Bradly Shelby

@bradthecurator.bsky.social

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I'm an amateur vertebrate paleontologist, science communicator, and hadrosaur enthusiast in the process of trying to start a museum.
Cover by Natee Himmapaan
#paleontology #scicomm #dinosaurs

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It never gets old. #paleosky #paleontology #dinosaurs #scicomm #museums

Dread it. Run from it. Destiny arrives all the same. And now it's here.

The oviraptorid dinosaur Citipati is named after a guardian deity of the same name in Himalayan Buddhism. While oviraptorids like Citipati were originally thought to be egg thieves, we now know that they were actually dedicated parents. 1/2 #paleontology #dinosaurs #scicomm #paleosky #fossils

I've gone from a jackhammer to a dental pick. #paleosky #paleontology #scicomm #dinosaurs #fossils

Sometimes you have to remove a little overburden if you want to dig up a dinosaur. #paleosky #dinosaurs #scicomm

It took me entirely too long to realize that this wasn't a picture of a pterosaur.

We finally have a full sized 1:1 scale #hadrosaur skeleton! Sure it's just an embryo, but it still technically counts! I also have the skull of a slightly older specimen of the same species- #Maiasaura- and will eventually have a full age progression of this important and fascinating #dinosaur!

I've decided that it's time to readjust my strategy for the museum and how I go about acquiring new displays. Instead of buying a wide variety of smaller and more diverse pieces, I will now wholly focus on obtaining this 1:1 museum quality replica of a full Tyrannosaurus skeleton.

Just ordered this Ornithomimus foot and leg bones to go along with my skull and claws from the same species. It makes for another fantastic addition to my Hell Creek display- we're slowly but surely fleshing out one of the most famous environments of the Mesozoic! #scicomm #dinosaur #paleontology

In the #JurassicWorld series it's stated that the Velociraptor Blue is able to reproduce without a mate due to her monitor lizard DNA. But was that explanation really necessary? Some birds and crocodilians are able to reproduce through parthenogenesis- the ability to reproduce without a mate.

My, what big CLAWS you have! These are the manus (hand) claws from a variety of large theropod #dinosaurs- the group that includes such dinosaurs as T. rex, Spinosaurus, and Velociraptor Ironically, the biggest claw here belongs to the herbivorous #theropod Therizinosaurus.

Got offered a good discount on this sculpt of a T. rex tooth progression today and picked it up. It'll definitely be a fun way to show how tooth replacement worked in these guys, and it seems robust enough to allow for touching. #paleontology #scicomm #dinosaur #paleosky

Torosaurus was the perforated (toreo) lizard, named for the window-like holes found in its massive frill. On the other hand, it might also be the bull (toro) lizard, named for its long brow horns. Unfortunately, the paleontologist who named it wasn't clear on which one he meant! #paleosky #dinosaur

For #FossilFriday, here's one of my personal favorite #dinosaurs- Maiasaura! We know more about the life cycle of Maiasaura than any other #dinosaur, with #fossils representing everything from nests full of eggs and embryos to very old (senescent) individuals. #paleontology #scicomm #paleosky

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Bradly Shelby

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

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

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.

Know the difference.

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

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

I see what you did there, National Geographic.

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.

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

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

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

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

The man had a need to feed. #paleosky

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

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

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."