iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by WitmerLab at Ohio University

Steve Brusatte @stevebrusatte.bsky.social · 4h

🚨Postdoc job alert: Come work with my paleontology & evolution group in Edinburgh! Researcher in Cognitive Evolution Over Deep Time. You'll study how brains & neurons have evolved over time, and predict neuron count in extinct species! www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DTC355/p...

jobs.ac.uk

Postdoctoral Research Associate in Cognitive Evolution over Deep Time at The University of Edinburgh

Apply for the Postdoctoral Research Associate in Cognitive Evolution over Deep Time role on jobs.ac.uk, the top job board for academic positions in higher education. View details and apply now.

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 20h

For #TyrannosaurTuesday, here's @ohiouniversity.bsky.social sophomore researcher Klazina McKeigan digging into the details of T. rex skulls using the brilliant 1/6-scale 3D print set of Stan from the Black Hills Institute. Klazina is training for a new project that you'll hear more about later! 🦖

Klazina McKeigan, a sophomore in Biological Sciences, is in the highly competitive Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine Early Assurance Program, meaning that she's already been accepted to our medical school (where I'm also faculty)! Here, Klazina is working with the one-sixth scale 3D printed of the T. rex known as Stan (NHMAD 2020.00001).

Klazina holds the assembled T. rex skull in one hand as she positions the isolated bones in a sandbox with the other.

The palatal skeleton is a challenge for just about all of us, but this disarticulated set, along with a sandbox, allows Klazina to really see how the bones fit together.

Here's the full set of the one-sixth scale 3D prints of the articulated and disarticulated skull bones of the T. rex known as Stan (NHMAD 2020.00001) produced by the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research. It's tremendously useful as a mean of learning how T. rex skulls are put together!

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

#FossilFriday Had a packed house the other night for a lab tour for the @ohiouniversity.bsky.social Geology Club. Over 2 hours of great questions & lotsa laughs! Thanks to Evan Doles & Abbie Fausnaugh for the photos! 🦖🦕🐊

This photo shows Witmer holding up a 3D print of a T. rex braincase (AMNH 5117), surrounded by OU Geology Club members. Thanks to Evan Doles & Abbie Fausnaugh for the photos!

This photo shows Witmer holding up a large photo of the T. rex holotype (CM 9380) skeleton snapped in the exhibits at the Carnegie Museum, as members of OU Geology Club members look on. At the time we were discussing what it means to be a "holotype specimen." Tyrannosaur skull casts dominate the foreground. Thanks to Evan Doles & Abbie Fausnaugh for the photos!

This photo shows Witmer giving an introduction about research in our lab to members of OU Geology Club. Thanks to Evan Doles & Abbie Fausnaugh for the photos!

This photo shows us in our prep lab where we do lots of dissections of carcasses of modern-day animals that have been donated to us for research. Witmer stand next to tables on which are laid out large skeletons of an alligator and a crocodile, as well as a set of anhinga wings. Thanks to Evan Doles & Abbie Fausnaugh for the photos!

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Happening now... @ohiouniversity.bsky.social UG Garnet Kish is starting in on an anhinga carcass donated to us from Pelican Harbor Seabird Station. We always first respectfully explore the exterior before going inside. Dissection is a privilege we don't take lightly. Each specimen has a story.

Ohio University undergrad researcher Garnet Kish stands next to a table gently holding the head and neck of a lovely anhinga carcass donated to us from the Pelican Harbor Seabird Station in Miami. Next to the table hangs a skeleton of a previously prepared anhinga skeleton that Witmer assembled.

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Welcome to new @ohiouniversity.bsky.social research undergrad Garnet Kish to the lab! She’s a junior biology student in the prestigious OHIO Honors program. Today was more albatross fun! Here Garnet marvels at the amazing automatic wing flexion-extension mechanism—all run by ligaments & tendons!

Welcome to new Ohio University research undergrad Garnet Kish to the lab! She’s a junior biology student in the prestigious OHIO Honors program. Today was more albatross fun! Here Garnet marvels at the amazing automatic wing flexion-extension mechanism—all run by ligaments & tendons!

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Success! Today, @ohiouniversity.bsky.social senior Casey Funk & I extracted the brain from an albatross carcass for her project comparing real brains w/ digital endocasts. We extracted the brain with optic nerves & eyeballs still attached, which took some doing! More to see once it's formalin-fixed.

