Fossil Huntress — Palaeo Sommelier

Today on the show, we travel back in time to the Late Cretaceous, some 66 million years ago, when death fell from the sky.

Step into the sunbaked folds of West Union Canyon, just beyond Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park in Nevada, and you are quite literally walking along one of North America’s most important geological fault lines in time—the elusive boundary between the Carnian and Norian stages of the Late Triassic. Here, the Upper Triassic Luning Formation—specifically the Early Norian Kerri Zone—reveals itself in a s...

At first glance, anemones look like soft blossoms anchored to rock, their tentacles swaying with the tide. But look a little closer and you’ll see a skilled predator at work. Each of those delicate arms is armed with nematocysts—microscopic, harpoon-like cells loaded with venom—ready to stun passing prey in a split second. Sea anemones belong to the class Anthozoa, making them close relatives of c...

Long, long ago—millions of years before you or me, before the canoes of the Polynesian voyagers, before the first birds ever touched these shores—there was only ocean.  A vast blue desert stretching farther than the eye could see. But beneath that endless water, far below the waves, the Earth was stirring. Deep inside our planet lies a restless heart, a molten engine. It churns and pulses, and som...

Join in the exploration of the fascinating science of paleontology — that lens that examines ancient animals, plants & ecosystems from wee single-celled organisms to big & mighty dinosaurs.

Cretaceous Capilano Fossil Field Trip — From downtown Vancouver, drive north through Stanley Park and over the Lion’s Gate Bridge. Take the North Vancouver exit toward the ferries. Turn right onto Taylor Way and then right again at Clyde Avenue. Look for the Park Royal Hotel. Park anywhere along Clyde Avenue. From Clyde Avenue walk down the path to your left towards the Capilano River.  Watch the...

Woolly Mammoths – Picture a towering, shaggy titan lumbering across a frozen expanse, as winds howl through its dense, draping fur. This is the Woolly Mammoth—an Ice Age icon that could stand up to 11 feet tall, placing it nose-to-nose with a modern African elephant and utterly dwarfing most other terrestrial creatures of its time. Just imagining the primal force of such a beast stirs excitement,...

Welcome to the Fossil Huntress Podcast. Today on the show we’re talking about living dinosaurs—our avian friends, the birds.  From the tiniest hummingbird to the towering ostrich, these feathered creatures carry the legacy of the mighty theropods, bridging millions of years of evolution in their lightweight skeletons and high-powered hearts.  So join me as we explore both the link between the swee...

Today on the show, we'll explore the first fossil finds from Miguasha Provincial Park, a protected area near Carleton-sur-Mer on the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec in Canada, from the mid-1800s. Miguasha is known for its exceptional preservation of Late Devonian (370 million years ago) fossil fish, including lobe-finned fish that played a crucial role in the transition of vertebrates from water to...

Welcome to the Fossil Huntress Podcast. Today, we're taking a journey half a billion years back in time to one of the most extraordinary fossil sites on the planet — the Burgess Shale — nestled high in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada. So close your eyes and fly with me up to the top of North America, find Canada’s far western shores then head east. If you were driving from Vancouve...

Today we’re setting sail—back in time—to meet the king of the trilobites: Isotelus rex , the largest complete trilobite ever discovered. Now, I know trilobites are often tiny—beautiful, delicate little creatures. But this one? This one was a behemoth . Over 70 centimeters long , with a thick armored body and wide paddle-shaped tail, Isotelus rex was the apex of its kind, scuttling across the seafl...

Welcome to The Fossil Huntress Podcast —your window into the deep time of ancient oceans, lost worlds, and beautiful traces left behind.  I'm your host, Heidi Henderson, coming to you from the rain-kissed coastline of British Columbia on Canada's far western shores. Today on the show, we’re diving into one of the most iconic fossils of all time: trilobites —those segmented, alien-looking creatures...

