Owen Goodchild
banner
paleowen.bsky.social
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 the mandible of Notiomastodon platensis, one of the last gomphothere-grade proboscideans from the Pleistocene of Argentina.
October 10, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Reposted by Owen Goodchild
Welcome to the first instalment of #gomphtober2025 where we spotlight gomohotheres and their relatives. Kicking things off is Stegomastodon Arizona from the pliocene of Arizona.

#fossilfriday #smithsonian #nationalmuseumofnaturalhistory #elephant #fossil #prehistoricarizona #paleontology
October 3, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Reposted by Owen Goodchild
Did you know that mastodons used to live in Alberta? This jaw was found in Edmonton and is currently housed at the Royal Alberta Museum. Mastodon are relatives of elephants and have very distinctive jaws and teeth.

#fossilfriday #palaeontology #paleontology #mastodon #fossils #mammals #alberta
October 3, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Reposted by Owen Goodchild
Millions of years ago, California had a familiar yet alien landscape from what it sees today. This painting highlights the animals that may have passed through Death Valley long ago.

This painting features as a 4ft mural hung in the Copper Canyon Visitor Center in southern Cali.
September 19, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Reposted by Owen Goodchild
It lives!!! 🦣🦣🦣🧪

Repeated climate-driven dispersal and speciation in peripheral populations of Pleistocene mastodons | Science Advances www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Repeated climate-driven dispersal and speciation in peripheral populations of Pleistocene mastodons
Coastal mastodon mitochondrial genomes contextualize species distributions and dispersal patterns near southern glacial limits.
www.science.org
September 12, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Reposted by Owen Goodchild
Smile like Smilodon because it’s #FossilFriday! Scientists estimate that its signature teeth grew at the rapid speed of .24 in (0.6 cm) per month—double the growth rate of an African lion’s teeth. Smilodon could open its jaws twice as wide as today’s big cats.
September 5, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Reposted by Owen Goodchild
Mammut americanum, the elephants relative
#art #paleoart
August 5, 2025 at 12:23 AM
Reposted by Owen Goodchild
Our big review paper on strepsipteran systematics for Insect Systematics and Diversity is out! Hoping it's a helpful resource for anyone who needs it.
Strepsiptera systematics: past, present, and future
Abstract. The twisted-wing parasites (Strepsiptera Kirby) are among the most obscure and enigmatic orders in the Insecta. Strepsipterans are endoparasites
academic.oup.com
July 8, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Reposted by Owen Goodchild
Tinkering with colour pencils on colour paper again.
April 30, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Reposted by Owen Goodchild
NEWLY PUBLISHED » Dr. Jorge Velez-Juarbe (Associate Curator, Marine Mammals) discovers that sebicids, ancient land-dwelling crocodile-like beasts, reigned over the West Indies as apex predators after vanishing from South America: bit.ly/AncientCrocs
April 29, 2025 at 11:39 PM
Reposted by Owen Goodchild
Behold!

With lots of dino 🦕love 💕

youtu.be/VAVp_1-Aqc8?...
Walking With Dinosaurs Official Trailer (2025) | BBC Earth
YouTube video by BBC Earth
youtu.be
April 10, 2025 at 12:21 PM
#fossilfriday the partial mandible of the New Mexico “spoonbill mastodont” AMNH F:AM 21296 originally called ‘Amebelodon joraki’ then ‘Trilophodon joraki’ and finally ‘Megabelodon joraki’ (albiet informally). Smaller than its Nebraskan cousin, and yet clearly an old adult.
April 4, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Reposted by Owen Goodchild
For the first time ever, recorded atmospheric CO₂ has exceeded 430ppm! The last time CO₂ consistently reached today’s human-driven levels was ∼14 Million years ago, with shorter periods of similar levels around 3-5 Million years ago.
1/3
March 8, 2025 at 5:37 PM
This #fossilfriday the paleo-internet has clearly seen the light and accepted that Gomphotheres are very cool. Here are a bunch from New Mexico I’ve been surface scanning lately.
March 7, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Reposted by Owen Goodchild
You know how cool gomphotheres are? They are so cool. #FossilFriday
March 7, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Reposted by Owen Goodchild
#FossilFriday Gomphotherium phippsi, from the Middle Miocene Valentine Fm of Nevada @denvermuseumns.bsky.social
March 7, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Reposted by Owen Goodchild
New #paleoart just uploaded to #Patreon! Here's my take on an Ice Age icon, the woolly mammoth: Mammuthus meets mammutus. The hi-res version, WIPs and behind the scenes notes are available at www.patreon.com/posts/123179.... More #Pleistocene art to come soon! #sciart #fossils
February 27, 2025 at 11:20 AM