Ohio University senior Casey Funk holds a jar of formalin in which is the brain with attached eyeballs of the albatross we dissected.

Ohio University senior Casey Funk starts the dissection of the albatross head.

The albatross brain (here in top or dorsal view, front is toward the top of the photo) is still mostly within its envelope of dura mater at this point. Once we removed the brain and the eyes, we dropped it all in formalin to fix (preserve) the tissues. Once it's fixed we'll open the dura to explore the brain.

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Two months ago I set up this little exhibit at the local Athens Public Library for their summer "Unearth a Story" series. We did a big public event there with tons more skulls a week later. But...summer's over & time for them to come back to the lab. I'm a little sad actually. 🦖

The exhibit of dinosaur skull casts that I set up at the local Athens Public Library for their summer program...just before I broke it down and returned it to WitmerLab.

The empty display cabinet at the Athens Public Library after I removed and packed all the skull casts for return to WitmerLab.

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

It's #InternationalCatDay and #caturday so we'll dip into the #PinkysDinosaurAdventure archives for an image of 8-week-old Pinky the Kitten with a somewhat larger friend.

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Last week I hosted the Japanese TV network NHK to film another fun documentary. The focus was T. rex & Triceratops. We CT scanned a replica T. rex braincase at @ohiohealth.bsky.social O'Bleness Hospital, recreating what we did with the real fossil >20 yrs ago (see captions). More below ⬇️ 1/2

Replica (3D print) of a T. rex braincase (AMNH 5117) on the CT scanner at OhioHealth O'Bleness Hospital in Athens, Ohio. Witmer and CT tech Angie McDonald are visible in the control room in the background. Photo by NHK director Yusuke Matsufune, with permission.

NHK cameraman Taka and director Yusuke Matsufune plan the shot of the camera riding on the CT table as the T. rex braincase goes through the scanner. OhioHealth O'Bleness Hospital CT Tech Angie McDonald operates the scanner.

The replica T. rex braincase on the CT scanner table at OhioHealth O'Bleness Hospital. The replica was 3D printed using the scan data of AMNH 5117 that we collected at O'Bleness in 2006 and published in 2009: https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.20983.

Witmer (left) with NHK coordinator/translator Reina Endo (center) and documentary director Yusuke Matsufune (right) along with the replica braincase of T. rex (AMNH 5117).

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

#FossilFriday Not my normal adult beverage, but when a hard seltzer is called "Dinosaurs on TV" & I'm hosting a documentary film crew this weekend to make, yes, dinosaurs on TV, I'm buyin'! Plus, the brewer is Jackie O's, our favorite local brewery here in Athens, Ohio. 🦖🍺

Two empty cans of Jackie O's "Dinosaurs on TV" hard seltzer sit in a stool with a T. rex brain endocast. A Triceratops endocast and various tyrannosaur parts are in the background.

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Happy July 4th! We'll celebrate the USA's 250th birthday with the iconic American dinosaur Brachiosaurus, discovered on July 4, 1900 in Colorado! A cast used to be mounted outside the Field Museum in Chicago but Elmer Riggs' holotype is still in the collection & a cast is at O'Hare airport. 🦕

The cast of the full skeleton of Brachiosaurus mounted outside the northwest terrace of the Field Museum in Chicago, silhouetted by the sun. I took this photo in 2011. In 2022, the cast was dismantled and recycled due to weathering damage, which is sad.

Witmer in 2017 with the holotype femur (FMNH P 25107) of Brachiosaurus altithorax in the collections of Field Museum of Natural History.

A page from the 1903 article in which Elmer Riggs names and figures the holotype skeleton of Brachiosaurus altithorax.

Witmer in 2023 with the mounted Brachiosaurus skeleton at the United Airlines Terminal at O'Hare International Airport (Terminal 1, Concourse B). On that day in May 2023, the skeleton thankfully wasn't dressed up in a sports jersey or corporate garb which I think diminishes and cheapens the impact of the amazing skeleton.

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Excited to see this #OA article ably led by Federico "Dino" Degrange come out today in @royalsocietypublishing.org Open Science on the brain endocast & feeding strategies of the Early Paleocene stem-anseriform Conflicto: doi.org/10.1098/rsos.... Proud to be on this team & work with Dino again!

