Elephant Casting Call
A Kansas University doctoral student is using a Topeka Zoo African elephant as a "stand-in" for a dinosaur in his research. (Link)
Brian Platt has a formula for determining how much precipitation was falling at various prehistoric points in time according to the depth of dinosaur footprints he is studying in Wyoming. The Topeka Zoo's 8,000-pound elephant Tembo is walking through sand containing various amounts of moisture to reveal how much precipitation allows for how deep a track, KU News (Lawrence, KS) reports.
Tembo foot castings are taken from the sand impressions and these are compared with casts taken from dinosaur footprints.
"Elephants are the closest surviving comparison in terms of size, gait and the arrangement of bones in their feet to sauropod dinosaurs, Platt said."
Brian Platt has a formula for determining how much precipitation was falling at various prehistoric points in time according to the depth of dinosaur footprints he is studying in Wyoming. The Topeka Zoo's 8,000-pound elephant Tembo is walking through sand containing various amounts of moisture to reveal how much precipitation allows for how deep a track, KU News (Lawrence, KS) reports.
Tembo foot castings are taken from the sand impressions and these are compared with casts taken from dinosaur footprints.
"Elephants are the closest surviving comparison in terms of size, gait and the arrangement of bones in their feet to sauropod dinosaurs, Platt said."
posted by Russ Williams at
8:55 PM
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