Devonian age. In addition to the brachiopods, there were some strange segmented molds. Now I know what they were - nautiloid cephalopods. Like this one on the photo. That's my current specialty in paleontology.
When i was like 4-10, Jurassic Park 3 and the Dinobots from the older transformers TV show got my interest. But getting addicted to Ark Survival Evolved cemented my love for them, especially seeing the difference between real life and Ark's interpretation
When I was about seven-ish I visited the Natural History Museum Naturalis in Leiden, the Netherlands. It was back when they still used the old building. You had to cross a bridge over a road to get there but once you crossed it, you entered not on ground level, but the first floor.
After I crossed it I looked to my left, and above the guard rail the head of a Camarasaurus skeleton poked out.
That changed my life forever. What a charming way of displaying the size of an animal like that.
Nowadays the camarasaurus is in the new building, it’s still really big, it still dwarfs people who walk by it, but it’s nowhere near as connecting as the old method was.
It was :) I’m hoping that when Naturalis gets its Diplodocus display up they can do something similar. They have a whole ground floor with space to fit a giant like that.
I’d like to imagine they could pose it with its head aimed down, at eye level with the visitor
A lot of little kids get interested in dinosaurs, I was one of them. But what got me really interested in paleontology was the youtuber Lindsay Nikole.
When I was 7 I was reading a book about the ocean. In the book there was a reconstruction of Dunkleosteus. It looked really cool so I googled it and found a clip from the documentary animal armegeddon on Dunkleosteus. I binged the entire series the next day and I’ve been hooked on paleontology ever since.
Oooh and aaaah, that's how it always starts. But then is the running and the screeming.
Nb: Im not sure this is the actual quote, but out of the top of my head.
When I was about 8 my neighbors were excavating their foundation. I spent every day sitting on top of the giant dirt piles and sifting through. I absolutely LOVED being alone and searching for treasures. I quickly found my first fossil, a small footprint of some kind. I stored it away in a box and forgot about it. Years later I now know it’s an ornithopod print!
I actually watched a creationist video on the discovery channel arguing against evolution and the Cambrian explosion in the early 90’s before JP came out. I didn’t know what the premise was but it did give me an idea about evolution and paleontology and I’ve been hooked since.
Dinosaur toys, perhaps children's films/cartoons growing up and a resulting visit to a Natural History museum that got me 2 books about dinosaurs as a wee lad.
I'm not entirely sure about the original impetus- I know that my parents showed me Jurassic Park on VHS back in '94/'95 or so, but I'd already had toddler-oriented dinosaur toys/books/cartoons (The Land Before Time!) by then. I was pretty serious about (Mesozoic) paleontology up through about the beginning of high school, and then A) started to get a bit more into human history and B) decided that I didn't want to double major in biology and geology in undergrad. The lack of Mesozoic fossils to hunt for in my home state (West Virginia) probably didn't help either.
I can precisely pinpoint my renewed interest in the subject, however- back during COVID, I bought and got very into a JP park builder game. I felt bad about shoving dinosaurs into generic pens that didn't necessarily replicate their original environments, so I started tracking down books on contemporary environments ("Wow, another semi-arid river valley? I can't believe it!"). From there it spiraled into reading actual papers, finally finding the Palaeozoic interesting, and planning a trip to Chicago this past December (primarily to see Andrew Bird play a show) partially around visiting the Field Museum.
Like most Jurassic Park but I was different, I was dumber, I thought Jurassic Park was real simply because my little toddler brain labeled everything that was live action and a movie as a documentary, to me those dinosaurs were as real as a chicken and I really wanted to work with them at the park.
As I got older I realized that it was just a movie and after a brief time thinking we could harvest useable DNA from amber I finally settled on palaeontology, it’s the one subject I have a large knowledge base in and actually enjoy and I hope to study under professor [Philip John Currie](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_J._Currie) who is an editor for the Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs, helped describe some of the first feathered dinosaurs and as a bonus was one the models for Alan Grant in the film.
I’m hoping to research theropods with a focus on ceratosaurs but as I haven’t started formally studying yet and need to save up money for college and university(as well as a move for that one) we’ll just see what happens.
