Tracy J. Thomson

Paleontologist, Geology PhD, lecturer/research assistant @ucdavis, adjunct professor @WCCNewsToday, vertebrate paleontology and ichnology. (he/him)

[Tracy J. Thomson @raptortales]

@maklelan Love this. I want to learn more. What are some go-to sources for this idea and the idea of "negotiating" with the text?

[Tracy J. Thomson @raptortales]

@BrianEngh_Art Well that's just stupid.

[Tracy J. Thomson @raptortales]

@BrianEngh_Art You can request it from me through ResearchGate or you can email me and I'll send the pdfs back to you.

[Tracy J. Thomson @raptortales]

@BrianEngh_Art Here are all the claw sheath/ungual images I produced for my dissertation which I published a few years ago in Jmorph.

[Tracy J. Thomson @raptortales]

"The [indigenous tracking] experts were able to define the species, sex, age group and exact leg of the specific animal or human depicted in more than 90% of the engravings they analysed." So many levels of ichnology are being done here! #PLOSONE https://t.co/ceOyxYeWtr

[Tracy J. Thomson @raptortales]

@Paleojim Crocodiles, hippos, & tapirs have also been observed doing this. It’s called “punting” & many ancient tetrapods engaged in this behavior as evidenced by the fossil swim track record which extends back into the Devonian.

[Tracy J. Thomson @raptortales]

Morphological Relationships Between Vertebrate Claw Unguals and Sheaths and the Functional Morphology of These Structures https://t.co/A6ftWz255b Part two of our analyses of vertebrate claw functional morphology was published online this week.

[Tracy J. Thomson @raptortales]

I was recently interviewed about my 2019 paper on tripedalism in the animal kingdom by Tanner Saul for @kpaxnews segment "A Wilder View" and he did an excellent job reporting on my findings. https://t.co/6sBbq2cR7V

[Tracy J. Thomson @raptortales]

Great article in @RSocPublishing about how parrots use their heads as a third "propulsive limb" for tripedal locomotion. https://t.co/fU7nagHA86

[Tracy J. Thomson @raptortales]

I'll give you one guess who the "paleontologist" mentioned in this article is. https://t.co/wiom3aksEw via @KSLcom

[Tracy J. Thomson @raptortales]

Manuscript was just torpedoed by #Reviewer2 who admitted they decided not to read past the first part of the methods section! They are also apparently a member of the taxonomic nomenclature police.

[Tracy J. Thomson @raptortales]

The orb-weaving spider, 𝘓𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴, can literally hear you and locate your position up to 3 m away using its web as an acoustic antenna! Watch the supplementary videos. https://t.co/4Gqs0HLgYN

[Tracy J. Thomson @raptortales]

Came across a Utahraptor at the zoo today. @SacZoo

[Tracy J. Thomson @raptortales]

In 2017 the @BYU Department of Geological Sciences @BYUgeology stood up for science and spoke out against the doomsday preppers, young-earth creationists, and essential oil touting pseudoscientists at the FIRM Foundation @BookEvidence. Printed in @UniverseBYU, April 2017.

[Tracy J. Thomson @raptortales]

I read a paper today that described putting gastropod larvae into an experimental "jet-stirred turbulence tank." I might have to start referring to jacuzzi hot tubs in this way.

[Jim Kirkland @Paleojim]

@NatureUtah @SpencerJCox @BLMUtah @Interior Showing remarkable site soon after initial discovery to a few ichnologists-trackers Tony Martin @Ichnologist , Andrew R.C. Milner @AndrewTracks , and Nephi native now Dr. Tracy Thomson @raptortales Nice crocodilian resting trace as confirmed to me at time by Tony.

[Tracy J. Thomson @raptortales]

@paleochick @NoradSanta That was the first thing my 11-year-old pointed out when he logged on and started tracking tonight.

[Itai Yanai @ItaiYanai]

Doing a PhD is - at heart - one long discussion with your mentor. The discussion changes over time - with unexpected turns and ups & downs - but through it all is a pair of people discussing a topic endlessly to make sense of it.
PhD students: choose someone you like to talk to!

[Tracy J. Thomson @raptortales]

Dromaeosaurid diversity continues to increase! https://t.co/kqMxwkJ1Se

[Tracy J. Thomson @raptortales]

Fascinating paper just out. Rattlesnakes increase rattling frequency as a perceived threat advances and then decrease the frequency when the threat stops or backs away. Humans judge high-frequency rattles as more proximal than low-frequency rattles. https://t.co/GVntRpBTfZ