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Denver Fowler
Museum of the Rockies
600 W Kagy Blvd
Bozeman MT, 59717
Phone: (406) 994-3170
Fax: (406) 994-2682
df9465@yahoo.co.uk
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Hot off the press! Our new paper on claw use in birds of prey is out in PLoS One!
FOWLER, D.W., FREEDMAN, E.A., & SCANNELLA, J.B. (2009) Predatory functional morphology in raptors: Interdigital variation in talon size is related to prey restraint and immobilisation technique, PLoS One, 4(11) (publ. online Nov 25th)
[my publications page] - [MSU Press release] - [official PLoS one PDF]
The media response to our paper has been quite unexpected, yet very welcome! Repeats of the MSU press release made a number of news outlets across the globe. We've had a few interviews with CBC Canadian National radio, Discovery Channel Canada, and various wildlife magazines (hopefully will lead to some print articles). Here are some links to various independently authored blogs and news articles:
My favourite so far : [Charles Choi at Livescience: syndicated by Yahoo! news & MSNBC]
[science blogs: not exactly rocket science] - [scienceblogs: a DC birding blog] - [Discovery news] - [Discover magazine] - [Wired.com science] - [National Geographic: chief editor's blog] - [Audubon magazine: associate editor's blog] - ["worth a thousand words": Picture of the week on PLoS One] - [Blog posting of the month: PLoS One articles]
You can download a WMV audio file of our CBC radio interview: "As it happens" here (stream part 3)
Keep your eyes peeled for the follow-up paper: applying our findings to theropod dinosaurs
Introduction:
Welcome to Denverfowler.com. I'm a British Palaeontologist (and adventurer!) working towards my PhD under Prof. Jack Horner at the Museum of the Rockies, Bozeman, Montana USA. I specialise in field palaeontology, especially prospecting for, and digging up dinosaurs. Widening public access to, and awareness of, scientific knowledge is another of my main interests; writing articles with minimal amounts of jargon, encouraging wide-appeal museum displays or media projects, and making time for non-professionals with interests in the sciences.
This site is an ongoing project, so please forgive any empty links. Scroll to the bottom of this page for a history of new pages added. Sometimes photos don't load first time, reloading the page usually works.
Academics:
Professional Affiliations:
Research interests:
My research focuses in two areas: stratigraphy and palaeobiology. I would like to think that most of my research takes a novel perspective, or approach in solving problems. Part of this is taking a "total approach" to the study of dinosaurs, taking into account all metadata, including the often ignored effects of stratigraphy and ontogeny. Much of the morphologic variation that we see in dinosaurs can be better understood by careful study of high-resolution stratigraphy and change through ontogeny (growth), rather than assuming taxonomic diversity. STRATIGRAPHY
My stratigraphic research aims to utilise chronostratigraphic frameworks in order to study dinosaur paleobiology. To this end, since 2005 I have been working on a comprehensive stratigraphic chart of all fossiliferous North American Late Cretaceous (Santonian-Maastrichtian) terrestrial units (an expansion of my New Mexico work with Dr. Robert Sullivan). The chart encompasses all published radiometric dates, up-to-date high-resolution magnetostratigraphy, and biostratigraphic ranges of ammonites, mammals, and dinosaurs (I intend to add all taxa eventually). I presented a preliminary version of this chart at SVP2006 (see publications). This project will eventually be published, and become a chapter of my PhD thesis.
Another large component of my PhD concerns the stratigraphy of the Hell Creek Formation, Montana, and equivalent units, using sequence and biostratigraphy to interpret their relative ages (see NAPC 2009 abstract). With a high resolution chronostratigraphic framework in place we are better able to place fossil specimens stratigraphically, which has already helped explain some of the morphologic patterns we see in Hell Creek dinosaurs.
PALEONTOLOGY
Ultimately, my main research focus is dinosaur palaeobiology: gleaning information from the fossil record that can reveal how dinosaurs lived. Some of my most recent research has investigated claw use in living birds of prey: using this to make inferences about extinct dinosaurs like Deinonychus. I have also recently completed a project that investigated nest excavation behaviour in sauropod dinosaurs by comparison to claw morphology and nest excavating behaviour in modern tortoises (currently in review).
A list of my publications & presentations, with abstracts, pdf downloads, and enlarged figures, can be found here.
Fieldwork:
For me, fieldwork is the most important and enjoyable part of being a palaeontologist (see here for photos and locality details). An appreciation of true diversity and completeness of the fossil record simply cannot be attained without spending a lot of time on outcrop. I have over 20 years experience in field palaeontology, and specialise in prospecting and field identification of terrestrial vertebrates, especially dinosaurs, which I have been digging up since about 1993. A lot of my research has its origins in field observations.
Media:
I dabble in scientific illustration, with a couple of drawings published (you can see some of my drawings here). I've worked freelance as a scientific editor on a new series of children's books on dinosaurs, soon to be released. I have also been significantly involved in a couple of TV projects on dinosaurs, and have given scientific consultation on other upcoming programmes:
Preparation & Museum work:
From 2008-2009 I have been assisting in renovating and redesigning the geology & fossil exhibits at Makoshika State Park visitor center (Glendive, eastern Montana; Montana Fish Wildlife & Parks). The new exhibit opened summer 2009 and includes lots of new fossils from the park (mainly Hell Creek Formation, hence my involvement).
During my time at the Museum of the Rockies (2007-) I have performed various duties in collections, including curation, proper storage & preservation, and the design and implementation of a new SQL database. I also have main responsibility for collection and arrangement of field data for the Hell Creek Formation crew.
Aside from cleaning my own fossils, I have worked as a preparator at Dinosaur Farm Museum, Isle of Wight (1996-2006) and at the Dept. Earth Sciences, University of Bristol (2000-2001). See 'Fossil Preparation' for more details.
Pages added & updated recently:
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