimens are kept away from the public is because, especially in the case of fossils, they are safer that way. Being in a dark, cool, drawer is a lot less taxing then mounted out in the open air under bright lights all day. There is also protection against the off chance that a visitor might break the rules and try to touch, climb on, or even steal the specimen. (Which happens more often than you might think.) Because of this many of the skeletons on display are cast replicas, with the real specimens locked away safely elsewhere.
The second reason why so many specimens are kept behind the scenes is that it's much easier for scientists to work with them, like taking measurements or scanning, that way. If a fossil is on display, mounted up, or in a glass case, it is a hassle to get it safely out and into a lab for study, then put it back safely after.
As stated in my last article at the Academy, since it is so incredibly old for a museum, some of the specimens kept here have a very deep and rich history. The Academy of Natural Sciences actually has a valuable collection of ice age mammal fossils. (unfortunately there aren't many mammal fossils actually on display to the public.) The first of which was shown to me was a Mastodon tooth that originally belonged to former United States president and founding father, Thomas Jefferson.
Mastodon teeth that once were part of Thomas Jefferson's collection. Note how worn down the one on the left, being held by Jason Poole, is.
One of these teeth was worn down and was actually concave by the time the animal died. This tells us the Mastodon it belonged to was old when it died. Jefferson was fascinated by Mastodon, and was hoping there might still be some alive in the still unexplored by Europeans, Western part of the United States.
Jason Poole showing us the Academy's MASSIVE Bison latifrons skull. Look at the size of that horn core! Not imagine if it wasn't broken and had a layer of keratin over it!
Elsewhere in the fossil drawers were America's first two scientifically described non-avian dinosaurs. The museum has casts of both of them on display for guests to enjoy, but it also has the original real specimens! New Jersey's official state fossil, Hadrosaurus foulkii and New Jersey's resident tyrannosauroid, Dryptosaurus aquiluguis. In addition to the classic dinosaurs all kids know, like Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops, Dryptosaurus and Hadrosaurus have always been two of my absolute favorite dinosaurs since I was little. Knowing they existed near where I grew up made me proud to be from New Jersey, and seeing them for real and in person (their bones at least.) was a dream come true.
The real bones of Hadrosauris foulkii. This was the start of American dinosaur paleontology back in the 1800s.
That's my starstruck face posing next to the real fossils of my favorite meat-eating dinosaur, Dryptosaurus.
Another view of Dryptosaurus' bones. Jason Poole is holding up the dinosaur's famous giant hooked hand claw.
The Academy is also home to some more recently discovered dinosaur fossils. Scientists in association with this museum were responsible for discovering and describing the Jurassic sauropod dinosaur, Suuwassea in the early 2000s. Some of the original bones of this fascinating beast are on display, but most of the material is safely locked down below.
Original vertebra from the sauropod dinosaur, Suuwassea, being held up by Jason Poole.
Special thank you to Jason Poole who took us down into the depths of the museum's collection to show us all these invaluable fossils.
Our trip through the Academy of Natural Sciences isn't over yet! Join me next time for a tour through one of the museum's seasonal exhibits about dinosaurs that isn't open anymore!
As you may have known from my facebook, instagram, or Twitter, I had the honor and privilege of working for the Academy of Natural Sciences, in Philadelphia, producing a life-sized reconstruction of the famed dinosaur, Hadrosaurus foulkii, to accompany their mounted skeleton in March this past year. Doing a professional piece of this dinosaur, that was discovered in my home state and has been one of my favorites since childhood, has been dream come true and the whole experience was fun and educational for me from beginning to end. Part of the process was me getting interviewed about Hadrosaurus and paleoart. As is the case with any filmed interview, there was a LOT that I said that needed to get cut so it would fit in the small segment that is now on loop for the public to view at the exhibit. The final cut that is currently being played at the museum is linked below. Today I would like to share with you the entire process, and some more detailed tidbits that you may not get by visiting the exhibit, alone.