Figure 1 from Degrange et al. 2026 (https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.252544) showing the brain endocast of the stem-anseriform Conflicto as well as the endocast within the transparent fossil skull and a life restoration by H.S. Druetta.

Figure 2 from Degrange et al. 2026 (https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.252544) showing the brain endocast of the stem-anseriform Conflicto in phylogenetic context with other Galloanseres.

Larry Witmer (left) and Dino Degrange (right) in 2015 during one of Dino's visits to WitmerLab at Ohio University.

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Our "Unearthing a Story" dinosaur event at the Athens Public Library a couple days ago was a great success! Lotsa kids & parents—& it can be hard to tell who's more eager! I gave a little talk but the big thing is the hands-on opportunity to explore! Thanks to our team & APL!🦖🦕

The WitmerLab team that worked the "Unearthing a Story" event at the Athens Public Library. In front is Ohio University undergrad Casey Funk and standing (from left) former master's grad student Daniel Dunfee, former PhD student Ruger Porter, and Larry Witmer.

Two boys explore the cast skull of Dromaeosaurus. We encourage the public to (gently) touch the specimens, and we're on hand to not just engage and explain but also to monitor the activity but frankly the parents generally are more concerned than we are. We want them to explore...I have glue. Photo by Casey Funk.

Undergrad Casey Funk speaks with a young library patron about Allosaurus. Casey is a senior in the Ohio University College of Arts & Sciences pre-health track studying biology and psychology.

This is the first time we've taken our T. rex foot along and it was a big hit. Kids (and adults) liked to line their foot up next to T. rex's to get a visceral sense of the scale! Photo by Casey Funk.

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

WitmerLab members will be putting on another public event at our local Athens Public Library next Tuesday, June 16th—https://bit.ly/4xrOiSM. Today, I put together a little exhibit at the library, too. It's all part of the library's June theme of "Unearth a Story." #FossilFriday 🦖🦕

Witmer stands next to a tall display cabinet filled with dinosaur skull casts at the Athens Public Library, which he just set up in advance of his upcoming public dinosaur event at the library next Tuesday, June 16th: https://bit.ly/4xrOiSM.

The display cabinet at the Athens Public Library filled with dinosaurs skull casts from the WitmerLab.

Witmer stands next to a poster at the Athens Public Library declaring June's them of "Unearth a Story", which is the context for his dinosaur exhibit and his presentation of a public dinosaur event at the library next Tuesday, June 16th: https://bit.ly/4xrOiSM.

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

The workshop in Edinburgh, Scotland, for the Deep Time Cognition grant team was amazing! Stimulating, inspiring, and so much fun! We worked hard by day & almost as hard at the pub in the evenings, plus a fossil-collecting excursion! See ALT for comments. More photos coming! 🧠

Members of the Deep Time Cognition grant team outside the Royal Society of Edinburgh. From left: Ryan Ridgely, Milly Mead, Mathias Osvath, Helena Osvath, Fraser Weston, George Poon, Kristina Kverková, Simon Grendeus, Thibault Boehly, Lona Lalić, Adam Manning, Larry Witmer, Thomas Rejsenhus Jensen, Steve Brusatte, Pavel Němec.

The Deep Time Cognition grant team met in the lovely Kelvin Room at the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Group photo of the Deep Time Cognition team at the shore of Wardie Bay at low tide to collect 335-million-year-old fossils (lots of fish and plants are known but we mostly found shark spiral coprolites). Here Steve Brusatte is giving us a run-down of the history and geology of the locality. The fact that the 300th anniversary of the birth of James Hutton, "the Father of Modern Geology," was the day we were there—and Hutton (and Darwin!) collected there—made it extra special!

The four principal investigators (PIs) of the Deep Time Cognition grant paused at Wardie Shore for a photo. From left: Larry Witmer (Ohio University, USA), Mathias Osvath (project director, Lund University, Sweden), Steve Brusatte (University of Edinburgh, Scotland), and Pavel Němec (Charles University, Czechia).

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

After a stimulating 1st day of our meeting of our Deep Time Cognition grant team, bringing together scholars from Lund Univ (Sweden), Charles Univ (Czech Republic), Univ. of Edinburgh (Scotland) & Ohio Univ (USA). Thanks to @stevebrusatte.bsky.social & his team for hosting us in Edinburgh!

