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Paleontology is about more than dinosaurs! Harvard paleontologists study amazing non-dinosaur fossils including early mammals, ancient invertebrates, whales, crabs, and more! Meet members of the Stephanie E. Pierce Lab for Vertebrate Paleontology and the Ortega-Hernández Lab for Invertebrate Paleontology to see their favorite fossils, learn about their research, and ask them your questions. See what new techniques and technologies are being used to study fossils, learn what fossils can teach us about evolution, and hear about current research projects. Join us to celebrate National Fossil Day with short talks and table-top presentations for all ages. Featuring paleontologists who speak Spanish.
Free with museum admission
Free parking at the 52 Oxford Street Garage.
Arthropods Gallery
Meet members of the Javier Ortega-Hernández Lab!
What was life like in ancient oceans? See amazing and weird invertebrate fossils, including trilobites, crustaceans, and horseshoe crabs. Learn how these fossils help us understand evolution and ancient marine ecosystems.
Lab Members:
Javier Ortega-Hernández, Assistant Professor (Yo hablo español)
Joy Julius, National Science Foundation Post-Baccalaureate Researcher
Javier Luque, National Science Foundation Post-Doctoral Researcher (Yo hablo español)
Jared Richards, Graduate Student
Special Exhibits Hallway
Meet members of the paleontology curatorial team!
What do you do when you find a fossil? Learn how fossils are collected, cleaned, prepared, and cared for in our collections.
Members:
Eva Biedron, Curatorial Assistant
Scott Johnston, Preparator and Technician
Romer Hall
Meet Members of the Stephanie Pierce Lab!
What makes a mammal a mammal? Meet some of our very ancient relatives, the early mammals! See how we use fossils and cutting-edge techniques to understand early mammal evolution.
How is a Kronosaurus like a whale? They both swim! See how fossils of aquatic animals like Kronosaurus, whales, and ichthyosaurs help us learn about how these very different animals lived, moved, and evolved.
Lab Members:
Stephanie Pierce, Professor
Peter Bishop, Post-Doctoral Researcher
Rob Brocklehurst, Post-Doctoral Researcher
Amandine Gillet, Marie Curie Post-Doctoral Research Fellow
Magdalen Mercado, Undergraduate Student
Gabby Neves Guilhon, Graduate Student
Mark Wright, Graduate Student
Lightning Talks
Recommended for ages 10 and up
Haller Hall
accessible through the museum lobby or elevator in the Climate Change Gallery
1:00–1:30 pm Understanding Ancient Oceans
Jared Richards, Ortega-Hernández Lab
Today’s oceans are ecologically complex and extremely biodiverse. The origins of this can be traced to major events in the past such as the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (GOBE). Learn how half-a-billion-year-old animal fossils from the dawn of the GOBE help us understand the development of some of the earliest modern-like animal communities.
1:35–2:05 pm Why Do Things Keep Evolving into Crabs?
Javier Luque, Ortega-Hernandez Lab
For more than 200 million years, animals have evolved into things that look like crabs over and over again. What is it about the crab’s form that makes Nature so obsessed with evolving it so many times, independently? Let's dive into deep time and learn about the oldest, cutest, and strangest fossil and living crabs that make us rethink why things evolve into crabs.
2:10–2:40 pm The Evolution of Whales
Amandine Gillet, Pierce Lab
Our oceans are filled with amazing creatures including whales, the largest animals to have ever lived. Despite their fish-like appearance, early whales originated from a dog-like ancestor roaming on land. Learn about the gradual transition from land to water during whale evolution and how it impacted their locomotion.
2:45–3:15 pm Walking with Dimetrodons
Peter Bishop, Pierce Lab
Mammals are one of the most successful groups of animals alive today. They owe much of that to a unique body plan, including how they move. To understand how mammals move today, we must dig into the past to understand movement in their long-extinct ancestors, including Dimetrodons! This talk explores how paleontology brings together research in fossils and anatomy, with modern techniques in engineering and computer simulation, to investigate locomotion in extinct animals and bring them “back to life.”
3:20–3:50 pm ¿Por qué las cosas siguen evolucionando hacia los cangrejos?
Charla presentada en español
Javier Luque, Ortega-Hernández Lab
Durante más de 200 millones de años, los animales han evolucionado una y otra vez a seres que se parecen a los cangrejos. ¿Qué tiene la forma del cangrejo que hace que la Naturaleza esté obsesionada con evolucionar a ese fin tantas veces independientemente? Vamos a mirar hacia atrás hacia el tiempo profundo y aprender sobre los cangrejos fósiles y vivientes más antiguos, lindos y raros que nos hacen repensar por qué hay animales que llegan a evolucionar a cangrejos.