The reconstruction is part of the annually rotating "Drawn to Dinosaurs" part of the exhibit at the Academy. Every year, a different artist is hired to produce a life-sized life reconstruction of Hadrosaurus on the wall behind the skeletal mount in chalk. The idea behind the concept is to showcase how different paleoartists can have greatly differentiating visions of the same animal but still be equally scientifically accurate. It also is a great opportunity to visually showcase new discoveries about dinosaur anatomy each year, instead of having a permanent reconstruction that will inevitably become outdated as time goes on.
I actually reached out and applied to the Academy two years ago with a proposal to do the job, but was initially turned down for that year. It's easy to get frustrated in times like that, but it's so important to stay positive and keep moving forward. This field is filled with countless skilled artists each with their own styles and backgrounds. I feel it's more productive to celebrate and get inspired by my peers, instead of seeing them as competitors or rivals. Their success has no affect on the quality of my work. Only I am in control of that.
The next year I proposed my ideas to the Academy again. This time with a sketch of what I planned to do if given the opportunity. Having seen the Hadrosaurus reconstructions from years past by other paleoartists, like Jason Poole and Ray Troll, I wanted to make sure mine was different, but still scientifically accurate.
Concept sketch proposal I sent to the Academy of Natural Sciences for how I'd depict Haddie.
A few months later I received an email saying I had been chosen! (It was actually a response to original proposal from the year before) I had about six months to prep myself and prepare to create the physically largest piece of paleoart of my life. (twenty five feet long and fifteen feet tall to be exact)
Fortunately, I was already comfortable drawing Hadrosaurus with regards to the proportions and colors. I did, however, feel a need to practice with using the medium I was required to use the day of, chalk, which I had little experience with outside drawing on the sidewalk as a kid. I popped into the museum on two separate days and played around with the chalks they had on hand on a chalkboard in one of their back rooms. First I thought that since I would be working on a black background, I would try filling in the light spaces with the chalk and leaving the shadows and dark spaces as the black of the board, which is the opposite of what I do with most other mediums, which take place on a white background. Ultimately, I still found it easier (for me) to simply to fill in the entire body with the base color and then work in the shadows with darker colored chalk.
One of the practice doodles I did playing around with chalk on a rolling blackboard leading up to doing the life-sized Hadrosaurus. This version uses the black of the board for the darks and shadows, which I ultimately did not do for the final product.
The day finally arrived for me to put Hadrosaurus on the wall! Many times when you see large pieces that take up most of or an entire wall in museums, it is created on a smaller scale by the artist, first, then blown up digitally and printed at a larger scale to be hung up. Not the case here. I had to draw the dinosaur directly onto the wall, all twenty five feet of it! Further, I wasn't doing this behind the scenes. This was taking place live over the course of two days on the actual exhibit, while the museum was open to the public, during an annual special dinosaur-themed event! So thousands of people walked by and watched me. Many had questions as I was working, too, which I had a lot of fun answering. The Academy set up a camera that was filming me from beginning to end. You can see the time lapse of the entire process below.
Among the thousands of people who came by to watch, there were a few familiar faces I was most happy to see. Almost my entire team from my work at a nearby middle school stopped by. Paleoartist, and longtime mentor of mine, Larry Felder made the trip over to show his support. The Academy's resident dinosaur paleontologist and paleoartist, Jason Poole, was a steady presence and was extremely helpful with his input on the environmental pieces of the scene, having done this piece four years prior. Paleontologist, Ted Daeschler, also was frequently checking in and kindly made a point to express how much he was enjoying my work. Lastly, my family, including the person I was most excited to see, my wife, came by to show their support.
From left to right: Larry Felder, Me, Jason Poole.
I made a point to include lots of important details in this reconstruction of Hadrosaurus. They aren't necessarily listed in the information under the exhibit and they may not even be visually obvious to everyone walking through. Luckily, if you're reading this, I can list them for you.
