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One man's junk, is another man's treasure. We all have our own perspective; on what is good enough, big enough, etc. I never wish, to fail to appreciate; the smaller or more common fossils. Every fossil tells a story. Does anyone else, feel this way? ***Edits are now made to the above original post; because apparently, I suggested the exact opposite of what I was trying to say? I never wish to overlook the smaller or.more common fossils. Dog gone late night posting..... Either that, or I'm just getting old?

Hello! My name is Raúl Falcón, and I am a design student at the Rhode Island School of Design. I’m currently working on a research project focused on online paleontology resources for anyone interested in dinosaurs and paleontology. I would appreciate your feedback and input on this project, which can be accessed through the attached link here. This research project is part of my Design Principles class User Experience Final project. The goal of this study is to gain insight into how individuals learn about prehistoric life and engage with online learning resources. To achieve this, participants will be asked to complete a form with three questions related to their learning experiences and preferences for educational content. Please note that all responses will be kept confidential and used solely for research purposes. My ultimate objective is to develop online paleontology resources that cater to the needs and preferences of anyone interested in paleontology. I would be more than happy to respond to any questions or comments you may have. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me via email at rfalcon@risd.edu. Thank you for your time and assistance in this project. Best regards, Raúl

Hello everybody, I have question that I always wanted to ask,but it was so dumb that I always avoided asking it. However,curiosity was stronger and I finally decided to go for it and ask it. OK,I would like to know how can someone who collects fossils learn more about fossils he got and find out more about that particular specimen? Is there any sort of ''study'' that can be done with some fossilized specimen like etc. seashell in matrix that would provide more information about that specimen as well as specie? I would like to know more about fossils I have,but to me it's just fossilized organism that I don't know much about except it's etc. seashell. I would really like to do some study on my fossils,but I don't know what kind of study is possible to do without any lab equipment? For example,I uploaded one seashell fossil I have in my collection. It's still in matrix and I know where it came from and approximately age,but nothing else.Not even specie since it's not some more ''famous'' animal that is well known and I can't find any guide for fossils that would tell me more about local species in my area (this fossil was found by my friend in creek few miles from my home). Do you have any advice for learning more about fossils I have,since I don't have list of species found in my area because they are considered of ''low importance'' and only place that I may get some list is University of Natural Science,but they are too busy and don't have policy to give that kind of info to individuals outside University. So,back to original question,is there any way to study fossil we have in our collections that would tell us more info about that particular organism? Again,I'm sorry for dumb question,but I'm big newbie and I don't even consider myself an amateur tho I know many things about paleontology that are above ''standard/basic'' knowledge,but as far as ID'ing and studying fossils themself,I don't have almost any knowledge. EDIT:I recently got compound microscope and I manage to use it on minerals and some fossils despite it's not stereo microscope that is made for studying 3-D things like fossils among others. Trick was using very bright light source close to specimen near the objective and it works very well actually. It's not same as stereo microscope,but it's nice experience to try. Would you recommend some studies on fossils that are possible with help of a microscope perhaps?

Hello everyone, I need to provide me Xmas wishlist, and off course it had to involve Dinosaurs lol Do you have some good Dinosaur book recommendations? Mostly looking for images and found locations, and some scientific facts. Not all text Looking forward to what you guys recommend! Best wishes

A new study has been released, looking into a more accurate estimate of Tyrannosaur walking speeds. New modelling points to much slower speeds than previously thought; now estimated to be approx. 3mph. "Must go faster"......maybe not. Link: Walk the dinosaur: New biomechanical model shows Tyrannosaurus rex in a swinging gait https://phys.org/news/2021-04-dinosaur-biomechanical-tyrannosaurus-rex-gait.html

Here's a few pics of my study. Most are Northeast Texas personal finds. The huge chest is also full of fossils and artifacts. @RJB

