Wendy Sloboda

Last updated
Wendy J. Sloboda
Born1967/1968 [1]
NationalityCanadian
Alma mater University of Lethbridge
Occupation Fossil collector
Years active1987–present
Known forFossil discoveries

Wendy Sloboda is a Canadian fossil hunter from Warner, Alberta. She has made fossil discoveries of dinosaurs and other extinct animals on several continents, with finds in Canada, Argentina, Mongolia, France, and Greenland. [2] She is commemorated in name of the horned dinosaur Wendiceratops , remains of which she discovered in 2010, as well as the fossil footprint Barrosopus slobodai which she discovered in 2003. [3] [4]

Contents

Biography

Illustration of Wendiceratops, which Sloboda discovered in 2010 Wendiceratops restoration.PNG
Illustration of Wendiceratops , which Sloboda discovered in 2010

In 1987, as a teenager, Sloboda discovered fossil eggshells in southern Alberta which she passed on to scientists, who uncovered multiple nests of hadrosaurs (duck-billed dinosaurs) including fossilized embryos. [5] [6] She enrolled at the University of Lethbridge in 1989 and in the summer of 1990, discovered a hadrosaur skeleton. [7] She worked for sixteen years as a paleontological technician at the Royal Tyrrell Museum and started her own business, Mesozoic Wrex Repair, a fossil preparation and casting company, in 2001. [3] [8] She earned B.A. in history from the University of Lethbridge in 2001. [3] [9]

Paleontologist David Evans, of the Royal Ontario Museum calls Sloboda "basically a legend in Alberta. She's probably one of the best dinosaur hunters in the world." [4] Her discoveries include the first pterosaur bonebed in North America, [10] and a pterosaur leg showing evidence of predation by a small dinosaur [11] that inspired author Daniel Loxton's 2013 book Pterosaur Trouble. [12]

Sloboda has made numerous discoveries in Alberta's Dinosaur Provincial Park, including fossil skulls of Corythosaurus , ankylosaurs (including Euoplocephalus ) and crocodilians. [13] In 1999, she discovered and prepared the first known fossils of a gravid (egg-containing) turtle. [14] [15] In 2005, along with paleontologist Darla Zelenitsky, she described the oogenus Reticuloolithus : fossilized eggshells found in Alberta and Montana, believed to have been laid by maniraptoran dinosaurs such as oviraptorosaurs or dromaeosaurids. [16]

In 2003, while working in South America, Sloboda discovered a fossil footprint in Plaza Huincul, Argentina. The footprint was described as a new ichnospecies by paleontologists Rodolfo Coria, Philip J. Currie, Alberto Garrido, and David Eberth, who honored Sloboda by naming it Barrosopus slobodai , which translates as "Sloboda's muddy foot". [17]

In 2010, Sloboda discovered a rock containing a bone fragment in Southern Alberta, between the Milk River and the Canada-US border. [4] Evans and Ryan described the remains as a new genus and species, dubbed Wendiceratops pinhornensis , with the genus name combining Sloboda's first name with the suffix "-ceratops", common in horned dinosaur names. [18] In celebration of having a genus named after her, Sloboda had a drawing of the dinosaur and its scientific name tattooed on her arm. [4]

Publications

Related Research Articles

<i>Gorgosaurus</i> Genus of tyrannosaur dinosaur

Gorgosaurus is a genus of tyrannosaurid theropod dinosaur that lived in western North America during the Late Cretaceous Period (Campanian), between about 76.6 and 75.1 million years ago. Fossil remains have been found in the Prince Creek Formation of Alaska, the Canadian province of Alberta and the U.S. state of Montana. Paleontologists recognize only the type species, G. libratus, although other species have been erroneously referred to the genus.

<i>Saurornitholestes</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Saurornitholestes is a genus of carnivorous dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur from the late Cretaceous of Canada (Alberta) and the United States.

<i>Centrosaurus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Centrosaurus is a genus of centrosaurine ceratopsian dinosaur from Campanian age of Late Cretaceous Canada. Their remains have been found in the Dinosaur Park Formation, dating from 76.5 to 75.5 million years ago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip J. Currie</span> Canadian paleontologist and curator

Philip John Currie is a Canadian palaeontologist and museum curator who helped found the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller, Alberta and is now a professor at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. In the 1980s, he became the director of the Canada-China Dinosaur Project, the first cooperative palaeontological partnering between China and the West since the Central Asiatic Expeditions in the 1920s, and helped describe some of the first feathered dinosaurs. He is one of the primary editors of the influential Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs, and his areas of expertise include theropods, the origin of birds, and dinosaurian migration patterns and herding behavior. He was one of the models for palaeontologist Alan Grant in the film Jurassic Park.

<i>Anchiceratops</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Anchiceratops is an extinct genus of chasmosaurine ceratopsid dinosaur that lived approximately 72 to 71 million years ago during the latter part of the Cretaceous Period in what is now Alberta, Canada. Anchiceratops was a medium-sized, heavily built, ground-dwelling, quadrupedal herbivore that could grow up to an estimated 4.3 metres (14 ft) long. Its skull featured two long brow horns and a short horn on the nose. The skull frill was elongated and rectangular, its edges adorned by coarse triangular projections. About a dozen skulls of the genus have been found.