Smiling members of the Deep Time Cognition project at a pub in Edinburgh, Scotland).

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Casey Funk is a rising @ohiouniversity.bsky.social senior joining our lab this summer. She's in the Coll. of Arts & Sci pre-health track studying bio & psych. Casey is interested in brain & cognitive evolution which we kinda do—starting with #OUµCT of an albatross to generate a brain endocast! 1/2

OHIO rising senior Casey Funk scanning a Laysan albatross skull on the OU microCT scanner.

OHIO rising senior Casey Funk carefully places a Laysan albatross skull on the OU microCT scanner.

OHIO rising senior Casey Funk watches the scan of the albatross skull being set up in the scanning software.

he results of the microCT scan of the Laysan albatross skull, showing volume renders of the skull in four different views.

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Finally got my copy of @stevebrusatte.bsky.social’s The Story of Birds, the latest in his “New History” series. I got to read an early draft, so I know I’ll enjoy it as much as his dinosaur & mammal books. it’s reading material for my trip to Edinburgh next week to work with Steve & our grant team!

Three books written by Steve Brusatte sit on a table, each adorned with a relevant skull: an ostrich for the bird book, a Velociraptor for the dinosaur book, and an opossum skull for the mammal book.

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

Had a wonderful & productive visit w/ Justyna Słowiak—so many tyrannosaurs! 🦖 She's building an exciting career at @ipaleopan.bsky.social by leading modern studies of the dinosaurs of the classic Polish-Mongolian Expeditions with a network of collaborators. I'm lucky to be among her collaborators!

Justyna Słowiak of the Institute of Paleobiology at the Polish Academy of Sciences poses with the disarticulated skull bones of the Mongolian tyrannosaur Tarbosaurus, while surrounded by other tyrannosaur skulls.

A final selfie with Justyna Słowiak and Larry Witmer before she returned to Warsaw and the Institute of Paleobiology at the Polish Academy of Sciences.

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Surprised this week to find that a new dinosaur species bears my name—sorta. Paul Penkalski named a species of Pinacosaurus after a 2003 paper. P. hilwitnorum combines the authors Rob Hill, me (Witmer), & Mark Norell. Cool to see that our article—https://bit.ly/4nC5PTU—is still relevant!

A specimen of Pinacosaurus that was described in 2003 by Rob Hill, me (Witmer), and the late great Mark Norell was made the holotype of a new species—Pinacosaurus hilwitnorum—in an article this week by Paul Penkalski. By combining the first three letters of each author's name, he honored our 2003 collaboration (https://bit.ly/4nC5PTU).

Paul Penkalski studying ankylosaurian dinosaur skulls in WitmerLab in 2015. Here's a link to his 2026 Historical Biology article reviewing the systematics of Pinacosaurus and naming P. hilwitnorum: https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2026.2633178

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Tarbosaurus! 🦖 Having a great visit with Justyna Słowiak of @ipaleopan.bsky.social. She's been honing her segmentation skills on a Tarbo braincase, with some guidance from our resident CT guru Ryan Ridgely. We're already collaborating on brain endocast ontogeny but lots of new projects are brewing!

Justyna Słowiak of the Institute of Paleobiology at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, seated at a workstation working on CT scan data of a braincase of the Mongolian tyrannosaurid Tarbosaurus.

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Excited to welcome Justyna Słowiak of the Institute of Paleobiology at the Polish Academy of Sciences for a couple weeks. We're collaborating on aspects of skull evolution of the Mongolian tyrannosaurid Tarbosaurus. Stay tuned for more from Dr. Słowiak—& from our collaboration!🦖

Justyna Słowiak of the Institute of Paleobiology at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, seated at a bench in WitmerLab surrounded by casts of skull bones of the Mongolian tyrannosaurid Tarbosaurus.

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

Had a great time this week at the RoyalTyrrell Museum, culminating in the CurrieFest symposium yesterday, honoring Phil Currie's 50 years in Alberta! It was a special day—and a total surprise for Phil! Otherwise, I was in the collections & had a full day on my own in the exhibits!

Phil Currie and me (Witmer) at the CurrieFest event, celebrating Phil's 50 years in Alberta and honoring his contributions to paleontology and his profound influence on so many people, myself included!

