Owen Goodchild
@paleowen.bsky.social
Comparative biology PhD student at the Richard Gilder Graduate School at the American Museum of Natural History studying the evolution of North American proboscideans.
#FossilFriday for Barnum Brown’s birthday there’s no better time to feature Platybelodon barnumbrowni and to discuss these strange shovel tusked proboscideans!
February 13, 2026 at 3:28 PM
#FossilFriday for Barnum Brown’s birthday there’s no better time to feature Platybelodon barnumbrowni and to discuss these strange shovel tusked proboscideans!
Reposted by Owen Goodchild
Meet our team of Associate Editors!
𝐃𝐫 𝐉é𝐫é𝐦𝐲 𝐓𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐞𝐫 (Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences) specializes in the evolution of perissodactyl mammals - odd-toed ungulates. Only 17 species survive today including horses, zebras, tapirs and rhinos!
Find out more here: buff.ly/k8Og4RL
#PaleoSky
𝐃𝐫 𝐉é𝐫é𝐦𝐲 𝐓𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐞𝐫 (Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences) specializes in the evolution of perissodactyl mammals - odd-toed ungulates. Only 17 species survive today including horses, zebras, tapirs and rhinos!
Find out more here: buff.ly/k8Og4RL
#PaleoSky
February 11, 2026 at 7:30 AM
Meet our team of Associate Editors!
𝐃𝐫 𝐉é𝐫é𝐦𝐲 𝐓𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐞𝐫 (Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences) specializes in the evolution of perissodactyl mammals - odd-toed ungulates. Only 17 species survive today including horses, zebras, tapirs and rhinos!
Find out more here: buff.ly/k8Og4RL
#PaleoSky
𝐃𝐫 𝐉é𝐫é𝐦𝐲 𝐓𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐞𝐫 (Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences) specializes in the evolution of perissodactyl mammals - odd-toed ungulates. Only 17 species survive today including horses, zebras, tapirs and rhinos!
Find out more here: buff.ly/k8Og4RL
#PaleoSky
Reposted by Owen Goodchild
Wilson, O.E., Gelfo, J.N., Zanesco, T. et al. Feeding the ‘fire beasts’: mesowear angles in bilophodont South American herbivores. J Mammal Evol 32, 50 (2025). doi.org/10.1007/s109...
Feeding the ‘fire beasts’: mesowear angles in bilophodont South American herbivores - Journal of Mammalian Evolution
Bilophodont tooth morphology is found in various groups of extant and fossil herbivores, including tapirs, marsupials, deinotheres, and two groups of Paleogene South American native ungulates: the xen...
doi.org
February 8, 2026 at 1:29 PM
Wilson, O.E., Gelfo, J.N., Zanesco, T. et al. Feeding the ‘fire beasts’: mesowear angles in bilophodont South American herbivores. J Mammal Evol 32, 50 (2025). doi.org/10.1007/s109...
www.mdpi.com
February 8, 2026 at 3:07 PM
Reposted by Owen Goodchild
here's a better link, not sure what happened with the one above www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Cellular-level preservation of cutaneous spikes in an Early Cretaceous iguanodontian dinosaur - Nature Ecology & Evolution
A juvenile iguanodontian from the Lower Cretaceous of China preserves both spikes and scales in its skin that are different from integumentary structures in either non-avian dinosaurs or extant squama...
www.nature.com
February 6, 2026 at 10:44 AM
here's a better link, not sure what happened with the one above www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Owen Goodchild
Ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes in the museum?
You’re invited for a peek into the fossil mammals collection to see just some of the amazing animals we look after ⬇️
You’re invited for a peek into the fossil mammals collection to see just some of the amazing animals we look after ⬇️
February 3, 2026 at 4:52 PM
Ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes in the museum?