Colors
The first three versions of this piece from the prior years all showcased a mostly green color scheme. I really wanted to show something different, but still totally plausible. I decided to stay mostly true to the colors I chose for Hadrosaurus from a painting I did back in 2015. This color scheme uses drastic countershading brown and white, with black markings on the face. This was partially inspired by various birds that live in wetland/brackish water environments which would have been similar to the places Hadrosaurus may have been frequenting in life. It also reminds me of many of the cool marsh birds I see when I spend time at the Jersey Shore, geographically very close to where Hadrosaurus actually roamed millions of years ago.
First painting I did of Hadrosaurus showcasing this color scheme from 2015.
The alternating bands on the tail is consistent with a lot of animals today, and when seen in reptiles, produces an illusion when the animal is moving. As a long form with bands moves horizontally, it becomes difficult to the viewer to pinpoint where the form ends and begins. This may have been a helpful adaptation for Hadrosaurus when dealing with potential predators. Lastly, we actually have fossil evidence, thanks to exquisitely preserved mummified skin of a close relative of Hadrosaurus, Edmontosaurus, discovered in 1999, of a banding pattern on the tail. The specimen has different sized scales arranged in a banding pattern, suggesting there may have been different colors there in life.
If you look closely, you can see the permanent outline of the underlying profile of the dinosaur that I ultimately made longer and thicker.
The black and white stripes on the legs could have been a communication adaptation for signaling to members of the same species, like a potential mate, or young. We know thanks to fossils from a close relative of Hadrosaurus, called Maiasaura, that baby dinosaurs from this family were able to walk around on their own from a very small size. A parent may have wanted its young to follow him/her for safety, like we see many species of ground birds do today, but the size difference between parent and young would have been extremely drastic, and therefore actually dangerous for the young in a way. A parent Hadrosaurus may have had a rough time keeping track of all its brood at times. There is also a chance mom/dad could accidentally squish one of its own young if not paying attention enough. If the parent had bold markings on the feet and legs, it could act as a beacon at the level of its babies that could stay visible even in areas with thick vegetation that would otherwise hinder visibility. We also know that animals alive today use black and white stripes to help deter biting insects. A recent study on zebras show that the drastic striping pattern confuses flies that would otherwise suck blood from the larger animals. Prehistoric dinosaurs probably had to put up with parasites and bloodsuckers, just like large animals do today, so a pattern like this may have been helpful on this front. This is all just a hypothesis, of course, but it's fun to think about.
My Hadrosaurus has red and pink coloration on the snout and throat. This is simply for display. Many animals alive today, including relatives of dinosaurs, like birds and other reptiles, use bright colors like this to communicate fitness to rivals and potential mates. I also gave my version an extensive dewlap, the loose skin under the chin and neck, similar to those you can see in many modern lizards for display, as well.
The black stripe over the eyes is an adaptation to being out in the sun. Since dark pigments absorb light, having dark colors over the eyes helps cut glare from the sun so the animal can see more easily when it is bright out. Many animals utilize this adaptation today that live in open environments, like the marshy floodplains Hadrosaurus may have frequented in life. Even baseball and (American)football players put black paint on their faces during games for this exact reason!
Black markings near the eyes help minimize glare from the sun that would reflect into the eyes. It is a common adaptation with animals that spend time in flat open spaces with little shade. For the same reason, many athletes put black paint on their faces when they're playing on an open field.
Beak and Scales
The beak of my reconstruction is much longer and more down-turned than what you would see on the skull. Thanks to mummified specimens of other kinds of hadrosaurid dinosaurs, like two separate specimens of Edmontosaurus, we know they would have had an extra layer of hard tissue over the beak that was made of keratin in life. In fact, it turns out that these dinosaurs, despite being nicknamed "duck-billed dinosaurs" because of the shape of the beak of the skull alone, probably had beaks that were less flattened like that of a duck, and more downturned in life because of this layer of keratin.