An amazing complete skeleton of the tyrannosaurid Gorgosaurus (TMP 1999.33.1 ) in the collections of the Tyrrell Museum.

An amazing complete skeleton of the tyrannosaurid Gorgosaurus (TMP 1999.33.1 ) in the collections of the Tyrrell Museum. This specimen is notable for a number of reasons, especially for having a complete gastral basket (that is, belly ribs called gastralia).

I had a full day in the exhibits on Monday when the Tyrrell Museum is closed to the public. I was able to climb into several exhibits to study original fossil specimens, but also take some great photos of the wonderful exhibits without museum patrons in the way.

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Great to meet up with Jared Voris today at the Royal Tyrrell Museum & study some beautiful juvenile specimens of the tyrannosaurid Gorgosaurus (this one is TMP 2016.014.0001). Happy to have played a role in two awesome articles led by Jared: doi.org/10.1080/0272... & doi.org/10.1002/cne..... 🦖

Larry Witmer and Jared Voris stand behind a wonderful skull of a juvenile Gorgosaurus.

Skull of a juvenile Gorgosaurus (TMP 2016.014.0001) in right lateral view.

Skull of a juvenile Gorgosaurus (TMP 2016.014.0001) in left lateral view.

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

Congratulations to graduating senior Grace Vance who defended her honors thesis on cranial vascular adaptations for diving in seals this week & submitted it today! We'll send it off for publication soon. Grace is a truly impressive person with a bright future! Off to Purdue for her PhD!

Graduating Ohio University senior Grace Vance holds her complete and submitted senior honors thesis on cranial vascular adaptations for deep diving in seals. In front of her on a table is the skull of an adult male hooded seal.

Graduating Ohio University senior Grace Vance presents her senior honors thesis research on cranial vascular adaptations for deep diving in seals.

Grace Vance presents her seal research poster to Dr. Kenneth C. and Gayle A. Reed at today's Research Fair for our Ohio Center for Ecology and Evolutionary Studies (OCEES). Dr. Reed is a generous donor to our OCEES student programs, funding multiple fellowships.

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

#FossilFriday From the depths of the pandemic to a wonderful #OA article out this week in @societyofvertpaleo.bsky.social—https://bit.ly/48oGPZG—congratulation to Marissa Livius, Jordan Mallon, & the whole team! A blast to dig back into ankylosaurs to sort out the Panoplosaurus-Edmontonia mess.

First page of the Livius et al. (2026) article in JVP: https://bit.ly/48oGPZG. Superimposed on the page is a Zoom screen capture of Marissa Livius' master's proposal defense from May 2021 with Jordan Mallon, Witmer, Hillary Maddin, Michael Ryan, and Marissa.

Photograph of a cast of the holotype skull of Panoplosaurus mirus (CMN 2759) in the foreground, with some other ankylosaurs lurking in the background (Gastonia, Ankylosaurus, Pawpawsaurus).

CT-scan-based volume renders of the Panoplosaurus mirus holotype skull (CMN 2759) (top), a referred specimen of P. mirus ROM 1215 (middle), and a referred skull of Edmontonia rugosidens AMNH 5381 along with a slice through the snout (bottom).

Photos from a May 2025 post (while finalizing details for the Livius et al. manuscript) focusing on the Edmontonia rugosidens holotype (USNM 11868). At top right is Witmer studying the old-fashioned x-ray film-based versions of the 1998 CT scan we made of the skull. The middle photo shows lateral views of the skull, and the bottom photo shows stereoscopic photos of the ventral surface of the skull.

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

Excited to report that Scripps School of Journalism student @eric-boll.bsky.social published his master's thesis research (which I helped supervise) on aspects of news coverage of paleo in the 1990s in @historicalbiology.bsky.social: bit.ly/41VMS4e. It also elicited an editorial: bit.ly/4spzQH9! 🦖

Eric Boll peers through the jaws of Tyrannosaurus rex, along with a copy of the Michael Crighton novel Jurassic Park, which according to his research was, along with the movie, a major influence on news coverage of paleontology and dinosaurs in the 1990s.

