Most of the trillions from May’s Brood X swarm will arise and fly and feed — and be fed on — in their monthlong above-ground life along the East Coast, from North Carolina to Indiana to New Jersey, possibly in parts of Georgia.
Predation is an evolutionary force shaping sea floor communities, with the record of drilling predation being particularly useful to study predatory behavior on short and long timescales. Most predatory drill holes are caused by gastropods, but octopods within Octopodoidea also produce characteristic drill holes, yet remain severely understudied in deep time.
Octopodoidea are a highly versatile and diverse group of marine predators comprising > 200 species today, but their diversity and ecology in deep time are virtually unknown. Because these soft-bodied cephalopods have a low preservation potential, only a single body fossil species has been documented.
Read More from Octopodoidea as predators near the end of the Mesozoic Marine Revolution
New research unveiled the earliest evidence of octopus predation in the fossil record. The evidence consists of tiny holes drilled in the clams they preyed upon during the Cretaceous period about 75 million years ago.
Read More from Evidence of Predation by Octopuses Pushed Back By 25 Million Years
At the Alabama Museum of Natural History, we are removing the Kodiak bear from the Grand Gallery in preparation of a new exhibit! Here’s a video of what that looks and sounds like. Stay tuned for more behind-the-scenes updates on our progress!
Read More from Alabama Museum of Natural History: New Exhibit – Update #1
In the Fall of 2017, then Curator of Paleontology Dana Ehret, and Director of Museum Research and Collections John Abbott received a $22,384 grant (MA-31-17-0466-17) from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to rehouse and digitize a part of the fossil invertebrate collection.
Read More from Digitization project of 4,500 invertebrate fossils completed
Today is Giving Tuesday, which is a day set aside to empower people and organizations to transform their communities and the world! If you’d like to participate this year, we’d like to let you know about the ways you can help support the University of Alabama Museums’ Department of Research and Collections!
Alabama employs about a dozen professional paleontologists, but there are many more people who search and study fossils as a hobby. These avocational or amateur paleontologists uncover a vast amount of knowledge about Alabama’s prehistory each year.
Read More from New Award Honors Avocational Paleontologist in Alabama
This year, the Alabama Museum of Natural History is celebrating National Fossil Day online! On October 14, 2020, we will be hosting free livestream broadcasts about Paleontology, Paleozoic Oceans, and a special presentation about the Alabama Avocational Paleontologist Award.
Provocative headlines such as “Insectaggedon,” “Insect Apocalypse,” and “The Great Insect Dying” have directed the world’s attention to a purported widespread decline of insects and elicited calls for immediate action
Read More from Towards Global Volunteer Monitoring of Odonate Abundance