A closeup photo of fossil cast skull and upper neck of a Titanosaur dinosaur, with details like its orbits, other openings in the skull, and teeth clearly visible— even spiderwebs draped across it.
Skull of Futalognkosaurus, a Titanosaur from the late Cretaceous of Argentina, cast at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto @romtoronto.bsky.social, taken in 2019. #PaleorenjiPhoto #FossilFriday
A photo of a brown tyrannosaurus fossil skeleton cast in an atrium with large windows. It's jaw is open, revealing its long, sharp teeth.
Tyrannosaurus rex cast at the California Academy of Sciences in 2018. #PaleorenjiPhoto #FossilFriday
A photo of a reconstructed skull of the spinosaurid dinosaur, Baryonyx, with along snout and sharp teeth against dramatic backlighting.
Baryonyx skull from the reconstruction at NHM London, 2018. Baryonyx was a spinosaurid dinosaur that lived in the early Cretaceous. #PaleorenjiPhoto #FossilFriday
A close-up photo of dark brown fossil tyrannosaur teeth against a dramatic red background.
Tyrannosaur mandible close-up from NHM London, taken 2018. #PaleorenjiPhoto #FossilFriday
A mounted fossil cast of a rhino-like animal with enormous horns on its boxy shaped skull.
Arsinoitherium zitteli at Natural History Museum, London in 2018 (cast). While it looks like a rhino, Arsinoitherium were more closely related to elephants, hyraxes, and sea cows. #FossilFriday #PaleorenjiPhoto
A photo of a dark brown fossilized skull that appears vaguely hominin, with a prominent brow ridge. Many cracks run through it, and there is no lower jaw.
Toumaï, the skull of a late Miocene hominin, Sahelanthropus tchadensis. Recent research has suggested that this species "demonstrates the earliest known adaptations to terrestrial bipedalism" (Williams et al., 2026). Cast, Natural History Museum, London, 2018. #FossilFriday #PaleorenjiPhoto
Fossil skulls of human species and their relatives arranged by their evolutionary relationships on a cladogram.
Fossil humans and their relatives— the origin of our species at the Natural History Museum in London, 2018. #FossilFriday #PaleorenjiPhoto
A photo of the fossil skeleton of a dinosaur on its hind limbs with its forelimbs posed in front of it. It was a tall animal with a long and rounded muzzle.
The holotype of Mantellisaurus atherfieldensis, an Ornithopod dinosaur from the early Cretaceous, at the NHM in London (2018). It was found on the Isle of Wight in 1914. #FossilFriday #PaleorenjiPhoto
A photo of a pale fossil skull that somewhat resembles an elephant facing the camera.
Cuvieronius, a gomphothere related to elephants that went extinct around the end of the Pleistocene, which ranged from south-southwest US, Central America, and South Amerca. This specimen is from Argentina. Taken at NHM in London in 2018. #FossilFriday #PaleorenjiPhoto
A photo of a dark brown giant ground sloth fossil (cast) rearing up and holding onto a tree with its forelimbs. It stands very impressively tall against the brick wall behind it.
Megatherium americanum for #FossilFriday— a famous ice age mammal that lived from the Pliocene to the Pleistocene in South America, an absolutely enormous animal that could be up to 12 ft tall on its hind legs. (Plaster cast, NHM London, 1848, ph. 2018) #PaleorenjiPhoto
A photo of a mounted mastodon fossil, an ancient relative of mammoths and elephaants, in a museum setting. It has dark bones and poses a tall, intimidating figure over the viewer, with long, slightly curving tusks.
An American mastodon (Mammut americanum), disc. in Missouri in the 1840s and reconstructed as the first accurate mastodon mount for NHM London. A relative of mammoths and elephants, mastodons had less curved tusks and teeth for eating hard vegetation (2018). #FossilFriday #PaleorenjiPhoto
A photo of the dark brown fossil of a giant deer, Megaloceros giganteus, including its skull and part of its neck, shoulders, and antlers.