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Today is the Ohio University Student Research & Creativity Expo! For the third year in a row OHIO Honors student Grace Vance took first place for her poster on her senior thesis research on vascular adaptations for deep diving in seals! Well done, Grace! 🦭🏆 @ouhcom.bsky.social

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Reposted by WitmerLab at Ohio University

Mindy Weisberger @laminda.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

But wait, did you say that you were wondering what a rabbit's skull and endocast of its brain and inner ear look like as a rotating 3D model? @witmerlab.bsky.social has that too!

youtube.com

Rabbit skull and brain cast

YouTube video by WitmerLab

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

#HappyEaster🐰 from your friends at WitmerLab! A crunchy take on that traditional favorite this #Easter — now with added calcium! @ohiouniversity.bsky.social @ouhcom.bsky.social #rabbit #easterbunny #oryctolaguscuniculus #OUµCT #microCT #chocolatebunny

A traditional chocolate Easter bunny with a microCT-scan-based rendering of a rabbit skull (OUVC 9527) in place.

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

A quiet #FossilFriday in the lab, just me & the gang. Here's the Camarasaurus "station" that @ohiouniversity.bsky.social freshman Klazina McKeigan set up to learn dinosaur skulls: huge skull of the Gunma Camarasaurus (GMNH-PV 101)—both articulated & disarticulated—along with "baby Cam" (CM 11338). 🦕

The articulated skull of a huge specimen of the sauropod Camarasaurus—the Gunma Museum specimen (GMNH-PV 101)—sits on a table surrounded by the disarticulated cast bones of the same specimen, arranged roughly in position for comparison. Also, nearby at left is the skull of the Carnegie Museum specimen of a juvenile Camarasaurus (CM 11338). OHIO freshman Klazina McKeigan set this up to help her learn dinosaur skulls. A bunch of theropods skulls also share the table space.

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

Some sabertooth fun for #FossilFriday! A colleague recently asked me what parts of a Smilodon skull that we published on (bit.ly/4dfOInK) were real. CT is the easiest way to detect restoration. Here, the right canine (saber), a carnassial crown, & all lower incisors needed to be restored. ⚔️🦷🐱

A volume rendering of CT scan data of a sabertooth cat collected from the Las Brea Tar Pits (FMNH P12418) in right oblique view.

A photograph of the original fossil skull of a sabertooth cat collected from the Las Brea Tar Pits (FMNH P12418) in right oblique view.

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

Bobcat to Boilermaker! Grace Vance, who is doing her @ohiouniversity.bsky.social senior thesis on seals in our lab, will be joining Dylan Wainwright's lab at Purdue as a PhD student! Grace also will be a summer intern at Friday Harbor Labs this summer! Congratulations on all your success, Grace! 🎉

Bobcat to Boilermaker! We're thrilled to announce that Grace Vance, Ohio University senior in the OHIO Honors program who is completing her senior thesis in our lab on vascular diving adaptation in seals, will be joining Dylan Wainwright's lab at Purdue University as a PhD student this fall! Grace also was accepted into the internship program at Friday Harbor Laboratories near Seattle and Vancouver for this summer! Congratulations on all your success, Grace!

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

@ohiouniversity.bsky.social undergrad researcher in our lab Klazina McKeigan spent her Spring Break in Chicago & visited the Field Museum. She snapped photos with such luminaries as @suethetrex.bsky.social, the Chicago Archaeopteryx, & a mount Majungasaurus—same one she's been learning in our lab!

Ohio University freshman Klazina McKeigan at the Field Museum in Chicago with SUE the T. rex (FMNH PR 2081).

Ohio University freshman Klazina McKeigan at the Field Museum at the new Chicago Archaeopteryx exhibit.

Ohio University freshman Klazina McKeigan at the Field Museum in Chicago with Majungasaurus (FMNH PR 2100).

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Another @ohiouniversity.bsky.social undergrad joining our lab is bio freshman Klazina McKeigan. She's in the selective @ouhcom.bsky.social Early Assurance Program—she's already accepted into our med school! But for now Klazina is starting research on her other passion—dinosaurs! See ALT for details.

Another Ohio University undergraduate joining our lab this semester is Klazina McKeigan, a freshman in Biological Sciences. As a high-school senior, Klazina was accepted into the highly competitive Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine Early Assurance Program, meaning that she's already been accepted to our medical school (where I'm also faculty)! But for now, Klazina is starting research on her other passion, which is dinosaurs! As a kid, she visited dino haunts like the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller, and this week (our spring break) she's been in Chicago visiting the Field Museum. This semester she's been digging into skull structure of birds and reptiles...and now starting into dinosaurs, as with the disarticulated Majungasaurus skull she's working on here! Stay tuned for more!

