Research
Monthly Archive: December Rese
Triceratops Dig Week 1
![The Triceratops quarry was under water when we arrived. Land with water on it](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/tri-quarry.jpg?itok=tjess9fL)
For the past week, a small crew from the Royal Ontario Museum’s palaeontology division has been excavating a Triceratops site on private ranchland in Harding County, South Dakota.
The Monastery of St Moses, Syria: Introduction
![View of the old monastery buildings from the South in 2004, with then Brother Jihad, a member of the monastery. View of the old monastery buildings from the South in 2004, with then Brother Jihad, a member of the monastery.](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/dscn0819.jpg?itok=zFpkWDX7)
Robert Mason reports on his years of archaeological fieldwork at the Monastery of St Moses, Syria, in this blog series.
A Fish With a Big Bang
![<i>Metaspriggina walcotti</i> as it might have looked in its environment. Reconstruction by Marianne Collins. © Conway Morris and Caron. Illustration of Metaspriggina](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/metaspriggina_rconstruction600.jpg?itok=7HMBD-6F)
New fossils reveal first hints of the evolution of jaws in primitive fish.
Ontario BioBlitz Brings Bad News for Arachnophobes
![A young BioBlitzer gently holds a crawling spider in his hands. Photo by Vincent Luk a young boy carefully lets a spider crawl across his palms](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/2014-05-24_bioblitz148-2_0.jpg?itok=2lR-TPCX)
Guest Blogger and 2014 Ontario Bioblitz Arachnid Taxon team leader Dr. Gergin Blagoev, Research Associate at the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario (BIO), tells us about finding double the expected number of spider species in the Humber River Watershed and shares a couple of the most interesting species that were found.
Sharing of Museum Biodiversity Data on the Web
![Map of the world.](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/gbif.jpg?itok=NEVJ94X_)
Learn about where you can find open source data from our biodiversity collections
2014 Ontario Bioblitz Bird Count Gets Results!
![A Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) rests on a fence post | Photo by Tallie Garey, EVC Student A small blue and white bird sits on a post against background of vegetation.](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/talliegarey_bioblitz_2014-5630.jpg?itok=zKYzPkLH)
Guest blogger and 2014 Ontario Bioblitz Bird Taxon team leader Kevin Kerr, Curator of Birds at Toronto Zoo, writes on some of his experiences inventorying birds, including 9 species-at-risk, from the Humber River Watershed.
Moonbird re-sighting
![The orange flag on this Red Knot's leg indicates it was banded in Argentina.](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/baker_red-knot_banded1.jpg?itok=LNncIbNa)
Back in 1995 ROM ornithologist Dr. Allan Baker was part of an international team that banded a small shorebird in Argentina, a Red-knot soon to become dubbed Moonbird, with a leg band with the number B95 on it.
Snapshots of Biodiversity: A Photo Essay on the 2014 Ontario BioBlitz
![A scientist and a youth look closely at a specimen on a table next to a microscope.](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/2014-05-24_bioblitz_vincentluk03.jpg?itok=ahh8ZDrF)
The 2014 Ontario BioBlitz brought 500+ registrants together this past weekend to find and catalogue biodiversity in the Humber River watershed, and students from the Environmental Visual Communication (EVC) Program were there to capture the event from every angle.
Study explores evolution of flightless birds
![Tinamous are the closest living relatives of the flightless ratites. Brian Gratwicke/Flickr, CC BY Tinamous](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/hzzq4h65-1399768480.jpg?itok=WrHC0_em)
DNA confirms relationship between the giant flightless moa and the tinamous
![](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/moa_bones_moa_and_tinamou_sm.jpg?itok=clHC7Yel)
One of the longest running debates in ornithology may finally have an answer thanks to new ROM research published in science journal Molecular Biology and Evolution.