The same fossil from the front, showing its impressive span of antlers, around 12 feet wide.
Prehistoric Planet release bonus: a couple photos of Megaloceros giganteus, the largest deer ever to live, from the Pleistocene epoch. Photographed at the National History Museum in London in 2018. #FossilFriday #PaleorenjiPhoto
A photo of the fossil torso of a Smilodon, a brown fossil with enormous saber fangs extending from its upper jaw.
A photo of the fossil bust of a Smilodon, a brown fossil with enormous saber fangs extending from its upper jaw.
To celebrate the release of Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age, I'm skipping ahead to some photos of Smilodon fatalis for #FossilFriday, left from the Royal Ontario Museum, right from La Brea Tar Pits Museum. These saber-toothed cats were at least as big as lions, but much heavier. #PaleorenjiPhoto (2019)
A photograph of a fossil fish in a flat layer of stone. It's long and above average in size, with a caudal fin like a sideways checkmark.
Caturus furcatus, an extinct predatory fish from the Late Jurassic. This one was found in Eichstatt, Germany. Photographed at the Hunterian in Glasgow in 2018. #FossilFriday #PaleorenjiPhoto
Welp, I just realized I've been posting my UK fossil photos erroneously labeled as taken in 2019 when in fact they were taken in 2018. If you're browsing the tag, any photos prior to this post labeled 2019 should be 2018. #PaleorenjiPhoto
A photo of the skull and neck of a stegosaurus in a museum against a dark black background.
Halloween #FossilFriday! Sophie, one of the most complete Stegosaurus specimens, at the Natural History Museum in London, photographed in 2019. #paleontology #PaleorenjiPhoto
A photograph of a fossil fish, preserved in a flat layer. The fossil is a darker brown than the surrounding matrix. It's very round, with a body nearly as tall as it is long, with proportionately small fins.
Another fossil fish from the Hunterian in Glasgow (2019): Mene rhombea, from the Middle Paleogene, from Monte Bolca, Italy.
#Paleontology #FossilFriday #PaleorenjiPhoto
A photo of a flattened fossil cast of a small pterosaur in a limestone block, with its wings slightly spread to either side, and its head to the side so its long toothy beak is visible.
Pterodactylus kochi (cast) from the Upper Jurassic in Solnhofen, Germany. Photographed Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, Glasgow, 2019.
[ #Paleontology #FossilFriday #PaleorenjiPhoto ]
A photograph of a dire wolf skull in close to the camera, with the rest of its skeleton mounted behin it, out of focus. The lighting falls prominently on the front of its muzzle, highlighting a large, pointed canine teeth.
Aenocyon dirus, a dire wolf, photographed at Glasgow's Hunterian in 2019. Signage still labeled it as Canis, but DNA research published in 2020 points to dire wolves being from an older lineage separate from today's wolves by 5.7 million years. #paleontology #FossilFriday #PaleorenjiPhoto
A photograph of a trace fossil, the impression of dinosaur scales. The tip of a bone is visible protruding through the scales.
A fossil impression of hadrosaur scales, with a rib poking through. Photographed Hunterian, Glasgow, 2019. #paleontology #FossilFriday #PaleorenjiPhoto
the classic tag typo
#PaleorenjiPhoto
A photo of a transitional fossil between fishes and land animals. The fossil is a brownish color against green-gray matrix, and has a large, flattened head that is rounded at the front.
Acanthostega, a late Devonian (365 Ma) tetrapod (cast), a transitional form between fishes and land animals. Photo at the Hunterian in Glasgow, 2019. #paleontology #FossilFriday #PaleorenjiPhoto
A photo of a fossil fish, preserved in a single flattening layer, with a clean crack slashing right through its middle. The fossil is a reddish color, standing out against a paler matrix.
A photo of four fossil fish together, preserved in a single flattened layer, with their reddish bones standing out against a paler matrix. The fish on the lower left is cut off at the middle by the edge of the stone, while the larger two of the upper three both appear to be touching the middle smaller one.