Welcome back to the Fossil Huntress Podcast, the show where we dig into the dirt—literally—to uncover the most fascinating stories from Earth’s deep past. Here you'll find ammonites, trilobites, dinosaurs and more! I’m Heidi Henderson, the Fossil Huntress, your host, and today… we’re diving into one of the most epic rivalries in science history. It’s got fossils. It’s got sabotage. It’s got ex...

Welcome to the Fossil Huntress Podcast, the podcast where we dig into the past—literally! Join in the exploration of the fascinating science of palaeontology — that lens that examines ancient animals, plants & ecosystems from wee single-celled organisms to big & mighty dinosaurs. Learn about the interwoven disciplines of natural history, ecology, geology, conservation & stewardship of our world. T...

On today's show, you'll hear about a paper delivered on a chilly December evening in 1857 by Philip Sclater that hugely inspired Alfred Wallace and eventually led to the publication of the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. Both Sclater and Wallace were extraordinary in their own right. Both were passionate about natural history, keen observers of our natural world, world travellers and...

In this episode you’ll learn the dates, location and exciting line up of speakers at the 15th BCPA Symposium

In this episode, you'll hear about some wonderful free Zoom Fossil Talks in March and May 2024. There is no need to register. You can head on over to www.fossiltalksandfieldtrips.com and note the talk dates and times. The link will be shared live on the site on the day of the talk. Upcoming Free Fossil Lectures via Zoom: Sun, March 24, 2024, 2PM PST — Dan Bowen — Struck by Lightning: The Mary Anni...

Victoria is a vertebrate palaeontologist and evolutionary biologist and is the leading expert on the palaeobiology of the armoured dinosaurs known as ankylosaurs. She has named several new species of ankylosaurs, studied how they used and evolved their charismatic armour and weaponry, and investigated how their biogeography was shaped by dispersals between Asia and North America. British Columbia...

Vancouver Island holds many wonderful fossils and incredible folk excited to explore them. The Dove Creek Mosasaur, which includes the teeth and lower jawbone of a large marine reptile was discovered by Rick Ross of the Vancouver Island Palaeontological Society, during the construction of the Inland Highway, near the Dove Creek intersection on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Mosasaurs had a hi...

A Taste for Studies: Tortoise Urine, Armadillos, Fried Tarantula & Goat Eyeballs While eating study specimens is not in vogue today, it was once common practice for researchers in the 1700-1880s. Charles Darwin belonged to a club dedicated to tasting exotic meats, and in his first book wrote almost three times as much about dishes like armadillo and tortoise urine than he did on the biogeography o...

Predators and Prey in our Devonian Seas. It is here we see the first tetrapods — land-living vertebrates — appeared during the Devonian, as did the first terrestrial arthropods, including wingless insects and the earliest arachnids. In the oceans, brachiopods flourished. Crinoids and other echinoderms, tabulate and rugose corals, and ammonites were also common... and a mighty one-ton eating machin...

In the late 1930s, our understanding of the transition of fish to tetrapods — and the eventual jump to modern vertebrates — took an unexpected leap forward. The evolutionary a'ha came from a single partial fossil skull found on the shores of a riverbank in Eastern Canada.  Meet the Stegocephalian, Elpistostege watsoni, an extinct genus of finned tetrapodomorphs that lived during the Late Givet...

North America's Rocky Mountain Trench, also known as the Valley of a Thousand Peaks, is a large valley on the western side of the northern part of North America's Rocky Mountains. This massive rift valley stretches all the way from the British Columbia-Yukon border south to the St. Ignatius area and can be seen from space.

We sometimes find fossils preserved by pyrite. They are prized as much for their pleasing gold colouring as for their scientific value as windows into the past. If you have pyrite specimens and want to stop them from decaying, you can give them a 'quick' soak in water (hour max) then wash them off, and dry them thoroughly in a warm oven. Cool, then soak in pure acetone for a couple of days. Then s...

This is a blast from the past and the tale of how I was bitten and smitten by the mineral bug. I hope you enjoy this story from my youth growing up on the northern end of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada—and the minerals that can be found there.