Becoming a giant in the Jurassic

Prof. Jonah Choiniere

Dinosaurs started off small but, over time, evolved to be massive creatures. The earliest dinosaurs weighed only about 10kg – the size of a giant watermelon. They would eventually grow ten times larger than the largest African elephants. They accomplished this primarily by developing thicker leg bones and adopting a four-legged posture. Jonah shares insights on this evolution in an engaging talk.

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Jonah Choiniere graduated from George Washington University, USA, where he received his Ph.D. in Biology under the supervision of Professor James M. Clark in 2010. He then moved on to a postdoctoral position as a Kalbfleisch Fellow and Gerstner Scholar at the American Museum of Natural History, under the supervision of Dr. Mark A. Norell. He is a  Professor at the Evolutionary Studies Institute and an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the School of Geosciences (Wits), where he is working on the evolution of basal sauropodomorphs, the terrestrial Triassic-Jurassic boundary.

Web: jonahchoiniere.weebly.com

Twitter: @jonahchoiniere