You’re invited for a peek into the fossil mammals collection to see just some of the amazing animals we look after ⬇️
You’re invited for a peek into the fossil mammals collection to see just some of the amazing animals we look after ⬇️
Reposted by Owen Goodchild
#FossilFriday: The Pacific mastodon, Mammut pacificus, known from California and Idaho. This species was described in 2019. This is the second of two species of Mammut from North America, the other being Mammut americanum.
January 30, 2026 at 6:16 PM
#FossilFriday: The Pacific mastodon, Mammut pacificus, known from California and Idaho. This species was described in 2019. This is the second of two species of Mammut from North America, the other being Mammut americanum.
Reposted by Owen Goodchild
Happy #FossilFriday!
Meet #Onychodus, one of the Devonian’s strangest swimmers 🦈✨.
This weird prehistoric fish was a lobe-finned predator armed with a dramatic tusk-whorl—a pair of long, curved teeth that jutted from the front of its lower jaw like built-in spears. Effective? Almost certainly.
Meet #Onychodus, one of the Devonian’s strangest swimmers 🦈✨.
This weird prehistoric fish was a lobe-finned predator armed with a dramatic tusk-whorl—a pair of long, curved teeth that jutted from the front of its lower jaw like built-in spears. Effective? Almost certainly.
January 30, 2026 at 4:58 PM
Happy #FossilFriday!
Meet #Onychodus, one of the Devonian’s strangest swimmers 🦈✨.
This weird prehistoric fish was a lobe-finned predator armed with a dramatic tusk-whorl—a pair of long, curved teeth that jutted from the front of its lower jaw like built-in spears. Effective? Almost certainly.
Meet #Onychodus, one of the Devonian’s strangest swimmers 🦈✨.
This weird prehistoric fish was a lobe-finned predator armed with a dramatic tusk-whorl—a pair of long, curved teeth that jutted from the front of its lower jaw like built-in spears. Effective? Almost certainly.
Reposted by Owen Goodchild
Shovel-tuskers! Ancient elephants like Amebelodon are an evolutionary success story, and we’re only just starting to understand how they used their exceptional jaws. I’ll tell you more at Smithsonian. 🧪
Strange, Shovel-Tusked Elephants Puzzled Paleontologists, Until Experts Took a Closer Look at Their Teeth
The animals' extended lower jaws were seemingly made for scooping, but research over the past few decades has found they could do a lot more than initially expected
www.smithsonianmag.com
January 26, 2026 at 1:14 PM
Shovel-tuskers! Ancient elephants like Amebelodon are an evolutionary success story, and we’re only just starting to understand how they used their exceptional jaws. I’ll tell you more at Smithsonian. 🧪
Reposted by Owen Goodchild
January 24, 2026 at 10:56 PM
Reposted by Owen Goodchild
Introducing a new Permian reptile: Scyllacerta creanae
With a tympanic fossa on the quadrate and no lower temporal bar, Scyllacerta challenges long-standing ideas about when-and-how hearing evolved in reptiles 🦎👂
🔗 doi.org/10.1111/pala...
With a tympanic fossa on the quadrate and no lower temporal bar, Scyllacerta challenges long-standing ideas about when-and-how hearing evolved in reptiles 🦎👂
🔗 doi.org/10.1111/pala...
January 23, 2026 at 1:56 PM
Introducing a new Permian reptile: Scyllacerta creanae
With a tympanic fossa on the quadrate and no lower temporal bar, Scyllacerta challenges long-standing ideas about when-and-how hearing evolved in reptiles 🦎👂
🔗 doi.org/10.1111/pala...
With a tympanic fossa on the quadrate and no lower temporal bar, Scyllacerta challenges long-standing ideas about when-and-how hearing evolved in reptiles 🦎👂
🔗 doi.org/10.1111/pala...
Reposted by Owen Goodchild
I missed #FossilFriday, but the Morrison Formation has spoken!
A special volume of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science Bulletin just dropped, and it is 100% chock-full the latest in Morrison goodies.
