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If ancient gray whale populations migrated and fed the same as today’s whales, what happened during the Ice Ages, when their major feeding grounds disappeared? UC Berkeley and Smithsonian paleontologists argue that gray whales utilized a range of food sources in the past, including herring and krill, in addition to the benthic organisms they consume today. As a result, prewhaling populations were two to four times greater than today’s population of around 22,000.
Tag: paleontology
Scientists find oldest dinosaur, or closest relative yet
December 5, 2012:
UC Berkeley graduate student Sarah Werning and University of Washington post-doc Sterling Nesbitt analyzed a museum fossil collected 80 years ago and concluded that the dog-sized creature may have been the earliest dinosaur yet found, having walked Earth 10 million years before previously known dinosaurs.
Fast-growing dinos, slow-growing crocs
December 2, 2011:
At some point in their evolution, crocodiles gave up the fast growth they had shared with their relatives, the dinosaurs. The Economist reports on the work of paleontologist Sara Werning, a UC Berkeley doctoral student, who studies the development of prehistoric vertebrates over evolutionary time.
Dinos r-o-a-a-r-r-r at Lawrence Hall
June 6, 2011:
Bigger and scarier than ever, T. rex and his dinosaur friends at the Lawrence Hall of Science have gotten new sensor-activated roars, among other features, as part of a major renovation. The “Dinosaurs Unearthed” exhibit is open through 2011.
Paleontologist and sustainability advocate Bill Berry dies at 79
June 1, 2011:
William B. N. Berry, a paleontologist and long-time advocate of environmental sustainability, died of cancer on May 20 at the age of 79. Berry was former director of the Museum of Paleontology, chair of the Department of Paleontology and director of the Environmental Studies Program.
Has the Earth’s sixth mass extinction already arrived?
March 2, 2011:
UC Berkeley biologists and graduate students delved into the fossil record to compare past animal extinctions — in particular the five “mass extinctions” that occurred within the past 540 million years — with today’s extinctions. They find that, while the rate of extinctions today is higher than during past mass extinctions, conservation efforts could help us avoid a sixth.
Third human species discovered in Siberian cave
December 22, 2010:
The discovery of a finger bone in a Siberian cave has led researchers, including UC Berkeley’s Montgomery Slatkin, to conclude that there were three species of humans living 40,000 years ago. The new species, dubbed Denisovans, were neither modern humans nor Neanderthals, though they apparently bred with our ancestors.
