February 28, 2017

Anchiornis: Putting skin on the bones...with science!

February 28, 2017/ Scott Hartman

For paleoartists (and the scientists who work with them), properly restoring the skeleton is merely the beginning of the process, since the various muscles, tendons, and other soft tissues can make the final shape of an animal quite different than the skeleton alone. Most of the time this requires an extensive knowledge of comparative anatomy from living organisms, which we can occasionally test against occasional "mummy" dinosaur specimens with extensive soft-tissue preservation. With bird-like dinosaurs we have often been treated to preservation of their feathers and fluff, but not their skin or muscles...until today. Join me below the fold for a look at a truly amazing bit of soft-tissue preservation in Anchiornis.

November 19, 2016

Taking a 21st century look at Dimetrodon

November 19, 2016/ Scott Hartman

Today I have something I’m excited to share with you: my skeletal reconstruction of Dimetrodon grandis. It looks quite a bit different from existing skeletal reconstructions, so I’m also going to take a more in-depth look at the underlying data. But first, let’s take a look...

June 03, 2016

You should be reading The Tyrannosaur Chronicles

June 03, 2016/ Scott Hartman

I wanted to make sure you are know about Dave Hone’s excellent new book, The Tyrannosaur Chronicles. I’d hoped to blog about it several weeks ago, but I had a slew of end-of-semester grading and sundry other deadlines. The upshot of that decision is I’ve now had a chance to read the entire book, and can say without hesitation that you are in for a treat...

July 10, 2015

Deinocheirus - Therizinosaur or hadrosaur mimic?

July 10, 2015/ Scott Hartman

When the skull and body of Deinocheirus were revealed there was a lot of talk about how much it looked like a hadrosaur. I did not really agree with this analogy, as the upright posture and large, clawed hands seemed to indicate that it was an ornithomimid trying its best to be a therizinosaur rather than a hadrosaur. Now I'm not so sure...

July 01, 2015

Mosasaur Tails - "Teaching the Controversy"

July 01, 2015/ Scott Hartman

Mosasaurs have become all the rage lately with the release (and immense popularity) of Jurassic World. Purely by coincidence I had a commission for a mosasaur, Tylosaurus pembinensis. I hadn't done a mosasaur before (or any lizards), but I'm reasonably familiar with squamate osteology so I figured it wouldn't be nearly as far "out there" as say doing a skeletal of an actinopterygian fish. But it turns out that when it comes to their tail fins, science is still in the middle of telling the mosasaurs' tale...

March 08, 2015

Catching up: Books, plushies, and a welcome to Gizmodo readers

March 08, 2015/ Scott Hartman

It's been a very busy year, and as a result it's awhile since I updated the blog, There are several smaller items I want to cover before I get to meatier topics, including a book I contributed to, an adorable Velociraptor plushie, and the #SciArt Twitter Storm.

September 18, 2014

Aquatic Spinosaurus - The authors respond

September 18, 2014/ Scott Hartman

As most of you reading this will know, I've written two posts on Spinosaurus - the first one questioned the proportions of the composite skeleton that recently gained fame through a paper in Science, the second one discussing a photo that has been used for and against those proportions. In the comments section on the second post Nizar Ibrahim wrote a length response, which (with his kind permission) I would like to elevate to a full post. As is often true in these debates there are parts I agree with and others I disagree with, but I will address those at a future date. For now I think it's only fair to give their comments the floor...