Bradly Shelby

Natee (they/them) @himmapaan.bsky.social [ View ] Nov 14, 2023 at 22:41 UTC

Parasaurolophus. Ink on Fabriano Medioevalis, 132 × 85 mm. 2023.

2 replies 37 reposts 118 likes

Bradly Shelby @bradthecurator.bsky.social [ View ] Feb 28, 2024 at 20:27 UTC

A herd of Triceratops is referred to as a "no thanks."
#paleosky #dinosaur

0 replies 0 reposts 5 likes

Bradly Shelby @bradthecurator.bsky.social [ View ] Feb 25, 2024 at 22:15 UTC

Happy 61st birthday to one of my favorite #dinosaurs and one native to my state, #Deinonychus! Here is my "Deinonychus shelf," showcasing replicas of a foot, hand, and 2 skulls. The one on the right is the older, outdated model while an updated version sits to the left.

1 replies 1 reposts 10 likes

Bradly Shelby @bradthecurator.bsky.social [ View ] Feb 24, 2024 at 15:29 UTC

Know the difference.

0 replies 1 reposts 4 likes

Bradly Shelby @bradthecurator.bsky.social [ View ] Feb 24, 2024 at 13:14 UTC

There's a reason that lots of people only show theropods in profile and never from the front.

2 replies 3 reposts 12 likes

Bradly Shelby @bradthecurator.bsky.social [ View ] Feb 23, 2024 at 19:50 UTC

For #FossilFriday here is the 11th and oldest known specimen of Archaeopteryx! Based on chemical analysis this toothy little bird would have lived in Germany somewhere around 150 million years ago, making it one of the oldest known bird fossils.
#paleontology #scicomm #dinosaur

1 replies 14 reposts 41 likes

Bradly Shelby @bradthecurator.bsky.social [ View ] Feb 12, 2024 at 18:31 UTC

I see what you did there, National Geographic.

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Bradly Shelby @bradthecurator.bsky.social [ View ] Feb 12, 2024 at 15:43 UTC

I've often seen the lament about being born "too late to explore the earth or too soon to explore the stars" tossed around, but we lucky few have been given the opportunity to study dinosaurs, and that is more than enough for me.

0 replies 1 reposts 4 likes

Bradly Shelby @bradthecurator.bsky.social [ View ] Feb 12, 2024 at 15:42 UTC

It never fails to amaze me just how new the study of #dinosaurs really is- it's only been 200 years since the naming of the very first species, and just 183 years have passed since the formal recognition of these animals as their own distinct category.

1 replies 1 reposts 10 likes

Bradly Shelby @bradthecurator.bsky.social [ View ] Jan 21, 2024 at 16:47 UTC

Major issues so far, thankfully. They do professional 3d printing so they've avoided the 1001 missteps that I definitely would have made at this point.

1 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

Bradly Shelby @bradthecurator.bsky.social [ View ] Jan 21, 2024 at 16:46 UTC

That definitely makes sense, it's definitely a trade off and at this point I've done it both ways and haven't come down firmly on one so far. The bright colors are an immediate payoff, but the matching colors might be better long term. And I don't think the couple printing for me have had any

0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

Bradly Shelby @bradthecurator.bsky.social [ View ] Jan 21, 2024 at 16:31 UTC

Lol yeah, he definitely stands out! But I was able to get a good deal on this color, which was nice since we were going to have to use a lot of it. I've also found that I like using bright colors for these since it's easier to make sure I don't miss anything while painting.

1 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

Bradly Shelby @bradthecurator.bsky.social [ View ] Jan 21, 2024 at 16:10 UTC

Rudy, our new Baryonyx skull, is almost finished printing! Then it's on to getting everything sanded, connected, and finally painted.
#paleontology #dinosaurs #scicomm #paleosky

3 replies 2 reposts 13 likes

Bradly Shelby @bradthecurator.bsky.social [ View ] Jan 19, 2024 at 20:39 UTC

This also "torpedoes" stories about surviving plesiosaurs that describe them as lifting their necks vertically out of the water. Sorry #Nessie!

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Bradly Shelby @bradthecurator.bsky.social [ View ] Jan 19, 2024 at 20:39 UTC

The nature of buoyancy would have added even more obstacles, causing the animal to rock and tip over in the water. It would have definitely been difficult to snap up a passing #Pteranodon while struggling to even remain upright.

0 replies 1 reposts 5 likes

Bradly Shelby @bradthecurator.bsky.social [ View ] Jan 19, 2024 at 20:38 UTC

For hundreds of years people have imagined #plesiosaurs lifting their serpentine necks up from the waves, maybe snapping at some passing #pterosaur. But we now know that their necks would have actually been fairly stiff, preventing this classic image.
#paleontology #scicomm #paleosky

4 replies 2 reposts 9 likes

Bradly Shelby @bradthecurator.bsky.social [ View ] Jan 18, 2024 at 15:45 UTC

Have made for relatively poor knives and potentially even broken the claws. It's much more likely that they were used to pin down struggling prey items while ripping with the jaws, or possibly in more of a more piercing/stabbing motion.

