Size matters! Giant dinosaurs and their African origins
What is the largest terrestrial animal of all time? Why aren’t there bigger land-dwelling mammals today? What does the South African fossil record have to say about the evolution of giant dinosaurs? How do we estimate the mass of extinct animals?
And... could dinosaur farts have contributed to global warming?
Sauropod dinosaurs were the biggest terrestrial animals of all time, nearly equaling the
body mass of the largest whales today. How did they function at such large body sizes? And how did they evolve from small, two legged dinosaurs that roamed the Earth more than 200 million years ago?
In this episode of Science & Cocktails Johannesburg, Jonah Choiniere will answer those questions, and will discuss the role that South Africa plays in understanding sauropod evolution. Finally, he will give us a “sneak peek” at the largest dinosaur ever recovered from the Karoo. Hint: it’s a lot bigger than an elephant.
Afterwards, evolutionary cocktails at the bar while Hlumelo Ledwaba and her band take the stage with a multidimensional repertoire of vocal jazz.
Image: strange road signage (Glasgowfoodie/Flickr).
Jonah Choiniere
Size matters! Giant dinosaurs and their African origins
What is the largest terrestrial animal of all time? Why aren’t there bigger land-dwelling mammals today? What does the South African fossil record have to say about the evolution of giant dinosaurs? How do we estimate the mass of extinct animals?
Talk by
Jonah Choiniere
Jonah Choiniere is Reader in dinosaur paleontology at the Evolutionary Studies Institute and Honorary Senior Lecturer at the School of Geosciences at the University of the Witwatersrand. He has taken part in field expeditions in the USA,
China and Mongolia and is currently doing field work in the South African Karoo. His research interests include the evolution of basal sauropodomorphs and the Triassic-Jurassic boundary.
Music by
Hlumelo Ledwaba
Hlumelo Ledwaba is a Johannesburg based young vocalist with a passion
for jazz. Through her training in both classical and jazz art forms, Hlumelo aims to add a different dimension to various vocal jazz forms both traditional and contempary. She has trained with both Edith Klug and Hannah Foster, both accomplished vocalists in their own right. The repertoire of this performance,
where she shares the stage with fellow students and musicians, will incorporate songs from Hlumelo’s final year recital at the University of the Witwatersrand, as well as works that inspire her on her musical journey
