BLM Alaska brings dinosaurs alive with DinoChat Live
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ANCHORAGE – Dinosaurs in Alaska? Tweet this Thursday from 9 to 11 a.m. and learn from the experts about the dinosaurs that roamed Alaska during the Age of Dinosaurs.
The Bureau of Land Management Alaska communications staff will host the 2018 DinoChat, a social media event where people from around the world can ask the experts about Alaska dinosaurs, especially finds on BLM-managed lands in Alaska. Participants will be able to interact live with the DinoChat cadre through Twitter at https://twitter.com/BLMAlaska, #alaskadinosaur; or submit their questions and comments via email to blmalaska@blm.gov. Information about how to participate is available on the BLM website at https://www.blm.gov/media/social-media/alaska-dinochat, where people can also watch the Twitter feed live.
This year’s cadre of paleontologists includes:
Patrick Druckenmiller, Ph.D.
Earth Sciences Curator, Univ. of Alaska Fairbanks Museum of the North;
Associate Professor, Dept. of Geosciences
Brent H. Breithaupt
BLM Regional Paleontologist
Anthony R. Fiorillo, Ph.D.
Vice President; Research & Collections Chief Curator;
Perot Museum of Nature & Science, Dallas, TX.
According to Druckenmiller, the Alaska dinosaurs lived even further north during the Cretaceous Period. He said these were the northern-most dinosaurs living during the Age of the Dinosaurs — they were truly polar.
Recent discoveries have included fossilized bones and footprints along the Colville and Yukon rivers and in Denali National Park.
The first dinosaur bones discovered in Alaska were found in 1961 along the Colville River in Northern Alaska by geologist Robert Liscomb, who mistook them for Ice Age mammal bones. It wasn’t until 1984 that a USGS geologist reexamined the bones and classified them as the first dinosaur finds in Alaska. The discovery of these fossilized bones in Alaska, along with preserved dinosaur footprints discovered in the 1970s, expanded scientists’ understanding of the range of temperatures dinosaurs could survive in. While Alaska is believed to have been much warmer then, the mountains would have supported ice fields and snow.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land located primarily in 12 western states, including Alaska, on behalf of the American people. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. Our mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of America’s public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.