Some fossil fishes photographed at the Hunterian in Glasgow in 2019 for today— Myripristis leptacanthus, a soldierfish from the Middle Paleogene, Monte Bolca, Italy, and Armigatus brevissimus, from the Upper Cretaceous of Mt. Lebanon, Lebanon.
[ #paleontology #FossilFriday #PaleorenjiPhoto ]
A photo of a fossil tetrapod, the dark bones of which are visible in a semi flattened state, with its triangular skull on the left side. It's embedded in matrix of a lighter color.
Pederpes finneyae, an early Carboniferous tetrapod, photographed at the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery in Glasgow, Scotland in 2019. Discovered in Dunbartonshire, Scotland, it represents one of the earliest examples of terrestrial locomotion.
[ #paleontology #FossilFriday #PaleorenjiPhoto ]
A photograph of the fossil skeleton of an extinct plesiosaur. It's dark brown, with bony flippers clearly meant for swimming. It has a flat, almost egg shaped head filled with pointed teeth.
A close-up of the skull of the plesiosaur fossil in the previous photo.
Cryptoclidus eurymerus, a Jurassic plesiosaur found in Peterborough, England, on display at the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery in Glasgow, Scotland, photographed in 2019.
[ #paleontology #FossilFriday #PaleorenjiPhoto ]
A digital photograph of a skull in 3D resin. It is semi translucent and glows with a peach lighting. The rendering is blocky and imperfect, with some features not perfectly detailed, and clear lines almost like pixelization show how it was printed. The animal in question has two tusks and an attachment point for a beak— the dicynodont therapsid Dicynodon.
The skull of the dicynodont Dicynodon— an herbivorous therapsid— in 3D resin, photographed in the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery in Glasgow, 2019. The fossil scanned was found in 1997 at a quarry near Hopeman, Moray, Scotland.
[ #paleontology #FossilFriday #PaleorenjiPhoto ]
A photograph of a mammoth skeleton composite at the Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois. The bones are dark brown, with the skull having a little bit of a blue light cast on it for dramatic effect. The left tusk (screen right) is held together by metal banding.
Mammuthus columbi, photographed 2015 at the Field Museum in Chicago. This skeleton is a composite of roughly four individuals. #paleontology #FossilFriday #PaleorenjiPhoto
A digital photograph of a cast of a Dromaeosaurid dinosaur fossil, Deinonychus antirrhopus. The photo is of the upper 3/4 of the animal and vividly shows its bones against a plain background. It is a smaller dinosaur with many pointed teeth and a visible scleral ring, a structure of bone to support the eye.
Deinonychus antirrhopus (cast), an early Cretaceous dromaeosaurid dinosaur, photographed in 2015 at the Field Museum, Chicago. #paleontology #FossilFriday #Paleorenjiphoto
A photo of the fossil of an Irish deer, Megaloceros giganteus. It has an impressive set of antlers that take up nearly the entire top half of the photo. The lighting is quite dramatic, with bone shaped shadows cast on the wall, and very dark shadows on the bones themselves. Despite the contrast, it's still clear the skeleton is a dark brown color.
Megaloceros giganteus, photographed at the Field Museum in 2014. Known as the Irish deer (or it's misnomer Irish elk), it was one of the largest deer to ever exist, with a head of antlers spanning nearly twelve feet. #FossilFriday #paleontology #PaleorenjiPhoto
A photograph of the skeleton of a giant beaver, or Castoroides ohioensis. It's bones are dark brown, and it features the large incisors characteristic of the animal, albeit much larger than living beavers.
Castoroides ohioensis, or giant beaver, from the Pleistocene epoch. This specimen, photographed here at the Field Museum in Chicago, 2014, was found by workers digging the foundation of a school in a Chicago neighborhood.
[ #PaleorenjiPhoto #FossilFriday ]