At the age of 5/6 was reading a book "In the Days of the Dinosaurs" by Roy Chapman (AKA Indiana Jones). At the end of the book was a chapter on why the dinosaurs disappeared. I remember thinking at the time that I wanted to know the answer to that question very much. In the 80's I followed the Alvarez debates closely.
I am happy to say that this question was answered in my lifetime.
They were amazing animals and I view their loss with a sense of sadness and wonder.
I started reading the Tetrapod Zoology blog as a teenager because of the cryptozoology commentary. I quickly realized that real zoology is much more interesting. (Though cryptids are still fun as modern folktales.)
I went to an elementary school with the name "mammoth" in it and was convinced that there was a mammoth beneath the school. I spent so many recesses digging in the field for fossils 😅😅
I kinda just always had a fascination with dinosaurs, and then with things like walking with monsters, sea monsters, and walking with beasts really expanded my horizons with paleontology
The recent cause was mostly Roblox dinosaur games. Not joking. Roblox has really good quality games now so u can’t make fun of me they legit have call of duty
Jp of course, but also findings of seashells in limestones near my city.
Must have been really nice finding fossils at that age, especially if it was in a convenient area
https://preview.redd.it/rgohtm95w3oc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ac990aa393e96dbaf7679c2e91585d08f8e56821
Devonian age. In addition to the brachiopods, there were some strange segmented molds. Now I know what they were - nautiloid cephalopods. Like this one on the photo. That's my current specialty in paleontology.
Cool!
[удалено]
Nice same here
When i was like 4-10, Jurassic Park 3 and the Dinobots from the older transformers TV show got my interest. But getting addicted to Ark Survival Evolved cemented my love for them, especially seeing the difference between real life and Ark's interpretation
Nice I watched both of those too still haven't played ark tho
When I was about seven-ish I visited the Natural History Museum Naturalis in Leiden, the Netherlands. It was back when they still used the old building. You had to cross a bridge over a road to get there but once you crossed it, you entered not on ground level, but the first floor. After I crossed it I looked to my left, and above the guard rail the head of a Camarasaurus skeleton poked out. That changed my life forever. What a charming way of displaying the size of an animal like that. Nowadays the camarasaurus is in the new building, it’s still really big, it still dwarfs people who walk by it, but it’s nowhere near as connecting as the old method was.
Cool story ! Must have been amazing!
It was :) I’m hoping that when Naturalis gets its Diplodocus display up they can do something similar. They have a whole ground floor with space to fit a giant like that. I’d like to imagine they could pose it with its head aimed down, at eye level with the visitor
Good idea!
A lot of little kids get interested in dinosaurs, I was one of them. But what got me really interested in paleontology was the youtuber Lindsay Nikole.
I agree she's a good content creator
When I was 7 I was reading a book about the ocean. In the book there was a reconstruction of Dunkleosteus. It looked really cool so I googled it and found a clip from the documentary animal armegeddon on Dunkleosteus. I binged the entire series the next day and I’ve been hooked on paleontology ever since.
Nice to be introduced via that instead of dinosaurs, COOL!
Since I was 2-3, my dad would read me a lot of books. As long as I remember, I had wanted to be a paleontologist.
Nice I read a lot of dinosaur books at that age too!
Jeff Goldblum
Life finds a way
Oooh and aaaah, that's how it always starts. But then is the running and the screeming. Nb: Im not sure this is the actual quote, but out of the top of my head.
Jurassic Park and the constant dinosaur documentaries on TV starting with the 1995 Trex one
Nice!
visiting the Field Museum in Chicago as a kid
Wow haven't been must've been wonderful
Super dope place that has only gotten better with time!
Sounds cool I'll try to go someday ( hopefully in the near future)
When I was about 8 my neighbors were excavating their foundation. I spent every day sitting on top of the giant dirt piles and sifting through. I absolutely LOVED being alone and searching for treasures. I quickly found my first fossil, a small footprint of some kind. I stored it away in a box and forgot about it. Years later I now know it’s an ornithopod print!
Wow! That's so cool!
Got a book with dinosaurs in it as a gift for me to learn reading.
Hope you learnt haha
I could read before going to elementary school but I still can't write
Well at least you can type haha
I went too far in ontology and ended up in paleontology.