Polyodontosaurus is a potentially dubious genus of troodontid dinosaur named in 1932 by Charles W. Gilmore for a left dentary from the Dinosaur Park Formation. It had been considered a synonym of Stenonychosaurus or Troodon for a significant time, before being declared a nomen dubium. The only known species is the type, P. grandis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dinosaur Park Formation</span> Uppermost member of the Belly River Group geologic unit in Alberta, Canada

The Dinosaur Park Formation is the uppermost member of the Belly River Group, a major geologic unit in southern Alberta. It was deposited during the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous, between about 76.5 and 74.4 million years ago. It was deposited in alluvial and coastal plain environments, and it is bounded by the nonmarine Oldman Formation below it and the marine Bearpaw Formation above it.

The Oldman Formation is a stratigraphic unit of Late Cretaceous age that underlies much of southern Alberta, Canada. It consists primarily of sandstones that were deposited in fluvial channel and floodplain environments. It was named for exposures along the Oldman River between its confluence with the St. Mary River and the city of Lethbridge, and it is known primarily for its dinosaur remains and other fossils.

<i>Panoplosaurus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Panoplosaurus is a genus of armoured dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Alberta, Canada. Few specimens of the genus are known, all from the middle Campanian of the Dinosaur Park Formation, roughly 76 to 75 million years ago. It was first discovered in 1917, and named in 1919 by Lawrence Lambe, named for its extensive armour, meaning "well-armoured lizard". Panoplosaurus has at times been considered the proper name for material otherwise referred to as Edmontonia, complicating its phylogenetic and ecological interpretations, at one point being considered to have existed across Alberta, New Mexico and Texas, with specimens in institutions from Canada and the United States. The skull and skeleton of Panoplosaurus are similar to its relatives, but have a few significant differences, such as the lumpy form of the skull osteoderms, a completely fused shoulder blade, and regularly shaped plates on its neck and body lacking prominent spines. It was a quadrupedal animal, roughly 5 m (16 ft) long and 1,600 kg (3,500 lb) in weight. The skull has a short snout, with a very domed surface, and bony plates directly covering the cheek. The neck had circular groups of plates arranged around the top surface, both the forelimb and hindlimb were about the same length, and the hand may have only included three fingers. Almost the entire surface of the body was covered in plates, osteoderms and scutes of varying sizes, ranging from large elements along the skull and neck, to smaller, round bones underneath the chin and body, to small ossicles that filled in the spaces between other, larger osteoderms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horseshoe Canyon Formation</span> Geological formation in Canada

The Horseshoe Canyon Formation is a stratigraphic unit of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin in southwestern Alberta. It takes its name from Horseshoe Canyon, an area of badlands near Drumheller.

Charles Mortram Sternberg (1885–1981) was an American-Canadian fossil collector and paleontologist, son of Charles Hazelius Sternberg. Late in his career, he collected and described Pachyrhinosaurus, Brachylophosaurus, Parksosaurus and Edmontonia. A contemporary author wrote, "No published study of Canadian dinosaurs is possible today without citing one or another of Sternberg's papers."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foremost Formation</span> Geologic formation in Alberta, Canada

The Foremost Formation is a stratigraphic unit of Late Cretaceous (Campanian) age that underlies much of southern Alberta, Canada. It was named for outcrops in Chin Coulee near the town of Foremost and is known primarily for its dinosaur remains and other fossils.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cerro del Pueblo Formation</span>

The Cerro del Pueblo Formation is a geological formation in Coahuila, Mexico whose strata date back to the Late Cretaceous. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation. The formation is believed to correlate with the Baculites reesidesi and Baculites jenseni ammonite zones, which dates it to 73.63-72.74 Ma.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gaogou Formation</span>

The Gaogou Formation is a fossiliferous geological formation located in the Xixia Basin of China. The formation dates back to the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian-Coniacian) and fossilized eggs of dinosaurs and turtles are commonly reported from the formation. Dinosaur taxa is also reported from the unit.

<i>Macroolithus</i> Dinosaur egg

Macroolithus is an oogenus of dinosaur egg belonging to the oofamily Elongatoolithidae. The type oospecies, M. rugustus, was originally described under the now-defunct oogenus name Oolithes. Three other oospecies are known: M. yaotunensis, M. mutabilis, and M. lashuyuanensis. They are relatively large, elongated eggs with a two-layered eggshell. Their nests consist of large, concentric rings of paired eggs. There is evidence of blue-green pigmentation in its shell, which may have helped camouflage the nests.