We now know that hadrosaurid beaks were longer and more downturned than what the skull suggests.
My reconstruction of Hadrosaurus, as well as the four reconstructions that were done in the same place before me, have a single row of rectangular scales down the length of the back. This isn't a coincidence. This is based on the fact that paleontologists found a mummified specimen of a close relative, called Brachylophosaurus, which preserved impressions of these structures down the animal's back. I took a few liberties with the shape of these, especially around the head and neck, making them more spine-like, than rectangular, since Hadrosaurus was still a different species, and therefore probably didn't look exactly the same in every way. These structures may have been for display or they could have helped break up the dinosaur's shape making it more difficult to track by potential predators.
You can see the faint outlines of where the plate-like dorsal scales would have been on the mummified dinosaur, "Leonardo" in the top photo, compared to the similar structures I gave Hadrosaurus in the bottom photo.
We know thanks to multiple mummies of relatives of Hadrosauarus, that these dinosaurs were covered in non-overlapping scales that looked like mosaics. Despite how much I wanted to do this on my reconstruction, I only had two days to complete it and therefore not enough time to draw in every single scale. However, I chose to draw many scales over much of the dinosaur, giving the illusion, especially when viewed from several feet away or further, that the dinosaur was completely covered in them.
Cast of fossilized skin from the tail of a hadrosaurid mummy on display in front of the Hadrosaurus skeletal mount at the Academy of Natural Sciences with my wall art. Original specimen is in the collections of the American Museum of Natural History, in New York.
If you look really closely at the leg, you may notice a several scales arranged in a shape that might look like an angry black cat. This may or may not be a secret homage to my cat, Petrie.
If you look closely at Haddie's leg...you might see Petrie!
One particular specimen of an Edmontosaurus regalis shows us an impression of what the skin on the neck would have looked like, which had proportionally larger, wider scales. I made a point to show something similar to this on my Hadrosaurus, as well.
Comparison to the fossilized neck skin imprints from Edmontosaurus regalis from Bell's 2013 paper.
Muscles
There is a permanent basic outline of the dinosaur on the board for the artist to draw over, just to keep the shape and general pose intact. However, because of some recent discoveries, I needed to greatly extend my drawing past this outline. Thanks to many of these mummies that have been mentioned already, we know that hadrosaurids were much bulkier and more heavily muscled than previously thought. The neck of my reconstruction is much thicker than the outline and shows plenty of folds and wrinkles as the dinosaur bends its neck upwards.
Until recently, if you looked at dinosaur reconstructions, you might notice that the legs would be separated from the tail, like you might expect for any animal, including lizards and crocodilians. Thanks to some beautifully preserved mummies of hadrosaurids, however, we now know that there was a huge muscle connecting the back of the leg to the base of the tail on each side of the dinosaur. this makes more sense, since these animals were much heavier, bipedal, and therefore needed more power in that region to walk around. If you look at the muscles of modern birds that are strong runners, like ostriches, or even chickens and turkeys, you will see the same muscles.
The tail in general on my reconstruction is much thicker overall. The ischium, the bone in the pelvis that is angled downwards and backwards under the dinosaur, would have been completely covered by flesh in life, despite sometimes being visible in older reconstructions. We know thanks to the famous Edmontosaurus mummy, nicknamed Dakota, that these kinds of dinosaurs had very thick tails like this.
Environment
I wanted to include other organisms that Hadrosaurus may have interacted with in life in my reconstruction. We know thanks to beautifully preserved specimens of other hadrosaurids that still had their last meal in their stomach cavities, that these dinosaurs were eating pine needles in life. We have fossils from trees similar to modern redwood trees from the same general time as Hadrosaurus, so I included a small tree based on this, for my Hadrosaurus to munch on.