Hey everyone, This year I've been somewhat less active on the forum, although I did check in regularly to make sure I didn't miss anything important. The main reason for this is because this was my last year in secondary school, and, unsurprisingly, that comes with more work than usual (including university application). Even with corona and home-schooling, my workload didn't exactly diminish. However that doesn't mean I haven't been active in the paleo-field! In fact I have gone hunting quite a few times on the Zandmotor and made some cool finds that I'll share soon, and more recently, during my annual trip to the south of France, did some more successful hunting. In July I also went to the east of the Netherlands to go hunting with my friend @Hunter0811 and we found some pretty nice stuff. (I'll make some trip reports with my finds soon.) This year I started playing around with my dad's camera while in France to take some pictures of different animals I came across (mainly butterflies), ID them and submit them to iNaturalist (an app where you can upload your nature observations and make potentially useful scientific contributions, check it out, it's quite nice!), so that's a fun new little hobby I picked up. So for my 18th birthday, which was 4 days ago, my parents got me a sweet new camera! Despite the cancellation of my final exams (due to corona), I did graduate successfully! And, more importantly, my university application went very well: In October, I will officially be starting my MSci Palaeontology & Evolution at the University of Bristol! I am incredibly excited to start getting into paleontology more professionally and spend the next 4 years of my life studying my lifelong passion. According to the Center for World University Rankings, they are currently the best university worldwide for Paleontology. The city itself also seems really nice and student-friendly. On top of that, the Aust Cliffs are very nearby and that seems like a really interesting location to hunt at (although very different to the Zandmotor!). All in all, I think, and hope, that I'm gonna have a really fun time there, and I couldn't be happier to start this new chapter in my life. And I am glad to now share this news with all my friends on The Fossil Forum, as you guys have definitely played a big role in not only maintaining, but also deepening, my passion for all these "dumb dead rocks", and it has clearly paid off. So a big thanks to all of you in this wonderful community! Love you all! Max

Does anyone know what this could be? Whether that’s a fossil or a rock lol I’ve tried to research around it but I haven’t gotten anything just yet

So having a small fossil collection i have thought of the possibility of studying the fossils especially the dinosaur teeth but the problem is im not a scientist so i don't know how to study them so if someone could tell me if cheap fossils like these could be studied and how it would be largely appreciated. (Collection includes 2 spinosaurus teeth, a meg tooth, 2 mosasaur teeth, mammoth hair, carcharodontosaurus tooth) Thanks.

Some Bivalvia from my study collection. Regards, ricardo

Ecphora Study

What life form caused the pattern of deformation seen in this gastropod. Five points each for Kingdom, Class, and Family. hint: It was found on the shore of a lake in Maine.

These are not fossils, but the concept could be useful in understanding ichno fossils. At first I came to the pool without tadpoles, it was late in the afternoon on a warm day and I moved slowly as I contemplated how the craters were formed. Had birds been probing the mud ? There did not seem to be a direct correspondence between the tracks and the pits though. The next pool I came to was deeper and perhaps allowed tadpoles a better escape from predators. The pictures were taken the next morning and the tadpoles were more disturbed by my approach so it doesn't show the behavior, but they seemed to be covering themselves with silt in the pits. Applying sun screen perhaps ? Or is the correlation coincidental ?

Hi! I'm new here, so hello from west Texas, I've always been a fan of the Megalodon, I was just wondering if any of you might have references or locations, as to where I could get started. thanks in advance! happy travels and happy Hunting!

Dear All, This is Sudarshan Gupta from Nashik, India. I have completed my Masters degree in biotechnology and completed several research projects, currently I am working in a pharma company. I have a deep interest in archaeology and love to study fossils and stones. I also possess a huge collection of ancient coins, notes, stamps, stones, antique items, corals etc. I am happy to join this forum to share and to gain knowledge on our common topic of interest. Best Regards, Sudarshan Gupta.

Hello everyone, I really want to study paleontology one day, but there is no paleontology study on universities here in The Netherlands. Does anyone know if there are good ones in my neighbour countries, Germany, England or Belgium? And what are the requirements? (please explain in a way so I can understand, there's no A B C grading system here). Would it be benificial if I study biology here first, before moving to another country? Thanks