Antarctica is one of the great frontiers of paleontology. It’s been really far south for a long time, but it hasn’t always been frozen over. In February of 2016, a team of paleontologists and geologists set out on an expedition to the frozen continent in search of fossils from the end of the Age of Dinosaurs. Matt talked with two of the team members, Eric Gorscak and Patrick O’Connor both from Ohio University, about planning the expedition and what they hope to find at the bottom of the world. Follow the entire Antarctic Peninsula Paleontology Project (#AP3) team at www.antarcticdinos.org and @antarcticdinos!

Patrick O’Connor is a Professor of Anatomy and Neuroscience at the Ohio University. Here’s a link to his lab’s website. His research is focused on vertebrate evolution on the megacontinent of Gondwana, a giant landmass that broke up through the Mesozoic and beginning of the Cenozoic to become Africa, South America, Australia, Antarctica, Madagascar, and India. In addition to working in Antarctica, he has active field projects in Madagascar, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and Egypt. He’s worked on weird Gondwanan dinosaurs like Majungasaurus, weird Gondwanan crocodiles like Pakasuchus, and weird Gondwanan mammals like Vintana.

Eric Gorscak is a Doctoral Candidate at Ohio University where his research is advised by Dr. O’Connor. Eric’s research is focused on the evolution of sauropod dinosaurs, the gigantic, long-necked, plant-eating dinosaurs that seem to defy the laws of physics and biology. As part of his dissertation, he’s trying to sort out how gigantic titanosaur sauropods found around the world are related to each other. His most recent study described a new Tanzanian titanosaur called Rukwatitian.

Pat, Eric, and the rest of the Antarctic Peninsula Paleontology Project team want to figure out what was going on in Antarctica during Late Cretaceous, the last slice of time before the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs. Most of what we kno