Lauren Wilson
@lnwilson.bsky.social
PhD student @griffinlabpaleo.bsky.social/@princeton.edu | studying bird evolution and development 🐣 | MS from @uafairbanks.bsky.social | she/her
Banner art: Gabriel Ugueto
https://lw0428.wixsite.com/lauren-wilson
Banner art: Gabriel Ugueto
https://lw0428.wixsite.com/lauren-wilson
Pinned
Lauren Wilson
@lnwilson.bsky.social
· May 29
Millions of birds nest in the Arctic each year. But did you know they’ve been doing this since the Cretaceous? Can’t believe I finally get to share that our paper on the birds of the Prince Creek Formation is out in @science.org (and on the cover)! 🧵
Art: Gabriel Ugueto @serpenillus.bsky.social
Art: Gabriel Ugueto @serpenillus.bsky.social
After a fun SVP, I’m thankful to have some extra time in the UK to explore! Had a wonderful day walking the Jurassic Coast in Kimmeridge and Lulworth Cove
Off to Lyme Regis tomorrow for more adventures!
Off to Lyme Regis tomorrow for more adventures!
November 17, 2025 at 5:05 PM
After a fun SVP, I’m thankful to have some extra time in the UK to explore! Had a wonderful day walking the Jurassic Coast in Kimmeridge and Lulworth Cove
Off to Lyme Regis tomorrow for more adventures!
Off to Lyme Regis tomorrow for more adventures!
Reposted by Lauren Wilson
Opening a field jacket in the new prep lab! Preparator Jack Wilson will work his way through the matrix to the croc skull hiding inside
October 20, 2025 at 9:54 PM
Opening a field jacket in the new prep lab! Preparator Jack Wilson will work his way through the matrix to the croc skull hiding inside
Reposted by Lauren Wilson
Proud to share a new piece in Scientific American co-authored with the brilliant @lnwilson.bsky.social , edited by @katewong.bsky.social, and featuring this spectacular depiction of the endless daylight of the Cretaceous summer in Alaska by Chase Stone!
www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...
www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...
Bird Migration Is One of Nature’s Greatest Spectacles. Paleontologists Just Found Clues to Its Origin
Tiny fossils hint at when birds began making their mind-blowing journey to the Arctic to breed
www.scientificamerican.com
October 8, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Proud to share a new piece in Scientific American co-authored with the brilliant @lnwilson.bsky.social , edited by @katewong.bsky.social, and featuring this spectacular depiction of the endless daylight of the Cretaceous summer in Alaska by Chase Stone!
www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...
www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...
Reposted by Lauren Wilson
Truly impressive number of birds migrating tonight. More than 800 MILLION birds up in the air right now❗ #BirdMigration
September 25, 2025 at 2:59 AM
Truly impressive number of birds migrating tonight. More than 800 MILLION birds up in the air right now❗ #BirdMigration
Reposted by Lauren Wilson
I got to paint some paleobirds! (The headline art is by the incredible Chase Stone) 🪶🧪
Bird Migration Is One of Nature’s Greatest Spectacles. Paleontologists Just Found Clues to Its Origin
Tiny fossils hint at when birds began making their mind-blowing journey to the Arctic to breed
www.scientificamerican.com
September 16, 2025 at 10:33 PM
I got to paint some paleobirds! (The headline art is by the incredible Chase Stone) 🪶🧪
Reposted by Lauren Wilson
Tiny fossils hint at when birds began making their mind-blowing journey to the Arctic to breed
Bird Migration Is One of Nature’s Greatest Spectacles. Paleontologists Just Found Clues to Its Origin
Tiny fossils hint at when birds began making their mind-blowing journey to the Arctic to breed
www.scientificamerican.com
September 17, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Tiny fossils hint at when birds began making their mind-blowing journey to the Arctic to breed
Right now, millions of birds are migrating south before the onset of the boreal winter. @ksepkalab.bsky.social and I explore the evolutionary origins of this amazing behavior in our article for @sciam.bsky.social!
www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...
www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...
Bird Migration Is One of Nature’s Greatest Spectacles. Paleontologists Just Found Clues to Its Origin
Tiny fossils hint at when birds began making their mind-blowing journey to the Arctic to breed
www.scientificamerican.com
September 17, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Right now, millions of birds are migrating south before the onset of the boreal winter. @ksepkalab.bsky.social and I explore the evolutionary origins of this amazing behavior in our article for @sciam.bsky.social!
www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...
www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...
Made another new friend today 🔍
July 5, 2025 at 10:21 PM
Made another new friend today 🔍
Back in Montana working in the Fort Union Formation for the next couple weeks! It’s my first time leading my own fieldwork and we’re already off to a great start!
#FossilFriday
#FossilFriday
July 5, 2025 at 3:51 AM
Back in Montana working in the Fort Union Formation for the next couple weeks! It’s my first time leading my own fieldwork and we’re already off to a great start!