Continuoolithus is an oogenus of dinosaur egg found in the late Cretaceous of North America. It is most commonly known from the late Campanian of Alberta and Montana, but specimens have also been found dating to the older Santonian and the younger Maastrichtian. It was laid by an unknown type of theropod. These small eggs are similar to the eggs of oviraptorid dinosaurs, but have a distinctive type of ornamentation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Egg fossil</span> Fossilized remains of eggs laid by ancient animals

Egg fossils are the fossilized remains of eggs laid by ancient animals. As evidence of the physiological processes of an animal, egg fossils are considered a type of trace fossil. Under rare circumstances a fossil egg may preserve the remains of the once-developing embryo inside, in which case it also contains body fossils. A wide variety of different animal groups laid eggs that are now preserved in the fossil record beginning in the Paleozoic. Examples include invertebrates like ammonoids as well as vertebrates like fishes, possible amphibians, and reptiles. The latter group includes the many dinosaur eggs that have been recovered from Mesozoic strata. Since the organism responsible for laying any given egg fossil is frequently unknown, scientists classify eggs using a parallel system of taxonomy separate from but modeled after the Linnaean system. This "parataxonomy" is called veterovata.

<i>Wendiceratops</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Wendiceratops is a genus of herbivorous centrosaurine ceratopsian dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Canada.

The China-Canada Dinosaur Project was a six-year series of palaeontological expeditions carried out by scientists from China and Canada.

Darla K. Zelenitsky is a Canadian paleontologist most notable for her research on dinosaur reproductive biology and fossils. She was a part of a team that first found evidence of feathered dinosaurs in North America, and since then has co-authored over 50 different publications. Her research primarily focuses on paleobiology and paleoenvironments, with a key look on dinosaurs using extinct taxa to detect and infer the changes seen over time.

References

  1. "Meet Wendiceratops, a 'spectacular' new horned dinosaur named after 'legend' Alberta fossil hunter". National Post . July 9, 2015.
  2. Dunham, Will (July 8, 2015). "Who is Wendy and why is this dinosaur named after her?". Reuters.
  3. 1 2 3 "A Passion for Paleontology" (PDF). U of L Journal. University of Lethbridge: 8–9. Spring 2004.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Chung, Emily (July 8, 2015). "New 'Wendiceratops' named for legendary Alberta dinosaur hunter Wendy Sloboda". CBC News .
  5. Anderson, Ian (24 September 1987). Fetal fragments suggest warm-blooded dinosaurs. p. 25. ISSN   0262-4079.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  6. John Acorn (7 February 2007). Deep Alberta: Fossil Facts and Dinosaur Digs . University of Alberta. p.  49. ISBN   978-0-88864-481-7.
  7. "Canadian student finds dinosaur remains". The Free Lance-Star. Associated Press. August 20, 1990. p. 15.
  8. Harris-Lovett, Sasha (July 8, 2015). "Meet Wendiceratops, a horned dinosaur unlike any other". Los Angeles Times.
  9. Amery, Richard (December 8, 2009). "Fossil talk at Cafe Galt". L.A. Beat. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
  10. Lowey, Mark (August 8, 1992). "Bone booty in the badlands". Calgary Herald. p. A1., reprinted in "This day in Alberta history: August 8, 1992 – Bone booty in the badlands". Calgary Herald. August 8, 2012. Retrieved 11 July 2015.
  11. Currie, Philip J.; Jacobsen, Aase Roland (1995). "An azhdarchid pterosaur eaten by a velociraptorine theropod" (PDF). Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 32 (7): 922–925. Bibcode:1995CaJES..32..922C. doi:10.1139/e95-077.
  12. Sturgess, Kylie (April 3, 2013). "Getting Into Pterosaur Trouble – An Interview With Daniel Loxton". csicop.org. Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.
  13. Currie, Philip J. (2005). "History of Research". In Philip J. Currie; Eva Bundgaard Koppelhus (eds.). Dinosaur Provincial Park: A Spectacular Ancient Ecosystem Revealed. Indiana University Press. pp.  3–33. ISBN   0-253-34595-2.
  14. Zelenitsky, D. K.; Therrien, F.; Joyce, W. G.; Brinkman, D. B. (2008). "First fossil gravid turtle provides insight into the evolution of reproductive traits in turtles". Biology Letters. 4 (6): 715–718. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2008.0395. PMC   2614164 . PMID   18755656. We thank Wendy Sloboda for the discovery and preparation of the specimens.
  15. Graveland, Bill (August 28, 2008). "Fossilized pregnant turtle unveiled". The Toronto Star.
  16. Zelenitsky, Darla K.; Sloboda, Wendy J. (2005). "Eggshells". In Philip J. Currie; Eva Bundgaard Koppelhus (eds.). Dinosaur Provincial Park: A Spectacular Ancient Ecosystem Revealed. Indiana University Press. pp.  398–404. ISBN   0-253-34595-2.
  17. Coria, R. A.; Currie, P. J.; Eberth, D.; Garrido, A. (2002). "Bird footprints from the Anacleto Formation (Late Cretaceous) in Neuquén Province, Argentina". Ameghiniana. 39: 1–11.
  18. Evans, David C.; Ryan, Michael J. (2015). "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". PLOS ONE. 10 (7): e0130007. Bibcode:2015PLoSO..1030007E. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0130007 . PMC   4496092 . PMID   26154293.