On today’s show, host Anna Rose MacArthur talks with Dr. Thomas Adams, Paleontologist and Curator of Paleontology and Geology at the Witte Museum in San Antonio, Texas.
Dr. Adams explains how prehistoric traces— such as tracks, trails, burrows, feces, and borings— reveal dinosaur behavior and environmental conditions.
He describes the significance of Texan dinosaur tracks to the global understanding of prehistoric life, the role paleontologists play in our comprehension of climate change, and how movies influence and often misconstrue popular conceptions of dinosaurs. For instance, even though fossils show most dinosaurs as warm-blooded and feathered, movies still portray them as cold-blooded, scaled beasts.
Dr. Adams has studied prehistoric traces in Texas, Alaska, and Mongolia. He has worked at the Witte Museum since 2013. Before joining the Witte, he served as a professor in the Department of Natural Sciences at San Antonio College in San Antonio, Texas.