#FossilFriday
#FossilFriday
Need to predict an unknown trait, like body size, for extinct species? Use phylogenies! A new paper by colleagues from the @uniofreading.bsky.social and Montana State demonstrates that phylogenetic prediction is more accurate than regression formulae.
doi.org/10.1038/s414...
doi.org/10.1038/s414...
Phylogenetically informed predictions outperform predictive equations in real and simulated data - Nature Communications
Phylogenetically informed predictions account for phylogenetic relationships among species while predicting unknown trait values. Here, the authors critically compare this approach with equations deri...
doi.org
July 4, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Need to predict an unknown trait, like body size, for extinct species? Use phylogenies! A new paper by colleagues from the @uniofreading.bsky.social and Montana State demonstrates that phylogenetic prediction is more accurate than regression formulae.
doi.org/10.1038/s414...
doi.org/10.1038/s414...
Reposted by Lauren Wilson
MSU alumna Lauren Wilson leads a study uncovering evidence that birds nested in the Cretaceous Arctic alongside non-avian dinosaurs! 🦖🐦Several MSU alumni were involved in this research project, including MOR Research Associate Dr. Chris Organ. Read more: www.montana.edu/news/24599/r...
Research by Montana State alumna reveals birds nested in the Cretaceous Arctic alongside non-avian dinosaurs
The evidence, published this week in the journal Science, was found in 73-million-year-old fossils discovered on Alaska’s North Slope.
www.montana.edu
May 30, 2025 at 9:31 PM
MSU alumna Lauren Wilson leads a study uncovering evidence that birds nested in the Cretaceous Arctic alongside non-avian dinosaurs! 🦖🐦Several MSU alumni were involved in this research project, including MOR Research Associate Dr. Chris Organ. Read more: www.montana.edu/news/24599/r...
Can’t get enough Cretaceous Arctic baby birds? ❄️🐣 Me neither!
Check out the talk I gave at the Royal Tyrrell Museum! I not only get into what types of birds were living in northern Alaska 73 million years ago, but also the crazy Arctic fieldwork we do to actually find the fossils!
#FossilFriday
Check out the talk I gave at the Royal Tyrrell Museum! I not only get into what types of birds were living in northern Alaska 73 million years ago, but also the crazy Arctic fieldwork we do to actually find the fossils!
#FossilFriday
Cretaceous Arctic Birds from the Prince Creek Formation of Northern Alaska
YouTube video by Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology
youtu.be
May 30, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Can’t get enough Cretaceous Arctic baby birds? ❄️🐣 Me neither!
Check out the talk I gave at the Royal Tyrrell Museum! I not only get into what types of birds were living in northern Alaska 73 million years ago, but also the crazy Arctic fieldwork we do to actually find the fossils!
#FossilFriday
Check out the talk I gave at the Royal Tyrrell Museum! I not only get into what types of birds were living in northern Alaska 73 million years ago, but also the crazy Arctic fieldwork we do to actually find the fossils!
#FossilFriday
Reposted by Lauren Wilson
Tiny bone fragments from Alaska are revealing how and when birds first reached the highest latitudes on Earth.
First evidence of ancient birds nesting above the Arctic circle
Tiny bone fragments from Alaska suggest birds started breeding and nesting in the Arctic 30 million years earlier than previously thought
www.newscientist.com
May 30, 2025 at 9:16 AM
Tiny bone fragments from Alaska are revealing how and when birds first reached the highest latitudes on Earth.
Reposted by Lauren Wilson
What are those tiny fossils?
They're birds. That just hatched. That lived in the Arctic. 73 million years ago.
And thus: polar bird nesting colonies are not new, but a long-term norm of Earth history.
My take @theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
They're birds. That just hatched. That lived in the Arctic. 73 million years ago.
And thus: polar bird nesting colonies are not new, but a long-term norm of Earth history.
My take @theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
Birds were nesting in the Arctic during age of dinosaurs, scientists discover
Minuscule fossils from 73m years ago are oldest evidence yet for birds nesting in polar regions
www.theguardian.com
May 29, 2025 at 8:12 PM
What are those tiny fossils?
They're birds. That just hatched. That lived in the Arctic. 73 million years ago.
And thus: polar bird nesting colonies are not new, but a long-term norm of Earth history.
My take @theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
They're birds. That just hatched. That lived in the Arctic. 73 million years ago.
And thus: polar bird nesting colonies are not new, but a long-term norm of Earth history.
My take @theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
Reposted by Lauren Wilson
Ready for tiny birds from above the Arctic Circle? Our new paper on the Cretaceous origins of Arctic nesting drops today in Science. This project was led by @lnwilson.bsky.social and features amazing fossils recovered by Pat Druckenmiller’s field program in the Prince Creek Formation of Alaska.
