Amherst College: Dinosaur Tracks

How Are Dinosaur Tracks Formed?

wwjarnagin — Thu, 14 Nov 2019 16:45:00 +0000

How Are Dinosaur Tracks Formed? Willa W. Jarnagin Thursday, 11/14/2019, at 11:45 AM

The Beneski Museum of Natural History houses the most extensive collection of fossil dinosaur tracks in the world. Specimens on exhibit and in storage show a vast array of track morphologies (shapes). Such diversity led 19th and 20th century researchers to name dozens of track types and to speculate about the many different creatures that might have made them.

Research on the tracks continues today. A team of three paleontologists (Stephen Gatesy, Peter Falkingham, and Morgan Turner) is investigating the fundamental origins of track morphology. They study the complex foot-substrate interactions during track formation, as well as factors giving rise to morphological variation.

Learn How Scientists Study Trackmaking

Here you’ll find short videos describing the team’s research using various methods—some simple, some very high-tech—to study both living birds and Beneski fossils. The investigators’ insights and animations provide a more dynamic perspective on the track-making process, thereby breathing life into these amazing relics from Earth’s distant past.

Part 1: Hitchcock’s ‘Birds’

wwjarnagin — Thu, 14 Nov 2019 17:09:00 +0000

Part 1: Hitchcock’s ‘Birds’ Willa W. Jarnagin Thursday, 11/14/2019, at 12:09 PM

Why we use living guineafowl to study Beneski dinosaur tracks.

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November 5, 2019

Tue, 05 Nov 2019 12:00:00 +0000|November 5, 2019

Part 2: One Foot, Many Tracks

wwjarnagin — Thu, 14 Nov 2019 17:10:00 +0000

Part 2: One Foot, Many Tracks Willa W. Jarnagin Thursday, 11/14/2019, at 12:10 PM

Track morphology changes with substrate consistency.

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November 14, 2019

Thu, 14 Nov 2019 12:00:00 +0000|November 14, 2019

Part 3: One Step, Many Tracks

avenne — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 16:36:52 +0000

Part 3: One Step, Many Tracks Alfred J. Venne Tuesday, 7/5/2022, at 12:36 PM

Tracks are volumetric deformations exposed as surfaces.

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July 5, 2022

[More videos coming soon]

wwjarnagin — Thu, 14 Nov 2019 17:12:00 +0000

Willa W. Jarnagin Thursday, 11/14/2019, at 12:12 PM

[About the Scientists]

wwjarnagin — Thu, 14 Nov 2019 16:59:00 +0000

Willa W. Jarnagin Thursday, 11/14/2019, at 11:59 AM

About the Scientists

Stephen M. Gatesy

Gatesy is Professor of Biology in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Brown University, where he studies the evolution of locomotion in dinosaurs. His research combines descriptions of living animals using X-ray imaging and 3-D animation with analyses of fossil tracks and bones. Learn more....

Peter L. Falkingham

Falkingham is Senior Lecturer in Vertebrate Biology in the School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, UK. His research combines physical and simulated modeling of footprints by living and extinct animals. He has particular interests in computer simulation and digitization methods applied to fossil organisms and their traces. Learn more...

Morgan L. Turner

Turner is a PhD candidate in the Gatesy Lab in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Brown University, where she studies foot biomechanics in dinosaurs and their relatives. Her research integrates X-ray studies of living alligators, sediment flow experiments with 3D printed foot models, motion analysis, and Virtual Reality visualizations. Learn more...

[Funding and Support]

wwjarnagin — Thu, 14 Nov 2019 17:02:00 +0000

Willa W. Jarnagin Thursday, 11/14/2019, at 12:02 PM

Funding and Support

This work was supported by the US National Science Foundation (EAR 1452119 to SMG and PLF; IOS 0925077 to SMG), a Brown Salomon Faculty Research Award, and the Bushnell Research and Education Fund.

We appreciate the support of the Directors and staff of the Beneski Museum of Natural History (L. Allen, T. Harms, D. Jones, A. Martini, H. Singleton, A. Venne, K. Wellspring, and S. Williams), as well as the Department of Communications (R. Diehl, W. Jarnagin) and Academic Technology Services (J. Kannan, A. Kinney) of Amherst College. We thank our many colleagues and collaborators (D. Baier, B. Brainerd, D. Carrasco, S. Cheleden, M. Colbert, R. Ellis, D. Goldman, F. Jenkins, R. Kambic, B. Knörlein, D. Laidlaw, K. Middleton, J. Novotny, P. Olsen, T. Roberts, N. Shubin, and J. Tveite).

Amherst College: Dinosaur Tracks

How Are Dinosaur Tracks Formed?

Learn How Scientists Study Trackmaking

Part 1: Hitchcock’s ‘Birds’

Part 2: One Foot, Many Tracks

Part 3: One Step, Many Tracks

[More videos coming soon]

More Videos Coming Soon

[About the Scientists]

About the Scientists

Stephen M. Gatesy

Peter L. Falkingham

Morgan L. Turner

[Funding and Support]

Funding and Support