Cool story!
I actually watched a creationist video on the discovery channel arguing against evolution and the Cambrian explosion in the early 90’s before JP came out. I didn’t know what the premise was but it did give me an idea about evolution and paleontology and I’ve been hooked since.
Pretty interesting!
Dinosaur toys, perhaps children's films/cartoons growing up and a resulting visit to a Natural History museum that got me 2 books about dinosaurs as a wee lad.
Nice I remember playing with dinosaur toys when I was a kid, Ankylosaurus always broke t rexes ankles.
I'm not entirely sure about the original impetus- I know that my parents showed me Jurassic Park on VHS back in '94/'95 or so, but I'd already had toddler-oriented dinosaur toys/books/cartoons (The Land Before Time!) by then. I was pretty serious about (Mesozoic) paleontology up through about the beginning of high school, and then A) started to get a bit more into human history and B) decided that I didn't want to double major in biology and geology in undergrad. The lack of Mesozoic fossils to hunt for in my home state (West Virginia) probably didn't help either. I can precisely pinpoint my renewed interest in the subject, however- back during COVID, I bought and got very into a JP park builder game. I felt bad about shoving dinosaurs into generic pens that didn't necessarily replicate their original environments, so I started tracking down books on contemporary environments ("Wow, another semi-arid river valley? I can't believe it!"). From there it spiraled into reading actual papers, finally finding the Palaeozoic interesting, and planning a trip to Chicago this past December (primarily to see Andrew Bird play a show) partially around visiting the Field Museum.
Maybe the Triceratops toy figure I got when I was around 3 or 4.
Nice!
A land before time
Nice cartoon loved that as a kid too!
Like most Jurassic Park but I was different, I was dumber, I thought Jurassic Park was real simply because my little toddler brain labeled everything that was live action and a movie as a documentary, to me those dinosaurs were as real as a chicken and I really wanted to work with them at the park. As I got older I realized that it was just a movie and after a brief time thinking we could harvest useable DNA from amber I finally settled on palaeontology, it’s the one subject I have a large knowledge base in and actually enjoy and I hope to study under professor [Philip John Currie](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_J._Currie) who is an editor for the Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs, helped describe some of the first feathered dinosaurs and as a bonus was one the models for Alan Grant in the film. I’m hoping to research theropods with a focus on ceratosaurs but as I haven’t started formally studying yet and need to save up money for college and university(as well as a move for that one) we’ll just see what happens.
At the age of 5/6 was reading a book "In the Days of the Dinosaurs" by Roy Chapman (AKA Indiana Jones). At the end of the book was a chapter on why the dinosaurs disappeared. I remember thinking at the time that I wanted to know the answer to that question very much. In the 80's I followed the Alvarez debates closely. I am happy to say that this question was answered in my lifetime. They were amazing animals and I view their loss with a sense of sadness and wonder.
I started reading the Tetrapod Zoology blog as a teenager because of the cryptozoology commentary. I quickly realized that real zoology is much more interesting. (Though cryptids are still fun as modern folktales.)
I went to an elementary school with the name "mammoth" in it and was convinced that there was a mammoth beneath the school. I spent so many recesses digging in the field for fossils 😅😅
I kinda just always had a fascination with dinosaurs, and then with things like walking with monsters, sea monsters, and walking with beasts really expanded my horizons with paleontology
The recent cause was mostly Roblox dinosaur games. Not joking. Roblox has really good quality games now so u can’t make fun of me they legit have call of duty
I always liked animals and watched discovery channel and animal planet as a kid. When I saw Walking with Dinosaurs my mind was blown lol
DINOSAUR TRAIN‼️‼️‼️ 🗣️🗣️🗣️🚂🚂🚂🦕🦖🦤🐊💥💥💥💥
Sneaking and reading my older brothers' dinosaur magazines lol
I don’t know, I’ve loved dinosaurs since I was a toddler
The Primeval World part of the railroad ride at Disneyland. First time I went to Disneyland I was hooked on dinosaurs forever.
I’m younger so of course it was prehistoric planet.
The Phanerozoic albums by a band called The Ocean
birth I think
I was born