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

Joining our lab this semester is @ohiouniversity.bsky.social sophomore Wildlife & Conservation Biology major Stella Kurtz. She’s taking on the mountain of Ohio bobcat skeletons that we've been preparing since the pandemic, making sense of the collection & doing some curation. See ALT for more info.

OU sophomore Stella Kurtz joined our lab this semester and has taken on the mountain of Ohio bobcat skeletons that we've been preparing since the pandemic. The carcasses were collected by the Ohio Dept of Natural Resources as part of a censusing project in collaboration with OU biology professors & students (but not WitmerLab folks), who collected age, sex, size, DNA, & precise locality data. The carcasses were to be destroyed but I swooped in before that happened (bones have stories to tell, too!). I held Bobcat Dissection Parties during the pandemic with the OU Wildlife Club and others, and our team also participated...a LOT. We now have dozens and dozens of data-rich skeletons. Right now, Stella is making sense of the collection, doing much needed curation, and becoming acquainted with the whole project. We are indeed the OHIO Bobcats sports-wise—and our team mascot is Rufus, the bobcat's species name: Lynx rufus—so who'd be better than us to have a nice collection of Ohio bobcats!

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Evan Doles, geology undergrad in our @OhioU Honors Tutorial College, has been digging into extant anatomy this semester to build a foundation for studying dinosaurs. Lately he’s been dissecting a common extant dinosaur, a domestic pigeon, which he finished today. 🦖🕊️

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

Loren Babcock from Ohio State's Orton Geological Museum (at left) gave a great seminar today on Thomas Jefferson, Megalonyx & paleo history to the @ohiouniversity.bsky.social Earth & Environmental Geosciences Department. We closed the day by bringing everyone to our lab for a fun tour! #FossilFriday

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

I should check my mail more often. Nice surprise on #FossilFriday to see an actual print version of the @nature.com issue with my News & Views commentary for the Nanotyrannus cover article by Lindsay Zanno & James Napoli @jgn-paleo.bsky.social. Glad to have been involved! Links in ALT🦖

Issue of the journal Nature depicting on its cover Nanotyrannus together with T. rex (art by Anthony Hutchings). Article by Lindsay Zanno & James Napoli here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09801-6

My News & Views commentary. Here's an easier to read version: https://rdcu.be/eNv94

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

To follow up on our #SundayCTscanning with @ohiouniversity.bsky.social undergrads Grace Vance & Klazina McKeigan, here are the results from the >14K CT slices: two young intact alligators, three Nile croc skulls, adult male & male pup hooded seals, and a bearded seal. Now the work begins! 🦭🐊

Volumetric renders of CT scans of two intact alligators and three Nile crocodile skulls.

Volumetric renders of CT scans of skulls of an adult male hooded seal, a male hooded seal pup, and a female bearded seal.

The Ohio University CT scan team in the control room at OhioHealth O'Bleness Hospital: senior OHIO Honors student Grace Vance, freshman Klazina McKeigan, and Witmer.

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 15/02/2026

#SundayCTScanning Spent the morning at @ohiohealth.bsky.social O'Bleness Hospital doing some research CT scanning of seals, alligators, and crocodiles with @ohiouniversity.bsky.social undergrad researchers senior Grace Vance & freshman Klazina McKeigan. Stay tuned for results...! 🦭🐊

A photo taken through the gantry of the CT scanner at OhioHealth O'Bleness Hospital in Athens, Ohio, featuring an alligator carcass surrounded by Witmer and undergraduate researchers Klazina McKeigan and Grace Vance.

A photo in the control room for the CT scanner at OhioHealth O'Bleness Hospital in Athens, Ohio, with Witmer and undergraduate researchers Grace Vance and Klazina McKeigan.

Freshman undergraduate researcher Klazina McKeigan with an alligator carcass to be scanned at OhioHealth O'Bleness Hospital in Athens, Ohio.

Senior undergraduate researcher Grace Vance with an alligator carcass to be scanned at OhioHealth O'Bleness Hospital in Athens, Ohio.