🧵
A special volume of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science Bulletin just dropped, and it is 100% chock-full the latest in Morrison goodies.
🧵
January 24, 2026 at 12:52 PM
I missed #FossilFriday, but the Morrison Formation has spoken!
A special volume of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science Bulletin just dropped, and it is 100% chock-full the latest in Morrison goodies.
🧵
A special volume of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science Bulletin just dropped, and it is 100% chock-full the latest in Morrison goodies.
🧵
Reposted by Owen Goodchild
🧵3/3
Waco Mammoth National Monument, TX
conservation-legacy.breezy.hr/p/d79a670f73...
FAQ: www.scientistsinparks.org/faq
Waco Mammoth National Monument, TX
conservation-legacy.breezy.hr/p/d79a670f73...
FAQ: www.scientistsinparks.org/faq
January 20, 2026 at 9:19 PM
🧵3/3
Waco Mammoth National Monument, TX
conservation-legacy.breezy.hr/p/d79a670f73...
FAQ: www.scientistsinparks.org/faq
Waco Mammoth National Monument, TX
conservation-legacy.breezy.hr/p/d79a670f73...
FAQ: www.scientistsinparks.org/faq
Reposted by Owen Goodchild
🧵2/n
Big Thicket National Preserve, TX
conservation-legacy.breezy.hr/p/f4e89bf4a9...
Carlsbad Caverns National Park, NM
conservation-legacy.breezy.hr/p/299284edc8...
Badlands National Park, SD (has 2)
conservation-legacy.breezy.hr/p/7d9228dbb2...
conservation-legacy.breezy.hr/p/6f2bd0360b...
Big Thicket National Preserve, TX
conservation-legacy.breezy.hr/p/f4e89bf4a9...
Carlsbad Caverns National Park, NM
conservation-legacy.breezy.hr/p/299284edc8...
Badlands National Park, SD (has 2)
conservation-legacy.breezy.hr/p/7d9228dbb2...
conservation-legacy.breezy.hr/p/6f2bd0360b...
January 20, 2026 at 9:18 PM
🧵2/n
Big Thicket National Preserve, TX
conservation-legacy.breezy.hr/p/f4e89bf4a9...
Carlsbad Caverns National Park, NM
conservation-legacy.breezy.hr/p/299284edc8...
Badlands National Park, SD (has 2)
conservation-legacy.breezy.hr/p/7d9228dbb2...
conservation-legacy.breezy.hr/p/6f2bd0360b...
Big Thicket National Preserve, TX
conservation-legacy.breezy.hr/p/f4e89bf4a9...
Carlsbad Caverns National Park, NM
conservation-legacy.breezy.hr/p/299284edc8...
Badlands National Park, SD (has 2)
conservation-legacy.breezy.hr/p/7d9228dbb2...
conservation-legacy.breezy.hr/p/6f2bd0360b...
Reposted by Owen Goodchild
Scientists in the Parks positions now up! 🧵1/n
Dinosaur National Monument
conservation-legacy.breezy.hr/p/099ae6a935...
Montezuma Castle National Monument, AZ
conservation-legacy.breezy.hr/p/9d3abc1c9e...
Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, NE
conservation-legacy.breezy.hr/p/7a746df3f5...
Dinosaur National Monument
conservation-legacy.breezy.hr/p/099ae6a935...
Montezuma Castle National Monument, AZ
conservation-legacy.breezy.hr/p/9d3abc1c9e...
Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, NE
conservation-legacy.breezy.hr/p/7a746df3f5...
January 20, 2026 at 9:16 PM
Scientists in the Parks positions now up! 🧵1/n
Dinosaur National Monument
conservation-legacy.breezy.hr/p/099ae6a935...
Montezuma Castle National Monument, AZ
conservation-legacy.breezy.hr/p/9d3abc1c9e...
Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, NE
conservation-legacy.breezy.hr/p/7a746df3f5...
