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Alaskan Dinosaur Expedition
Alaskan Dinosaur Expedition
copyright 1998 by Anthony R. FiorilloDr. Anthony (Tony) R. Fiorillo, a paleontologist with the Dallas Museum of Natural History, was in Alaska on a joint DMNH-University of Alaska expedition, from mid July to early August on a search for dinosaur bones north of the Arctic Circle, in the National Petroleum Reserve. You can read Tony's dispatches from his expedition, from his arrival in Anchorage to the time he moved up the Colville River and back again.
Dr. Fiorillo was prospecting for bones left behind by the last great dinosaurs, 65 million years ago. He travelled up the Colville River, which drains Alaska's North Slope, in search of a fossil-rich site to set up a long-term field camp. Such studies would give scientists a more complete picture of where and how dinosaurs were living in Alaska.
In fact these studies of Alaskan dinosaurs could provide insights into Texas dinosaurs. Tony has also been excavating bones of something called an Alamosaurus in Big Bend National Park. The Alaskan dinosaurs are largely different that those in West Texas and by studying the rocks containing the bones in both places this work will bring new insights into the how and why of dinosaurs scattered across the continent millions of years ago.
| Biography of Dr. Anthony (Tony) R. Fiorillo | Personal Journal Entries: |
 Tony Fiorillo is curator of paleontology at the Dallas Museum of Natural History. Raised in Connecticut, he earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Connecticut and his master's from the University of Nebraska. He received his PhD in vertebrate paleontology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1989. From there it was on to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh for a postdoctoral fellowship, and a position as museum scientist at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1995 he finally landed in Dallas as curator at the museum and as an adjunct professor of paleontology at Southern Methodist University.
Although Dr. Fiorillo has yet to grow used to the Texas heat, he escapes it by doing fieldwork around the globe. He has led many expeditions in western North America, including Texas, Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado, and conducted fieldwork in Asia, Australia and South America. His research specialty is dinosaur ecology, on which he has published more than 80 scientific and popular papers. He's also involved in science education, serving as co-chair of the Education Committee of the Society for Vertebrate Paleontology. Most recently, Dr. Fiorillo organized the Dinoworld exhibit, which can be seen at the Dallas Museum of Natural History through January 1999. He lives in Ovilla, near Waxahachie, with his wife Jessica, one black lab, and two mutts temporarily inherited from in-laws. Special thanks to the Dallas Morning News and Science Writer Alexandra Witze. This text, with only minor changes here, originally appeared on the website of The Dallas Morning News. The introductory text, written by Alexandra Witze, is copyright by The Dallas Morning News. |
July 15th: From Dallas to Anchorage
July 17th: Gulls, puffins and sea otters in Homer The Story of Alaskan Dinosaurs Bugs & Bones Along The Rivers
Storm & Uncertainty Leaving Nuiqsut |
This map shows the areas explored during our journey.
ITINERARY
July 11: Flight into Anchorage, Alaska's biggest city.
July 12-16: Stays in Anchorage, with a side trip south to the natural history Pratt Museum in Homer.
July 16: Flight into Fairbanks.
July 17: Flight north into the small village of Nuiqsut.
July 18 - August 3: Up the Colville River with the dinosaur-hunting team, excavating washing and screening dirt for fossils.
August 3: Flight back to Nuiqsut.
August 6: Flight to Fairbanks.
August 10: Return to Anchorage and then back to Dallas.