1 replies 1 reposts 7 likes

Bradly Shelby @bradthecurator.bsky.social [ View ] Jan 18, 2024 at 15:44 UTC

The Jurassic Park films popularized the idea that the large talons on the feet of dromaeosaurs (raptors) were used for knife-like slashing, but this probably wasn't the case. The shape of these claws, as well as the softness of keratin, would (1)
#dinosaurs #paleontology #scicomm #paleosky

1 replies 1 reposts 8 likes

Bradly Shelby @bradthecurator.bsky.social [ View ] Jan 18, 2024 at 15:26 UTC

Dinosaur National Monument contains over 1500 fossils from 11 different species of dinosaurs- and something of a mystery. Despite the immense number of bones preserved here, only a single specimen shows signs of having been gnawed by a predator.
#paleontology #dinosaurs #scicomm #paleosky

0 replies 3 reposts 9 likes

Bradly Shelby @bradthecurator.bsky.social [ View ] Jan 17, 2024 at 14:00 UTC

The man had a need to feed.
#paleosky

0 replies 1 reposts 3 likes

Bradly Shelby @bradthecurator.bsky.social [ View ] Jan 15, 2024 at 14:43 UTC

This Pteranodon model was described as being created with "precision and realism" in mind. Now I'm no pterosaur expert, but I think that some of their anatomy might be a smidge off.
#paleosky #paleontology #pterosaur

2 replies 0 reposts 3 likes

Bradly Shelby @bradthecurator.bsky.social [ View ] Jan 13, 2024 at 22:41 UTC

The first known skeleton was discovered in 1828 by the famous fossil hunter Mary Anning, though it was mistakenly assigned to Pterodactylus. After finding additional specimens, the paleontologist Richard Owen (the same who coined the name dinosaur) would finally recognize and name the genus in 1859.

0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

Bradly Shelby @bradthecurator.bsky.social [ View ] Jan 13, 2024 at 22:31 UTC

Dimorphodon was a European genus of medium-sized #pterosaur that lived during the early Jurassic period whose name means "two-form tooth," referring to the fact that it had two distinct types of teeth in its jaws- something that is rare among reptiles.
#paleosky #scicomm #paleontology

1 replies 0 reposts 6 likes

Bradly Shelby @bradthecurator.bsky.social [ View ] Dec 04, 2023 at 13:35 UTC

Fun fact:
The same man who photographed the alleged UFO used for the famous "I Want to Believe" X-Files poster also claimed to have traveled through time with said aliens. Luckily for us he had a camera- these are some of the photos that he supposedly took of "real, live #dinosaurs."

0 replies 2 reposts 6 likes

Bradly Shelby @bradthecurator.bsky.social [ View ] Dec 04, 2023 at 03:15 UTC

I will just be using this situation to talk about my hyper fixation, thank you very much. Hope everyone's ready to hear about dinosaurs.
#paleosky #dinosaur #scicomm

0 replies 0 reposts 6 likes

Bradly Shelby @bradthecurator.bsky.social [ View ] Dec 03, 2023 at 22:34 UTC

Make a wish!
A furcula is a forked bone found in birds and many predatory dinosaurs that are formed by the fusion of the two clavicles. Here we have the smallest example in my collection next to the largest one- the smallest belonging to my Microraptor, while the biggest is from a T. rex!
#paleosky

0 replies 0 reposts 4 likes

Bradly Shelby @bradthecurator.bsky.social [ View ] Dec 03, 2023 at 05:26 UTC

Do I know anyone on here who's fairly familiar with Pteranodon biology? I've got a model I'd like an opinion on, would probably only take a few seconds.
#paleosky #paleontology #pterosaur

0 replies 3 reposts 2 likes

Bradly Shelby @bradthecurator.bsky.social [ View ] Dec 01, 2023 at 18:29 UTC

I've had an absolutely miserable head cold all week, so for #Fossilfriday here are the bones of Dolly- a young diplodocid who also suffered from a seriously unpleasant respiratory infection. Unlike poor Dolly, though, I'm thankfully starting to feel better.
#paleosky #dinosaur #scicomm

1 replies 1 reposts 8 likes

Bradly Shelby @bradthecurator.bsky.social [ View ] Nov 24, 2023 at 21:08 UTC

"The best scientists are open to the possibility that they may be wrong, and they are willing to change their minds in the face of new evidence."
- Richard Feynman
#paleosky #dinosaurs #scicomm

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Bradly Shelby @bradthecurator.bsky.social [ View ] Nov 23, 2023 at 10:49 UTC

1 replies 1 reposts 6 likes

Bradly Shelby @bradthecurator.bsky.social [ View ] Nov 20, 2023 at 22:08 UTC

Yeah, the poor things been all over the map name wise and it isn't helped by the loss of the holotype. I think at this point it's been identified as a Stegosaurus, then Alcovasaurus, and most recently Miragaia.

0 replies 0 reposts 4 likes

Bradly Shelby @bradthecurator.bsky.social [ View ] Nov 20, 2023 at 17:50 UTC

Miragaia longispinus is one of those dinosaurs that holds the dubious distinction of having been lost or destroyed after its discovery. The entire specimen, except for the femur, was destroyed when several pipes carrying water and steam burst above the museum’s exhibit area in the 1920s.
#Paleosky

2 replies 8 reposts 26 likes