After months of researching, interviewing, and polishing, we have finally launched our long-awaited I Know Dino podcast!
You can find our new, free podcast on iTunes at:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/i-know-dino/id960976813?mt=2
Our first episode features Pete Larson, president of the Black Hills Institute in South Dakota. Pete is a T-rex expert, and one of the main people in the documentary Dinosaur 13:
When Paleontologist Peter Larson and his team from the Black Hills Institute made the world’s greatest dinosaur discovery in 1990, they knew it was the find of a lifetime; the largest, most complete T. rex ever found. But during a ten-year battle with the U.S. government, powerful museums, Native American tribes, and competing paleontologists they found themselves not only fighting to keep their dinosaur but fighting for their freedom as well.
In this episode, we discuss:
- Pete Larson, paleontologist and president of the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research in South Dakota. He led the excavation of the T-rex “Sue,” the largest and most complete T-rex found.
- The documentary, Dinosaur 13, came out recently about the excavation, detailing the federal government’s seizure of Sue, the 10-year long legal battle, how Black Hills came together to fight for Sue, and Larson’s 18 months in prison.
- The dinosaur of the day is Tyrannosaurus Rex, which is ancient Greek for “Tyrant Lizard.”
- T-rex lived during the late Cretaceous period, in western North America (at the time an island continent called Laramidia)
- T-rexwas one of the largest known land predators; up to 40 feet in length, 13 feet tall at the hips, and 6.8 metric tons
- T-rex was probably a predator and a scavenger, and was estimated to have one of the largest bite forces among all terrestrial animals
- Scientists used to think T-rex walked upright and dragged its tail (a “living tripod”) but now they think the tail as off the ground, as seen in Jurassic Park.
- Henry Fairfield Osborn, the former president of the American Museum of Natural History, was convinced T-rex stood upright and unveiled the first complete T-rex skeleton this way in 1915. It stood in this upright pose for 77 years, until 1992.
- T-rex probably had feathers, at least on parts of its body.
- T-rex had enhanced eyesight, hearing, and sense of smell (comparable to modern vultures), and could track prey movements from long distances.
- T-rex may have had pack behavior.
- Fun Fact: The time between when Stegosaurus lived and when T-rex lived is longer than the time between when T-rex lived and now.
For those who may prefer reading, see below for the full transcript of our first episode (including the interview with Pete Larson):Continue Reading …