We know, thanks to a pretty extensive fossil record, that birds were alive and well during this time. We don't have many fossils from this time in North America, and even fewer that show any characteristics that give us a good idea of what they looked like in life, but we know they were definitely around in some form. I liked the idea of a symbiotic relationship between birds and larger dinosaurs, like certain species of birds have today with other large animals. Oxpickers, native to Africa, are specialized in eating blood-sucking parasites off of large animals, so I created a bird based off of them with regards to beak shape, but with different colors, to accompany my Hadrosaurus. Again, this is mostly educated guesswork of something that could have been, but isn't necessarily supported by hard evidence...yet.
There is currently no fossil evidence of birds specifically adapted to symbiotically eating parasites off of prehistoric dinosaurs, but the possibility is always there.
I included another species of bird behind my Hadrosaurus as well. Since we know Hadrosaurus was frequenting a brackish marshy habitats most likely, I wanted to see if there were any sort of shorebirds or wading bird fossils found from that time. Turned out there are fossils in the form of tracks from a wading bird, similar to modern herons and storks, from China during the early Cretaceous, millions of years before Hadrosaurus. Since birds are so widespread, I decided, with some input from Jason Poole, that a wading bird similar to this would be totally plausible and safe to include in my reconstruction. The birds I depicted have the diagnostic long legs and long toes like the tracks show. I took more liberties with the neck and beak, however, to be a bit less specialized.
We have fossil evidence that wading birds were flourishing by the time of Hadrosaurus.
Lastly, I included possibly my favorite invertebrates, horsehoe crabs. Horsehoe crabs we know have been around since hundreds of millions of years before the first dinosaurs. Since there are horshoe crabs frequenting the shores of New Jersey today, it is possible their ancient ancestors were doing the same back then. I drew inspiration from the countless horseshoe crabs I've found washed up at the Jersey Shore, many of which had entire communities of barnacles and bivalves living on their shells.
Now you know a bit of the thought behind my Hadrosaurus at the Academy of Natural Sciences. As I stated earlier, this is a yearly exhibit, so in March of 2020, it will be replaced by the work of another artist, so if you ever find yourself in or near Philadelphia in the next year, make a trip over!
References
Bell, P. R.; Fanti, F.; Currie, P. J.; Arbour, V.M. (2013).
"A Mummified Duck-Billed Dinosaur with a Soft-Tissue Cock's Comb".
Current Biology. 24 (1): 70–75.
Caro, Tim, et al. “Benefits of Zebra Stripes: Behaviour of
Tabanid Flies around Zebras and Horses.” PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science,
journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0210831.
Morris, William J. (1970). “Hadrosaurian dinosaur bills —
morphology and function“. Contributions in Science (Los Angeles County Museum
of Natural History) 193: 1–14.
Murphy, Nate L.; Trexler, David; Thompson, Mark (2006).
""Leonardo," a mummified Brachylophosaurus from the Judith River
Formation". In Carpenter, Kenneth (ed.). Horns and Beaks: Ceratopsian and
Ornithopod Dinosaurs. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
pp. 117–133.
"Mummified Dinosaur Unveiled". National Geographic
News. 2007-12-03. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
Osborn, Henry Fairfield (1912). "Integument of the
iguanodont dinosaur Trachodon". Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural
History. 1: 33–35, 46–54.
Xing, Lida, et al. “Reanalysis of Wupus Agilis (Early
Cretaceous) of Chongqing, China as a Large Avian Trace: Differentiating between
Large Bird and Small Non-Avian Theropod Tracks.” Plos One, vol. 10, no. 5,
2015, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0124039.
Jason C. Poole is a professor at Drexel University and the
Dinosaur Hall Coordinator at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel
University. Jason has excavated dinosaurs on three continents, Africa, South and
North America. Paralititan, Dreadnoughtus and Suuwassea are three dinosaurs worked on by Poole which are new to science, two of which are super massive titanosaurs. Jason can often be
found in the Academy of Natural Sciences Dinosaur Hall Fossil Lab preparing newly found fossils which will spend the rest of their afterlife in museum collections. Mr. Poole is also a Paleo Artist who has published in National Geographic and whose art work appears in many museum and private collections.
