Presented by Laura Vietti
University of Wyoming
What is today Wyoming was a VERY different place 50+ million years ago - in fact, it had a tropical climate. In the summer of 2016, an amazing discovery of a large mammal was recovered from a Wyoming State Lands commercial quarry in the ~52 million-year-old Fossil Lake strata near Kemmerer, Wyoming. Initial investigations suggest that this mammal is likely a type of tapir, a hoofed mammal, loosely related to rhinoceros and horses, that is now long extinct in North America.
In light of this recent discovery, Dr. Vietti will speak about the origins of tapirs in North America, will touch on the significance of this newly discovered fossil, and will end on the unusual death and decay of the animal prior to fossilization that led it to be deposited in a tropical paleo-lake of long ago Wyoming.
6 июн 2022
