Claire

time：2022-11-27source：云南广播电视台browse：4,734

In 2016, Claire received a Ph.D. in paleontology from the National Museum of Natural History in France. Her research focuses on the morphology, cladology and ecology of Mesozoic dinosaurs. From 2017 to 2018, he served successively as an assistant professor of the museum, a scientific consultant of the Tyrannosaurus Rex Exhibition in Paris, and a scientific consultant of the Dinosaur Ecology MOOC at the School of Earth Sciences of the University of Hong Kong. In March 2019, Claire came to Yunnan, known as the "Kingdom of Paleontology", to carry out her postdoctoral research at the Institute of Vertebrate Evolution of Yunnan University. Yunnan Province and its surrounding provinces and neighboring countries contain ancient vertebrate fossil resources, which are of great scientific significance and have been highly valued by the scientific community and the media at home and abroad. The Institute of Vertebrate Evolution of Yunnan University is based on the advantages of regional geological resources, facing the frontier of international science, and positioning itself to build its own vertebrate evolution research center and independent innovation center in Yunnan Province. Since then, the French girl has traveled all over the deep mountains of Yunnan, and forged an indissoluble bond with the Jurassic dinosaur fossils in Yunnan.


< p> Traditional research on paleontology follows the process of "fossil-observation-comparison-conclusion", collecting fossil specimens from the wild, then observing the fossil morphology, and then comparing the morphological information with other groups of fossils Contrast, and finally draw a conclusion to complete the research. In order to complete the most important step of finding fossils in this process, Claire's daily field trips, eating and sleeping in the wind and camping are the daily routines, trekking over mountains and wading through mountains and rivers, and listening attentively to the voice of life among seemingly lifeless fossils. The conditions and care provided by Yunnan University in terms of work and life enabled this girl in a foreign country to continue to study dinosaur fossils in Yunnan, and successfully completed field examinations and postdoctoral research.

In 2020, after previous accumulation, Clare and the research team made a major discovery. A new genus and species of sauropod dinosaur was discovered in Men County, named Yimen Caiyunlong. The specimen of Caiyunlong includes part of the skull, vertebral body and relatively complete forelimbs, shoulder girdle, and belt. Although the fossil is not very complete, it is confirmed that Caiyunlong belongs to sauropod according to many anatomical features and cladistic analysis. sauropods, and is located at the base of this group, which is more advanced than most of the basal sauropods currently known in Yunnan. Through research, they also found that Caiyunlong's forelimbs are not suitable for supporting its own movement, which shows that Caiyunlong is most likely to walk on two feet in most cases.


< p> In Clare’s view, Yunnan has abundant Jurassic dinosaur fossil materials, and many significant fossils have been discovered, making it the best place to study the evolution of sauropods One; the appearance of Yimen Caiyunlong increased the diversity of early Jurassic dinosaurs in China, and its tooth morphology shows the evolution mechanism of basal sauropod herbivorous specialization.

Next, in 2021, Clare and the Yunnan University research team studied a basal sauropod larvae fossil from the Early Jurassic in Lufeng, and compared the specimens A bone histological study was conducted, and it was found that the specimen was in the early stage of individual development. It was about 3 years old and about 1.7 meters long. The teeth of this larval fossil were leaf-shaped. It was a herbivorous dinosaur, and its food was fern and pine class-based. There are currently 11 valid genera of sauropods in the Yunnan Lufeng dinosaur fauna, but this specimen does not belong to any known genera. The study also sorted out the chronology and biostratigraphic data of Lufeng "red bed" for the first time. The Lufeng Formation belongs to the Lower Jurassic, about 200 million years ago, and is currently the most abundant fossil-bearing Mesozoic in Yunnan Province. Strata unit.

In addition to the basal sauropod dinosaurs, a theropod footprint in Yunnan also aroused Claire's research interest. The study found that this is currently the largest theropod footprint in Yunnan. Conducting morphological studies on these footprints, and discussing potential track-making animals and paleoenvironments, will provide abundant evidence for the diversity, behavior, and geographical distribution of Yunnan theropod dinosaurs, which is of great value for the study of paleoecology in Yunnan .


< p> "The mountains in Yunnan are very beautiful, and I also like staying in the mountains in Yunnan very much." After arriving in Yunnan, Claire's research has been enriched by the abundant fossil discoveries here, but For this beautiful French female doctor, even if it is only on the way to find fossils, Yunnan is a picturesque landscape.


An ordinary "stone" in the eyes of ordinary people may be carrying ancient The "baby" of the code obtains information from the form of fossils, and then obtains research conclusions through this information. The scientific research process may not be so romantic and freehand, and the life of scientific researchers will not be so colorful, but every small step forward in science has spent a lot of hard work behind it. For Claire, her love for dinosaur fossils will eventually illuminate her way to continue to climb the peak of science and accompany her on a scientific journey in constant pursuit of the unknown. At present, Clare has entered the next stage of research work. In the office of Lixian Building, Yunnan University, in various local museums in Yunnan, and in the green mountains and green waters in the south of the colorful clouds, the story of her and Yunnan dinosaur fossils continues...