STL Science Center

STL Science Center

10 April 2012

North Carolina Gets In the Way

Every time I look up Gastonia without clearly mentioning that it's a dinosaur I get heavily annoyed. Even today, looking for scientific papers, I had to weed out articles on North Carolina! It's crazy, but what am I to do? I have, however, found a nice article put out by the state of Utah which discusses the site, the finds, and the meaning of the finds at the site. So far it is the most informative piece I have yet to come across. It was written by James Kirkland, the naming and describing persona behind Utahraptor and Gastonia both. I believe he is still employed by the state as a paleontologist. I have never had the pleasure to speak with him, but everything I have seen him talking in makes him appear to be a very jovial and fun guy, which is always nice. James Kirkland is also responsible, with Kenneth Carpenter, Donald Burge, and John Bird, for an article on fauna present in the Cedar Mountain formation of Utah. It mentions not only Gastonia, but all the fauna found in the formation including other ankylosaurs as well as predators. Both papers are worth a quick read, and hopefully you will get more information about Gastonia from them.

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