What dinosaur bones reveal

Prof. Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan

Our planet looked very different 150 million years ago. Dinosaurs walked the Earth, and reptiles dominated the skies and the oceans. Our closest living relatives were small, rodent-sized mammals. And then, 65 million years ago, seventy-five percent of all life was wiped out when a colossal catastrophe occurred and set in motion one of the most significant extinction events in the history of the planet. By studying what’s left of the bones and teeth of the dinosaurs that died in that fateful period and throughout the rest of history, Anusuya deciphers their health and growth patterns, drawing critical lessons for all living forms.

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Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan is a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Cape Town. Her research focuses on deciphering biological signals recorded in the bone microstructure of extinct vertebrates, as well as that of living forms. She is known for her work on the bone histology and growth patterns of non-avian Dinosaurs, Mesozoic birds, and more recently extinct birds, and the dromornithids, as well as the Permian and Triassic therapsids from the Karoo basin of South Africa, and a variety of Cenozoic vertebrates from the West Coast Fossil Park.  

Web: anusuyachinsamyturan.github.io

LinkedIn: Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan

Twitter: @palaeo_prof