Wendy Sloboda

Wendy Sloboda is a Canadian fossil hunter from Warner, Alberta. She has made fossil discoveries of dinosaurs and other extinct animals on several continents, with finds in Canada, Argentina, Mongolia, France, and Greenland.[2] She is commemorated in name of the horned dinosaur Wendiceratops, remains of which she discovered in 2010, as well as the fossil footprint Barrosopus slobodai which she discovered in 2003.[3][4]

Wendy J. Sloboda
Born1967/1968[1]
NationalityCanadian
Alma materUniversity of Lethbridge
OccupationFossil collector
Years active1987–present
Known forFossil discoveries

Biography
Illustration of Wendiceratops, which Sloboda discovered in 2010

In 1987, as a teenager, Sloboda discovered fossil eggshells in southern Alberta which she passed on to scientists, who uncovered multiple nests of hadrosaurs (duck-billed dinosaurs) including fossilized embryos.[5][6] She enrolled at the University of Lethbridge in 1989 and in the summer of 1990, discovered a hadrosaur skeleton.[7] She worked for sixteen years as a paleontological technician at the Royal Tyrrell Museum and started her own business, Mesozoic Wrex Repair, a fossil preparation and casting company, in 2001.[3][8] She earned B.A. in history from the University of Lethbridge in 2001.[3][9]

Paleontologist David Evans, of the Royal Ontario Museum calls Sloboda "basically a legend in Alberta. She's probably one of the best dinosaurs in the world."[4] Her discoveries include the first pterosaur bonebed in North America,[10] and a pterosaur leg showing evidence of predation by a small dinosaur[11] that inspired author Daniel Loxton's 2013 book Pterosaur Trouble.[12]

Sloboda has made numerous discoveries in Alberta's Dinosaur Provincial Park, including fossil skulls of Corythosaurus, ankylosaurs (including Euoplocephalus) and crocodilians.[13] In 1999, she discovered and prepared the first known fossils of a gravid (egg-containing) turtle.[14][15] In 2005, along with paleontologist Darla Zelenitsky, she described the oogenus Reticuloolithus: fossilized eggshells found in Alberta and Montana, believed to have been laid by maniraptoran dinosaurs such as oviraptorosaurs or dromaeosaurids.[16]

In 2003, while working in South America, Sloboda discovered a fossil footprint in Plaza Huincul, Argentina. The footprint was described as a new ichnospecies by paleontologists Rodolfo Coria, Philip J. Currie, Alberto Garrido, and David Eberth, who honored Sloboda by naming it Barrosopus slobodai, which translates as "Sloboda's muddy foot".[17]

In 2010, Sloboda discovered a rock containing a bone fragment in Southern Alberta, between the Milk River and the Canada-US border.[4] Evans and Ryan described the remains as a new genus and species, dubbed Wendiceratops pinhornensis, with the genus name combining Sloboda's first name with the suffix "-ceratops", common in horned dinosaur names.[18] In celebration of having a genus named after her, Sloboda had a drawing of the dinosaur and its scientific name tattooed on her arm.[4]

Publications
  • Chin, K., Eberth, D. A., Schweitzer, M. H., Rando, T. A., Sloboda, W. J., & Horner, J. R. (2003). "Remarkable preservation of undigested muscle tissue within a Late Cretaceous tyrannosaurid coprolite from Alberta, Canada". PALAIOS. 18 (3): 286–294. doi:10.1669/0883-1351(2003)018<0286:rpoumt>2.0.co;2. JSTOR 3515739.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  • Zelenitsky, Darla K.; Sloboda, Wendy J. (2005). "Eggshells". In Philip J. Currie; Eva Bundgaard Koppelhus (eds.). Dinosaur Provincial Park: A Spectacular Ancient Ecosystem Revealed. Indiana University Press. pp. 398–404. ISBN 0-253-34595-2.

References
  1. "Meet Wendiceratops, a 'spectacular' new horned dinosaur named after 'legend' Alberta fossil hunter". National Post. July 9, 2015.
  2. Dunham, Will (July 8, 2015). "Who is Wendy and why is this dinosaur named after her?". Reuters.
  3. "A Passion for Paleontology" (PDF). U of L Journal. University of Lethbridge: 8–9. Spring 2004.
  4. Chung, Emily (July 8, 2015). "New 'Wendiceratops' named for legendary Alberta dinosaur hunter Wendy Sloboda". CBC News.
  5. Anderson, Ian (24 September 1987). Fetal fragments suggest warm-blooded dinosaurs. New Scientist. p. 25. ISSN 0262-4079.
  6. John Acorn (7 February 2007). Deep Alberta: Fossil Facts and Dinosaur Digs. University of Alberta. p. 49. ISBN 978-0-88864-481-7.
  7. "Canadian student finds dinosaur remains". The Free Lance-Star. Associated Press. August 20, 1990. p. 15.
  8. Harris-Lovett, Sasha (July 8, 2015). "Meet Wendiceratops, a horned dinosaur unlike any other". Los Angeles Times.
  9. Amery, Richard (December 8, 2009). "Fossil talk at Cafe Galt". L.A. Beat. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
  10. Lowey, Mark (August 8, 1992). "Bone booty in the badlands". Calgary Herald. p. A1., reprinted in "This day in Alberta history: August 8, 1992 – Bone booty in the badlands". Calgary Herald. August 8, 2012. Retrieved 11 July 2015.
  11. Currie, Philip J.; Jacobsen, Aase Roland (1995). "An azhdarchid pterosaur eaten by a velociraptorine theropod". Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 32 (7): 922–925. doi:10.1139/e95-077.
  12. Sturgess, Kylie (April 3, 2013). "Getting Into Pterosaur Trouble – An Interview With Daniel Loxton". csicop.org. Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.
  13. Currie, Philip J. (2005). "History of Research". In Philip J. Currie; Eva Bundgaard Koppelhus (eds.). Dinosaur Provincial Park: A Spectacular Ancient Ecosystem Revealed. Indiana University Press. pp. 3–33. ISBN 0-253-34595-2.
  14. Zelenitsky, D. K.; Therrien, F.; Joyce, W. G.; Brinkman, D. B. (2008). "First fossil gravid turtle provides insight into the evolution of reproductive traits in turtles". Biology Letters. 4 (6): 715–718. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2008.0395. PMC 2614164. PMID 18755656. We thank Wendy Sloboda for the discovery and preparation of the specimens.
  15. Graveland, Bill (August 28, 2008). "Fossilized pregnant turtle unveiled". The Toronto Star.
  16. Zelenitsky, Darla K.; Sloboda, Wendy J. (2005). "Eggshells". In Philip J. Currie; Eva Bundgaard Koppelhus (eds.). Dinosaur Provincial Park: A Spectacular Ancient Ecosystem Revealed. Indiana University Press. pp. 398–404. ISBN 0-253-34595-2.
  17. Coria, R. A.; Currie, P. J.; Eberth, D.; Garrido, A. (2002). "Bird footprints from the Anacleto Formation (Late Cretaceous) in Neuquén Province, Argentina". Ameghiniana. 39: 1–11.
  18. Evans, David C.; Ryan, Michael J. (2015). "Cranial Anatomy of Wendiceratops pinhornensis gen. et sp. nov., a Centrosaurine Ceratopsid (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the Oldman Formation (Campanian), Alberta, Canada, and the Evolution of Ceratopsid Nasal Ornamentation". PLOS ONE. 10 (7): e0130007. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0130007. PMC 4496092. PMID 26154293.
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