Dinosaur National Monument
conservation-legacy.breezy.hr/p/099ae6a935...
Montezuma Castle National Monument, AZ
conservation-legacy.breezy.hr/p/9d3abc1c9e...
Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, NE
conservation-legacy.breezy.hr/p/7a746df3f5...
Reposted by Owen Goodchild
Result from the Agate Fossil Beds #paleostream!
This early Miocene lagerstätte from Nebraska (USA) is a fantastic window into our understanding of the transition from forest communities to grassland biomes...
This early Miocene lagerstätte from Nebraska (USA) is a fantastic window into our understanding of the transition from forest communities to grassland biomes...
January 13, 2026 at 3:39 AM
Result from the Agate Fossil Beds #paleostream!
This early Miocene lagerstätte from Nebraska (USA) is a fantastic window into our understanding of the transition from forest communities to grassland biomes...
This early Miocene lagerstätte from Nebraska (USA) is a fantastic window into our understanding of the transition from forest communities to grassland biomes...
Reposted by Owen Goodchild
Happy #FossilFriday! The Columbian #Mammoth was one of the largest species of mammoth to walk the Earth and roamed North America until ~11,000 years ago. The skull of one of these giants (#MOR604) is on display in the #Cenozoic Corridor at #MOR.
January 9, 2026 at 9:01 PM
Happy #FossilFriday! The Columbian #Mammoth was one of the largest species of mammoth to walk the Earth and roamed North America until ~11,000 years ago. The skull of one of these giants (#MOR604) is on display in the #Cenozoic Corridor at #MOR.
peerj.com/articles/204...
My first mammal project, which I started as an REU intern at the AMNH is finally published! Huge thanks to my mentors and coauthors on this project for all their help, and to the reviewers for their comments and suggestions!
My first mammal project, which I started as an REU intern at the AMNH is finally published! Huge thanks to my mentors and coauthors on this project for all their help, and to the reviewers for their comments and suggestions!
The petrosal and bony labyrinth of extinct horses (Perissodactyla, Equidae) and their implications for perissodactyl evolution
Perissodactyla, or odd-toed ungulates, are represented today by 16 species of rhinoceroses, tapirs, and horses. Perissodactyls were much more diverse in the past, having a rich fossil record spanning ...
peerj.com
January 5, 2026 at 3:42 PM
peerj.com/articles/204...
My first mammal project, which I started as an REU intern at the AMNH is finally published! Huge thanks to my mentors and coauthors on this project for all their help, and to the reviewers for their comments and suggestions!
My first mammal project, which I started as an REU intern at the AMNH is finally published! Huge thanks to my mentors and coauthors on this project for all their help, and to the reviewers for their comments and suggestions!
Reposted by Owen Goodchild
I'm thrilled to share the news that the original Tiktaalik fossils, including the Type Specimen itself, will be on display in Ottawa starting December 19! Check them out.
nature.ca/en/visit-us/...
🧪
nature.ca/en/visit-us/...
🧪
Life onto Land: The Devonian - Canadian Museum of Nature
Special exhibition: visit Tiktaalik and other Devonian fossils of fishes from the Canadian Arctic, at the Canadian Museum of Nature, in Ottawa.
nature.ca
December 8, 2025 at 8:03 PM
I'm thrilled to share the news that the original Tiktaalik fossils, including the Type Specimen itself, will be on display in Ottawa starting December 19! Check them out.
nature.ca/en/visit-us/...
🧪
nature.ca/en/visit-us/...
🧪
Reposted by Owen Goodchild
New research on a hot topic -
histology of the holotype supports Nanotyrannus as distinct from T. rex.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
histology of the holotype supports Nanotyrannus as distinct from T. rex.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
December 4, 2025 at 7:43 PM
New research on a hot topic -
histology of the holotype supports Nanotyrannus as distinct from T. rex.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
histology of the holotype supports Nanotyrannus as distinct from T. rex.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Owen Goodchild
