Society of Vertebrate Paleontology

Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Founded in 1940, the society [ SVP ] now has almost 2,200 members representing professionals, students, artists, preparators, and others interested in VP.

The society is organized exclusively for educational and scientific purposes.

09/25/2026

How fortunate for us that the newest state park in the western states is dinosaur themed… and for good reason! The dinosaurs found here are incredible!

Though it was first designated as a State Park in 2021, Paleontological research on the rocks in the park (like the Dalton Wells Quarry) goes back decades! I mean, when scouting out cool rocks to look for fossils at, who wouldn’t be drawn to those beautiful green layers of the Cedar Mountain Formation?

Also, we owe Ranger Andy (vermontensis) a huge thanks for offering us and our students and impromptu visitor center tour! It was so cool!

Additional footage of the Utahraptor holotype and one of the Utahraptor mounts features the Prehistoric Museum, Joshua Lively (who was also very gracious in giving our students a tour!), and our good friend and colleague Alexandra Bonham!

Did you spot the reference in the music this week? This one is “Jurassic Park” by “Weird Al” Yankovic!

Happy !

09/18/2026

At first I was afraid, I was petrified (wood)! 🪵

Escalante petrified forest state park is easy to miss given its proximity to greats like Grand Staircase National Monument, but it’s super worth a visit for a chance to hike through a Jurassic forest!

And we’re sure our former Sternberg Science Camps+ students will get quite excited at the mention of the Naturita formation…

Much of the information in this video, as well as stratigraphic figures come from:

Morgan, Susan & Gee, Carole & Lindsay, Bradford & Williams, Anthony & Sanders, P. & Richmond, Dean. (2024). Geology and paleontology of Escalante Petrified Forest State Park. Geology of Utah’s Parks and Monuments (pp.567) Utah Geological Association Publication 28 (fourth edition)

Additional Morrison range figure from:

Christine E. Turner, Fred Peterson. (2007) Reconstruction of the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation extinct ecosystem—a synthesis. Sedimentary Geology, Volume 167, Issues 3–4

And happy !

09/11/2026

It’s not every day you get to see a non-avian dinosaur 🦖 fly, but that’s exactly what happened when we witnessed a military chinook helicopter 🚁 fly a complete skeleton of a brand new dinosaur species out of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument this summer on behalf of Lindsay Zanno and NC Museum of Natural Sciences, in partnership with paleontologists from the Bureau of Land Management!

This sort of event isn’t common in paleontology, but if you’re going to see it anywhere, GSENM is high on the list. There’s a reason it’s known as world’s greatest living laboratory, and that’s because it’s super important to just about every nature science you can think of! And, significantly, it is home to a deep and continuing cultural history belonging to this nation’s indigenous peoples who have inhabited these lands for thousands of years.

That’s why SVP has once again filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for new reductions to GSENM and the nearby and equally important Bears Ears National Monument, along with our partners and co-plaintiffs from Utah Diné Bikéyah, , Conservation Lands Foundation, Access Fund, Patagonia, A'nuche Organization, and The US National Trust!

You can help by contacting your senators and representatives to demand that they act NOW to protect the monuments that are not only important to us paleontologists, but also to indigenous cultures, to wildlife, and to sciences of every kind.

09/08/2026

DINOSAUR 🦖 TRACKS 🐾 are BACK!

This time at Zion National Park ! Zion’s rocks represent a crucial time in dinosaur evolution, and even include the third most devastating mass extinction in earth’s history; the End-Triassic mass extinction!

You may be thinking, “hey, didn’t they already do this video?” Why yes. We did. This is a new version of that video!

We’d like to own up to an error we made in the previous version. When we learned that our friend Conner Bennett was the only paleontologist whose research was funded by Zion, we misunderstood and thought we had been told he was the only one doing research on Zion National Park’s fossils. This is not the case! As it turns out, there’s a really cool upcoming paper (or papers) by Celina Suarez and Andrew R C Milner expanding on the end-Triassic extinction at Zion! It’s also going to feature all new art by Brian Engh Art (whose art is prominently featured in this video)!

We also want to shout out two accidental cameos in this video on the parts of our former student Regalius and our close friend and colleague Alexandra Bonham!

This may no longer count for Fossil Friday, but has a nice ring doesn’t it?

paleontology

The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology stands with the The Academy of Natural Sciences (ANSP) staff, and preservation of...
09/08/2026

The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology stands with the The Academy of Natural Sciences (ANSP) staff, and preservation of the ANSP Museum. SVP urges our member community and anyone who enjoys and supports the natural sciences to speak up on behalf of the ANSP and their staff!

The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP) has joined a series of co-plaintiffs and is suing the Trump administration ...
09/03/2026

The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP) has joined a series of co-plaintiffs and is suing the Trump administration for shrinking Bears Ears National Monument. SVP is joined by Utah Diné Bikéyah; Archaeology Southwest; Conservation Lands Foundation, Inc.; Patagonia Works; The Access Fund; the National Trust for Historic Preservation; Grand Staircase Escalante Partners; and A’Nuche, Inc. in this legal action.

09/02/2026

🚨BREAKING: Conservation Lands Foundation and our local and national partners working to protect and defend Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments filed motions today, asking the federal court to allow them to challenge President Trump’s most recent assault on these Tribally-significant and culturally important national monuments.

The filing reactivates litigation first brought in December 2017, when Conservation Lands Foundation and its partners challenged President Trump’s initial reduction of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments. The July 13, 2026, proclamations remove protections on more than 90 percent of each monument.

Utah Diné Bikéyah, Archaeology Southwest, Patagonia, The Access Fund, A’Nuche, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology join us as co-plaintiffs in our Bears Ears lawsuit, while Grand Staircase Escalante Partners and the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology join us in the Grand Staircase lawsuit.

“We are returning to court to defend the law, the integrity of public lands and the generations of people who have fought to protect these places. We will not stand by while this administration attempts to sacrifice these extraordinary landscapes to mining, drilling and other destructive development. If a president is allowed to illegally eliminate monument protections, no national monument is secure.” - Chris Hill, CEO of the Conservation Lands Foundation.

Downsizing Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante was illegal in 2017, and it remains illegal today. Opening these lands to short-term industrial exploitation threatens permanent harm to America’s public lands system. We remain alert and fully prepared to challenge any attempts to open these sacred places to drilling, mining, or road construction. Our commitment to standing alongside Tribal Nations and defending our shared natural heritage will not waver.

Read more via The New York Times story by Maxine Joselow in the comments below.

08/31/2026

PaleoTube just went live.

Every great paleontology video on YouTube, organized by time period and taxon. Thousands of videos from PBS Eons, the Royal Tyrrell Museum, AMNH SciCafe, and more, all in one curated home.

Explore now: https://fossi.ls/fZz9gG/fb

SVP town hall meeting coming up on September 2! Members, please check your email for the link to join the video call!
08/31/2026

SVP town hall meeting coming up on September 2! Members, please check your email for the link to join the video call!

Address

Custer, SD

Website

,

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Society of Vertebrate Paleontology posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share