Paleozoic, Hall of Ancient Life

The Paleozoic (=ancient life) is the time period that I work in! It spans from ~542 to 251 million years ago (Ma) and was a time of wild changes on Earth. Floating on the ceiling of the Sam Noble Museum are some of these bizarre forms! These were larger than life reconstructions of ancient creatures, it was so fun to look up and see these majestic creatures. 

Much of North America was covered by a shallow sea during the early Paleozoic, so you would find lots of shelly sea creatures. Some very different from those we see today and some nearly the same! This is a reconstruction of the Ordovician (~488-443 Ma). There are tons of echinoderms (relatives of sea urchins and sea stars) and trilobites (relatives of spiders and bugs). 

Moving forward in time we skip a bit and head to the Devonian (419-358 Ma) where we see the diversity of fish start to change. More shapes, sizes, and types of fish. My favorite Devonian creature is Dunkleosteus, the scary one on the right. This fish was very special, its entire head, even its eyeballs were armored. How cool is that?!??! It did not really have teeth like you or I do but it’s lower jaw was constructed like a scissor blade so it could chomp through it’s dinner easily. 

The Devonian is a very special time in Earth’s history, it is when creatures started to come out of the vast ocean and become terrestrial animals. This means they had to completely change how they functioned to come out onto land. They had to evolve stronger shoulders to push themselves up out of the water and even evolve different lungs to breathe on land. It’s a big transition and took a long time but it’s eventually how we, as humans, came to be! 

As the Paleozoic comes to a close in the Permian (298-251 Ma), sadly with a terrible extinction event that devastated life in the oceans and on land. BUT we see creatures such as Dimetrodon (pictured below) that had the high back sale and looked more like a reptile than a mammal but is actually more mammal like than reptile like (although not exactly an early mammal, but almost - a story for another blog post). 

We have made it through the Paleozoic! I’ll continue on into the Mesozoic…

I’ve never seen dinosaurs displayed in public and the BYU Museum of Paleontology made the wait worth it

My favorite synapsid, Dimetrodon 🤓

Delilah is the lovely lady in the first two photos with the leafy accessories (not part of the model we were just having a laugh when she was finished) and Demetri is the last three. The sails on these were a big challenge, they had to be robust enough to wishstand being tugged on by the public but not so thick they looked silly. They both measure just over three meters long. Originally they were going to be one big model but it would have been far too large so they had to be separated. *sad face*

Absolutely lovely!

More fossils from the Lapworth Museum of geology!

Top to bottom:

- Cambrian (Marrella splendens, Hurdia victoria, trilobites)

- Devonian fish (Pteraspis, Drepanaspis, Bothriolepis, Cephalaspis)

- Permian (Dimetrodon, Mesosaurus)

- Quarternary (Smilodon)

Go back this cutie because I want my love, the Dimetrodon. Go! GO! #geologist #geology #paleontology

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1591542039/tiktaalik-plushie-a-new-paleozoic-pal/posts/1905063

Come let’s do this!!! 

Here, I’ll settle your doubts. If you get the $16 pledge and add $10 or more, not only will you get Tiktaalik but you’ll get the Dimetrodon. It’s a two for one deal! 

The Kickstarter only has $3700 left to go till the Dimetrodon! LET’s GO! 

Rough prototype - Dimetrodon

In my opinion, this is the best Kickstarter ever. No matter what, you get Tiktaalik because we already met the main pledge goal. Tiktaalik was found by made by Dr. Edward B. Daeschler of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Dr. Neil H. Shubin from the University of Chicago, and Harvard University Professor, Dr. Farish A. Jenkins, Jr in 2004. 

Here is Dr. Neil Shubin talking about the discovery in his latest PBS TV series Your Inner Fish: 

When the $22,000 is reached (we are currently at $18,384), we will get Dimetrodon! 

(with you pledge of $26+) 

Now, Dimetrodon is my FAVORITE! I love the “mammal-like reptiles” of the Permian. To me, he is also an important transition fossil.  Dimetrodon was a quadrupedal, sail-backed synapsid. All mammals are synapsid. Dimetrodon is often considered a “mammal-like reptile.” In fact, it’s more closely related to mammals than a reptile and one of the reasons is because of its ear and jaw bones. Dr. Neil Shubin also discussed our inner reptile in “Your Inner Reptile  

The evolution of mammalian auditory ossicles was a big evolutionary gain for the tiny early mammals that survived the Permian Extinction.  

Anyways… go fund the Kickstarter to get your own awesome Paleozoic Pals!