Wendy Sloboda

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Illustration of the Wendiceratops pinhornensis that Sloboda found in 2010

Wendy Sloboda (* 1967/1968) is a Canadian fossil collector from Warner , Alberta . She has found many fossils of dinosaurs and other extinct animals on several continents, e. B. in Canada, Argentina, Mongolia, France and Greenland. According to her the horned dinosaur was Wendiceratops pinhornensis named from which she found in 2010 remains, as well as the trace fossil Barrosopus slobodai , one foot prints of a ground-dwelling bird, they discovered of 2003.

biography

As a teenager, she discovered fossilized eggshells in southern Alberta in 1987, which she gave to scientists, who subsequently found several nests of hadrosaurs (duck-billed dinosaurs), including fossilized embryos. She studied at the University of Lethbridge from 1989 to 1990 and found a hadrosaur skeleton in the meantime. She then worked for 16 years as a paleontological technician at the Royal Tyrrell Museum and in 2001 founded her own company, Mesozoic Wrex Repair, which deals with the conservation and casting of fossils. She received a BA in History from the University of Lethbridge in 2001.

The paleontologist David Evans of the Royal Ontario Museum basically calls Sloboda a legend in Alberta, as she is probably one of the best fossil hunters in the world ("basically a legend in Alberta. She's probably one of the best dinosaur hunters in the world.") Their finds include the first pterosaur - bone bed in North America. There is also a pterosaur leg showing signs of being bitten by a small dinosaur, which inspired the writer Daniel Loxton to write his 2013 book Pterosaur Trouble .

Sloboda made numerous finds in Alberta's Dinosaur Provincial Park , including a fossilized skull of a Corythosaurus , as well as fossils of ankylosaurs , including Euoplocephalus and crocodiles . In 1999 she found and prepared the first known fossils of a gravid (i.e. egg-bearing) turtle. Together with the paleontologist Darla Zelenitsky, she described fossil eggshells found in Alberta and Montana under the name Reticuloolithus in 2005 . They are believed to originate from maniraptor dinosaurs such as oviraptorosaurs or dromaeosaurids .

While working in Argentina in 2003, she found a fossil footprint at Plaza Huincul . The footprint has been described by paleontologists Rodolfo Coria , Philip J. Currie , Alberto Garrido and David Eberth as belonging to a new species of Ichnotaxa that Sloboda honored by naming it Barrosopus slobodai , which translates as "Sloboda's muddy foot" can.

In 2010, Sloboda found a rock between the Milk River and the Canadian-American border in southern Alberta that contained a bone fragment. Evans and Ryan described this as the remains of a new genus and a new species called Wendiceratops pinhornensis , the name of the new genus linking Sloboda's first name with the suffix "- ceratops " , which is often found in dinosaur names . Excited that a new species was named after her, she had the dinosaur and its name tattooed on her arm.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Meet Wendiceratops, a 'spectacular' new horned dinosaur named after 'legend' Alberta fossil hunter . In: National Post . July 9, 2015.
  2. ↑ Will Dunham: Who is Wendy and why is this dinosaur named after her? . In: Reuters . July 8, 2015.
  3. ↑ a b c A Passion for Paleontology . In: University of Lethbridge (Ed.): U of L Journal . Spring 2004, pp. 8-9.
  4. ↑ a b c d Emily Chung: New 'Wendiceratops' named for legendary Alberta dinosaur hunter Wendy Sloboda . In: CBC News , July 8, 2015. 
  5. ↑ I. Anderson: Fetal fragments suggest warm-blooded dinosaurs . In: New Scientist . tape 115 , no. 1579 , September 24, 1987, pp. 25 .
  6. ^ John Acorn: Deep Alberta: Fossil Facts and Dinosaur Digs . University of Alberta, February 7, 2007, ISBN 978-0-88864-481-7 , p. 49.
  7. ^ Associated Press: Canadian student finds dinosaur remains . In: The Free Lance-Star , August 20, 1990, p. 15. 
  8. ^ Sasha Harris-Lovett: Meet Wendiceratops, a horned dinosaur unlike any other . In: Los Angeles Times , July 8, 2015. 
  9. ^ Richard Amery: Fossil talk at Cafe Galt . In: LA Beat . December 8, 2009. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
  10. ^ Mark Lowey: Bone booty in the badlands . In: Calgary Herald , Aug 8, 1992, p. A1.  , Reprinted in This day in Alberta history: Aug. 8, 1992 - Bone booty in the badlands . In: Calgary Herald , August 8, 2012. Retrieved July 11, 2015. 
  11. ^ Philip J. Currie, Aase Roland Jacobsen: An azhdarchid pterosaur eaten by a velociraptorine theropod . In: Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences . 32, No. 7, 1995, pp. 922-925. doi : 10.1139 / e95-077 .
  12. ↑ Kylie Sturgess: Getting Into Pterosaur Trouble - An Interview With Daniel Loxton . In: csicop.org . Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. April 3, 2013.
  13. ^ Philip J. Currie: History of Research. In: Philip J. Currie & Eva Bundgaard Koppelhus (Eds.): Dinosaur Provincial Park: A Spectacular Ancient Ecosystem Revealed . Indiana University Press, 2005, ISBN 0-253-34595-2 , pp. 3-33 .
  14. ↑ DK Zelenitsky, F. Therrien, WG Joyce, DB Brinkman: First fossil gravid turtle provides insight into the evolution of reproductive traits in turtles . In: Biology Letters . 4, No. 6, 2008, pp. 715-718. doi : 10.1098 / rsbl.2008.0395 . "We thank Wendy Sloboda for the discovery and preparation of the specimens."
  15. ↑ Bill Graveland: Fossilized pregnant turtle unveiled . In: The Toronto Star , August 28, 2008. 
  16. ↑ Darla K. Zelenitsky & Wendy J. Sloboda: Eggshells. In: Philip J. Currie & Eva Bundgaard Koppelhus (Eds.): Dinosaur Provincial Park: A Spectacular Ancient Ecosystem Revealed . Indiana University Press, 2005, ISBN 0-253-34595-2 , pp. 398-404 .
  17. ^ RA Coria, PJ Currie, D. Eberth, A. Garrido ,: Bird footprints from the Anacleto Formation (Late Cretaceous) in Neuquén Province, Argentina . In: Ameghiniana . 39, 2002, pp. 1-11.
  18. ↑ David C. Evans, Michael J. Ryan: Cranial Anatomy of Wendiceratops pinhornensis gen. Et sp. nov., a Centrosaurine Ceratopsid (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the Oldman Formation (Campanian), Alberta, Canada, and the Evolution of Ceratopsid Nasal Ornamentation . In: PLOS ONE . 10, No. 7, 2015, p. E0130007. doi : 10.1371 / journal.pone.0130007 .
personal data
SURNAME Sloboda, Wendy
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian vertebrate paleontologist
DATE OF BIRTH around 1967