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

So happy to finally meet Gary Vecchiarelli today after being friends on social media for years. Glad to welcome him to @ohiouniversity.bsky.social & give him a lab tour. He's working on a geology master's via OU's online program. And we took in a Bobcats hockey game while we were at it—and we won!

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

Excited to see this article led by @seishirotada.bsky.social out in @anatrecord.bsky.social. Triceratops and their ceratopsian kin are more than horns and frills! Check out their narial regions! doi.org/10.1002/ar.7...

From https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.70150. FIGURE 10 Life reconstruction of the head of Triceratops prorsus with nasal soft tissues inferred in the present study shown. Soft tissues include the main narial nerves and blood vessels, nasal gland, nasolacrimal duct, and respiratory turbinate. Note that the nasolacrimal duct and respiratory turbinate were inferred mainly in centrosaurines. Artwork by K. Sakane. n & bv, nerves and blood vessels; ng, nasal gland; nld, nasolacrimal duct; rt, respiratory turbinate.

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

It's Sibs Weekend here at Ohio University, and I was happy to help new freshman undergrad researcher in our lab Klazina McKeigan give her brother Alexander (a current high school junior...and future Bobcat?) a tour of the lab this afternoon. More about Klazina's research another time.

Witmer poses with freshman undergrad researcher Klazina McKeigan and her brother Alexander and our T. rex skull (AMNH 5027) as part of a tour for Sib Weekend.

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

I'm a couple days late for #MuseumSelfieDay but we'll count it for #FossilFriday. Here's one of me studying a lovely specimen of Ichthyornis at the facility in Tsukuba housing the collections of Japan's National Museum of Nature & Science (the public museum is in nearby Tokyo).

Witmer studies a slab of the Cretaceous bird Ichthyornis at the facility in Tsukuba housing the collections of Japan's National Museum of Nature & Science.

Skeleton of the the Cretaceous bird Ichthyornis still in its Niobrara slab at the facility in Tsukuba housing the collections of Japan's National Museum of Nature & Science.

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

Just finished this awesome new-ish book by @nicolasmathevon.bsky.social on animal communication. It covers a lot of ground with a huge diversity of species—& it's a blast to read! Great for those interested in sensory ecology. (I had skulls of all the cover animals, so I snapped a photo! 😃)

The book The Voices of Nature by Nicolas Mathevon sits on a table surrounded by skulls of the animals depicted on the cover (which were all drawn by the author's dad, Bernard Mathevon!) The skulls are American robin (Turdus migratorius, OUVC 9766), spectacled caiman (Caiman cf. C. crocodilus, OUVC 11550), northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris, OUVC 9581), and spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta, OUVC 10571).

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

T. rex is more closely related to this little dinosaur (a hummingbird) than T. rex is to Allosaurus. Also, a hummingbird's humerus is way smaller than it's eyeball. Go home, evolution, you're drunk! 🦖

The tiny skull of a ruby-throated hummingbird (OUVC 10851) sits on the tip of a finger. The even tinier humerus of this bird sits in front of the skull.

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

30 yrs ago today, a blizzard paralyzed the whole East Coast, closing Ohio University & all roads. But I still had an NSF grant deadline, so I trudged the three miles to campus to get it done and submitted. It was my first major proposal in my new job—dubbed "the DinoNose Project." Got the grant!

Cover of the Ohio University student newspaper, 30 years today (Jan 8th).

Project Summary page of an NSF grant proposal submitted 30 years...a grant we got.

Covers of some journals with articles that derived from the NSF grant we got 30 years ago.

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

Happy New Year from your friends at WitmerLab! 🎉 As hope for 2026, here's the beautiful skeleton of a mōlī (Laysan albatross). May it bring us all the wisdom of Wisdom, the 75-yo mōlī—the oldest known wild bird who still returns to Midway Atoll annually to nest & breed! 1/3

Disarticulated skeleton of a mōlī (Laysan albatross, Phoebastria immutabilis, OUVC 10448), with the separated bones laid out on a table and spelling "Happy New Year."

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WitmerLab at Ohio University @witmerlab.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Here's our #TopNine #Top9 posts on BlueSky for 2025 based on engagement metrics. More theropod dinosaurs—especially tyrannosaurs—this year than in previous years. We posted about other things, but these are what y'all seemed to go for. Looking forward to what 2026 brings to our lab!

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