May 29, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Ready for tiny birds from above the Arctic Circle? Our new paper on the Cretaceous origins of Arctic nesting drops today in Science. This project was led by @lnwilson.bsky.social and features amazing fossils recovered by Pat Druckenmiller’s field program in the Prince Creek Formation of Alaska.
Reposted by Lauren Wilson
Exceptional new fossils from northern Alaska reveal birds lived and nested alongside non-avian dinosaurs in Arctic Alaska long before the radiation of modern birds after the end-Cretaceous extinction.
Learn more this week in Science: scim.ag/3Ss2yrw
Learn more this week in Science: scim.ag/3Ss2yrw
May 29, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Exceptional new fossils from northern Alaska reveal birds lived and nested alongside non-avian dinosaurs in Arctic Alaska long before the radiation of modern birds after the end-Cretaceous extinction.
Learn more this week in Science: scim.ag/3Ss2yrw
Learn more this week in Science: scim.ag/3Ss2yrw
Reposted by Lauren Wilson
Bird nesting in the Cretaceous! This is the illustration I did for a new paper by Lauren Wilson and colleagues that is published TODAY in Science
The new paper describes an assemblage of fossils that includes both chicks and adults from multiple species of Late Cretaceous birds!
#paleoart #birds
The new paper describes an assemblage of fossils that includes both chicks and adults from multiple species of Late Cretaceous birds!
#paleoart #birds
May 29, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Reposted by Lauren Wilson
Its CRETACEOUS ARCTIC BABY BIRD time!
Millions of birds nest in the Arctic each year. But did you know they’ve been doing this since the Cretaceous? Can’t believe I finally get to share that our paper on the birds of the Prince Creek Formation is out in @science.org (and on the cover)! 🧵
Art: Gabriel Ugueto @serpenillus.bsky.social
Art: Gabriel Ugueto @serpenillus.bsky.social
May 29, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Its CRETACEOUS ARCTIC BABY BIRD time!
Millions of birds nest in the Arctic each year. But did you know they’ve been doing this since the Cretaceous? Can’t believe I finally get to share that our paper on the birds of the Prince Creek Formation is out in @science.org (and on the cover)! 🧵
Art: Gabriel Ugueto @serpenillus.bsky.social
Art: Gabriel Ugueto @serpenillus.bsky.social
May 29, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Millions of birds nest in the Arctic each year. But did you know they’ve been doing this since the Cretaceous? Can’t believe I finally get to share that our paper on the birds of the Prince Creek Formation is out in @science.org (and on the cover)! 🧵
Art: Gabriel Ugueto @serpenillus.bsky.social
Art: Gabriel Ugueto @serpenillus.bsky.social
Reposted by Lauren Wilson
Fishes from the Upper Cretaceous Prince Creek Formation, North Slope of Alaska & their palaeobiogeographical significance onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... #PapersinPalaeontology
May 7, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Fishes from the Upper Cretaceous Prince Creek Formation, North Slope of Alaska & their palaeobiogeographical significance onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... #PapersinPalaeontology
Ever heard of Alaskan salmon? Well before we celebrated ‘Fat Bear Week’, Sivulliusalmo alaskensis, meaning "first salmon of Alaska" in Iñupiaq, was swimming in the Late Cretaceous rivers of northern Alaska! 🧵
May 7, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Ever heard of Alaskan salmon? Well before we celebrated ‘Fat Bear Week’, Sivulliusalmo alaskensis, meaning "first salmon of Alaska" in Iñupiaq, was swimming in the Late Cretaceous rivers of northern Alaska! 🧵
Reposted by Lauren Wilson
@lnwilson.bsky.social opened her first (of many) ostrich eggs today
May 1, 2025 at 6:03 PM
@lnwilson.bsky.social opened her first (of many) ostrich eggs today
Happy 5th birthday to Stellasaurus! My super cool husband named Stellasaurus ancellae for longtime Museum of the Rockies field paleontologist and fossil preparator Carrie Ancell, who found and prepped the holotype skull. Simply put, Carrie is one of the best fossil preparators ever!
April 29, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Happy 5th birthday to Stellasaurus! My super cool husband named Stellasaurus ancellae for longtime Museum of the Rockies field paleontologist and fossil preparator Carrie Ancell, who found and prepped the holotype skull. Simply put, Carrie is one of the best fossil preparators ever!
Reposted by Lauren Wilson
We’re at #SICB2025! Check out @lnwilson.bsky.social’s poster today and PI Chris Griffin’s talk tomorrow morning (8:30 am, International Salon 1-2)
January 4, 2025 at 3:27 PM
We’re at #SICB2025! Check out @lnwilson.bsky.social’s poster today and PI Chris Griffin’s talk tomorrow morning (8:30 am, International Salon 1-2)