Did you know that Section of Vertebrate Paleontology curator Matt Lamanna has discovered dinosaur fossils on all seven
continents, including Antarctica?
Dr. Lamanna leads the Antarctic Peninsula Paleontology Project, an international team of scientists investigating the end
of the Mesozoic Era (”Age of Dinosaurs”) in Antarctica, and also leads or co-leads research projects studying dinosaurs in Patagonia (Argentina), the Sahara (Egypt), and the Australian Outback.
Lamanna has named or co-named 15 new species of dinosaurs and fossil birds, including Anzu wyliei and three of the largest land animals known to science—the titanosaurian sauropods Dreadnoughtus schrani, Notocolossus gonzalezparejasi, and Paralititan stromeri. Each of these massive sauropods is estimated to have weighed more
than 40 tons, roughly equivalent to eight adult elephants.
Lamanna has co-authored two papers in the preeminent journal Science and appeared on television programs for PBS (NOVA), the Discovery Channel, the History Channel, A&E, the Science Channel, and more. Recently, he assisted the US Department of Homeland Security in their investigation of a dinosaur fossil that had been illegally smuggled out of China.