Question 1: Let’s start from the
beginning. What was your earliest sign of interest in paleontology that
you can remember?
JP:
I collected modern bones and fossils as a kid.
Question
2: Did you have any professionals or family members who served as role models
when you were younger? Do you still have any now?
JP: My folks loved to be outside
when we had free time so I got my love of that from them. But I have to say
that Dr. Peter Dodson was and still is a huge reason that I am still doing what
I do.
Question 3: 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? By this I mean any sort of field experience, a
class, networking with the right people, or possibly something different or all
three?
JP:
I surrounded myself with people who love science and the outdoors.
Question 4: Is the field of
paleontology 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 for that matter) now?
JP: Now
as always I recommend that students who want to become paleontologists become
obsessed with science in general and new trends in what new tech can help to
explain.
Question 5: What was or is your
favorite project so far? Would you be able to tell us about some of your
current projects?
JP: I
love working on Jurassic dinosaurs with the Bighorn Basin Paleontology
Institute and the Academy of Natural Sciences! This cooperation gives me the
opportunity to educate about paleo in the field to students and volunteers in
one of the most beautiful places in the world.
Question 6: You have traveled to a
lot of interesting places digging for dinosaurs. Do you have a favorite
destination when it comes to fossils? Why?
JP: I
love Montana. My first dinosaur was from there.
Question 7: A popular image of
paleontologists is that they are constantly out in the field digging up
fossils, which is true to an extent. What people don’t realize sometimes
is that a lot of paleontology work is conducted in a lab as well. In your
experience, how much of your projects (in general) take place in the field, and
how much are in the lab?
JP: My
job in Philly is as a preparator and teacher. So 10 months of the year are
spent in lab.
Question 8: When it comes to your
art, how often are you able to utilize it for paleontology?
JP:
Every day. It is part of the way I communicate and take notes.
Question 9: What is your favorite
medium to use when creating art? Why?
JP:
Ball Point Pen. It travels well and gives a great line for sketching.
Jason's reconstruction of the sauropod, Suuwassea.
Question 10: Do you ever get
criticized on any of your work? How do you handle it?
JP:
I am constantly criticized buy people, the harshest remarks are my own. It is
how we grow as artists. Constant pushing and tweaking of our craft due to
feedback from people and our own mistakes. I
think I handle it well… I have not killed anyone yet.
Question 11: One of my pet peeves is
when people assume paleontology doesn’t really do any real good in the grand
scheme of things and is just a “for fun” science. Do you think
paleontology has a bigger part to than this? How?
JP:
You cannot know the future so you better know the past if you are going to make
any informed plans for the future. Evolution and understanding how species
react to natural pressures exerted by a changing world is key especially now
when we should be looking to science to direct thinking about our future.
Question 12: Who was the first
paleontologist you met? How was that interaction?
JP:
Bill Gallagher. He is a great guy!
Question 13: What is your favorite
prehistoric animal? Was it different when you were younger?
JP:Ceratosaurus. Nope.
Ceratosaurus skeleton on display at the National Museum in Washington, D.C.
Question 14: 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?
JP:
T. rex. T. rex gets so much attention and we think we know tones about it. I
would love to see how far off we might be. I think it would be a great test of
how far off we should expect to be off on other animals. Here is the rub
though, When you take an animal out of its ecosystem or habitat you will not
know how it naturally behaves.
Question
15: Which is your favorite museum? Why? The Academy of Natural Sciences of
Drexel U. in Philadelphia.
JP:
We started this paleo thing in the Americas and we are still going. I am most
excited for our future as a public museum and a research institution! Come see
why.
Question 16: What hobbies do you
have? (Don’t have to be paleo-related.)
JP:
Not a lot of time for hobbies. Love to build model kits and skateboard. Family
fills most of the free time now.
