Darla K. Zelenitsky (born 1969) is a Canadian paleontologist most notable for her research on dinosaur reproductive biology and fossils. She was a part of a team that first found evidence of feathered dinosaurs in North America, and since then has co-authored over 50 different publications.[1] Her research primarily focuses on paleobiology and paleoenvironments, with a key look on dinosaurs using extinct taxa to detect and infer the changes seen over time.[2]

Education

edit

Zelenitsky received her Bachelor of Science at the University of Manitoba, and then went on to obtain her Master of Science at the University of Calgary. She went on to complete her PhD at the University of Calgary, finishing in 2004.[1] She has continued to work at the University of Calgary as an assistant professor in the department of geoscience.

Early career

edit
 
Tyrannosaurus Rex bones.

In 1996, while working alongside several other well-known paleontologists including Philip J. Currie, Zelenitsky first published an analysis of dinosaur eggshells and bones with the capability of ERD on thin-film, high-temperature superconductors.[3] She would then go on to contribute to over twelve other publications before finally receiving her PhD. Since then, Darla has published articles for the New York times and the Smithsonian on the topic of paleontology.[4][5] She has also aided in the discovery of Mussaurus's egg compositions, and has provided evidence to suggest that the Tyrannosaurus Rex was pivotal to the historical rise of giant carnivores.[5] She has been featured in Global News, discussing dinosaur eggs missing from the fossil record.[6]

References

edit
  1. ^ a b "Darla Karen Zelenitsky | DinoData". dino-data.ca. Retrieved 2022-12-16.
  2. ^ "Dinosaur Paleontology: Research". University of Calgary. Retrieved 2022-12-15.
  3. ^ Forster, J. S.; Currie, P. J.; Davies, J. A.; Siegele, R.; Wallace, S. G.; Zelenitsky, D. (1996-06-01). "Elastic recoil detection (ERD) with extremely heavy ions". Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms. Accelerators in Applied Research and Technology. 113 (1): 308–311. doi:10.1016/0168-583X(95)01392-X. ISSN 0168-583X.
  4. ^ Small, Zachary (2020-10-07). "T. Rex Skeleton Brings $31.8 Million at Christie's Auction". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-12-16.
  5. ^ a b Norell, Mark A.; Wiemann, Jasmina; Fabbri, Matteo; Yu, Congyu; Marsicano, Claudia A.; Moore-Nall, Anita; Varricchio, David J.; Pol, Diego; Zelenitsky, Darla K. (2020-06-17). "The first dinosaur egg was soft". Nature. 583 (7816): 406–410. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2412-8. ISSN 0028-0836.
  6. ^ "Researchers crack mystery of dinosaur eggs missing from fossil record | Globalnews.ca". Global News. Retrieved 2022-12-16.