San Diego Natural History Museum Paleontology Department

Paleo kicks off our Natural History 101 series this Friday. It's like going back to school--without the homework. Don't miss it!

As written in today's op-ed: We need to add a caveat to Jeff Goldblum’s famous line in Jurassic Park, Life finds a way, when we give it a chance.

Curious about the state of our local #wildlife? Join us at the 2nd Annual State of #Biodiversity Symposium coming up on Wednesday, February 6. #Scientists will share info on emerging threats, current #research, and more. Tickets to this day-long event are still available and can be purchased at www.sdnat.org/stateofbiodiversity. #wildlifeconservation

Have you seen today's #GoogleDoodle? It's an illustration drawn by a second-grader who wants to be a #paleontologist when she grows up. Adorable!

Tickets for this Saturday's NATtalk are sold out. However, we have decided to open up a limited amount of virtual tickets for folks to join via live stream. Registration required. Click below to sign up. #CeruttiMastodon #theNAT #NATtalks

Retired San Diego Natural History Museum Paleontologist Richard Cerutti (left) and Curator of Paleontology and Director of PaleoServices Dr. Tom Deméré (right) examining a drawer full of Cerutti Mastodon site fossils in the San Diego Natural History Museum’s Paleontology Collection Room. #CeruttiMastodon

A little #TBT to 1992 ... and 130,000 years ago! #CeruttiMastodon

Yesterday was a big day! So excited to finally share our amazing discoveries from the #CeruttiMastodon site - a 130,000 year old site right here in San Diego that documents the earliest evidence of human activity in the Americas.

#TBT: Special thanks to PaleoServices Report Writer Shelly Donohue for digging up this gem. This is the first holiday card sent to our PaleoServices clients back in the day. Can you guess what year this was taken? #ThrowbackThursday #theNAT #Paleontology #HappyHolidays

These dainty crab fossils were uncovered by #theNAT’s paleontologists, in partnership with Caltrans, during construction along I-5 near Genesee Avenue. Believe it or not, these crabs were scurrying along the ocean floor about 46 million years ago, when this part of our region was submerged under water. #FossilFriday

Happy #FossilFriday! Today we are at a construction site in downtown San Diego's East Village, dry screening fossiliferous sandstones of the San Diego Formation (~3.5 - 1.5 million years old). So far we’ve salvaged oysters, snails, sand dollars, barnacles, and a bone from a yet-to-be-identified marine mammal.

Yesterday we said bon voyage to our lead fossil preparator, Nikki Anderson! For the last 4 years Nikki has been our fearless leader in the prep lab, teaching us how to better jacket and prepare fossils, all while making us laugh, humming great tunes, and setting a new standard for efficiency and organization in the lab. Nikki prepared hundreds of fossil specimens ranging from shells of marine clams and snails, to tiny lizard jaws, to giant bison skulls. Good luck on all of your adventures, Nikki! We sure are going to miss you.