Lindsay Zanno
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Lindsay E. Zanno (born 1980) is an American vertebrate
paleontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...
and a leading expert on
theropod Theropoda (; from ancient Greek , (''therion'') "wild beast"; , (''pous, podos'') "foot"">wiktionary:ποδός"> (''pous, podos'') "foot" is one of the three major groups (clades) of dinosaurs, alongside Ornithischia and Sauropodom ...
dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...
s and
Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...
paleoecosystems. She is the Head of Paleontology at the
North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (NCMNS) is a natural history museum in Raleigh, North Carolina. The museum is the oldest in the state, and the largest natural history museum in the Southeastern United States. The museum is made up o ...
and an Associate Research Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at
North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...
.


Education

Zanno received her B.Sc. in Biological Anthropology from the
University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; ) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1889 by the New Mexico Territorial Legislature, it is the state's second oldest university, a flagship university in th ...
in 1999, and her graduate degrees from the
University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...
in the department of Geology and Geophysics (M.Sc. in 2004, Ph.D. in 2008). Her M.Sc. thesis was titled "The pectoral girdle and forelimb of a primitive therizinosauroid (Theropoda, Maniraptora) with phylogenetic and functional implications," which addressed the anatomy of '' Falcarius utahensis''. Her Ph.D. dissertation was titled "A taxonomic and phylogenetic reevaluation of Therizinosauria (Dinosauria: Theropoda): implications for the evolution of Maniraptora," which broadly addressed the relationships of
therizinosaurs Therizinosaurs (; once called segnosaurs) are an extinct group of large herbivorous theropod dinosaurs whose fossils have been mainly discovered from Cretaceous deposits in Asia and North America. Potential fragmentary remains have also been foun ...
.


Academic contributions

Zanno has contributed to more than 200 technical publications, and her work has been cited more than 2,000 times. She has published in leading international journals, including
Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...
,
Nature Communications ''Nature Communications'' is a peer-reviewed, open access, scientific journal published by Nature Portfolio since 2010. It is a multidisciplinary journal that covers the natural sciences, including physics, chemistry, earth sciences, medic ...
,
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America'' (often abbreviated ''PNAS'' or ''PNAS USA'') is a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journal. It is the official journal of the National Academy of Scie ...
,
Science Advances ''Science Advances'' is a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary open-access scientific journal established in early 2015 and published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The journal's scope includes all areas of science. Hist ...
,
Current Biology ''Current Biology'' is a biweekly peer-reviewed scientific journal that covers all areas of biology, especially molecular biology, cell biology, genetics, neurobiology, ecology, and evolutionary biology. The journal includes research artic ...
, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, and
Scientific Reports ''Scientific Reports'' is a peer-reviewed open-access scientific mega journal published by Nature Portfolio, covering all areas of the natural sciences. The journal was established in 2011. The journal states that their aim is to assess solely ...
. Her primary focus is on the paleobiology of theropods from the Cretaceous of North America, but she has also published on
ornithischia Ornithischia () is an extinct clade of mainly herbivorous dinosaurs characterized by a pelvic structure superficially similar to that of birds. The name ''Ornithischia'', or "bird-hipped", reflects this similarity and is derived from the Greek ...
n dinosaurs, crocodylomorphs, avians,
aetosaur Aetosaurs () are heavily armored reptiles belonging to the extinct order (biology), order Aetosauria (; from Ancient Greek, Greek, (aetos, "eagle") and (, "lizard")). They were medium- to large-sized Omnivore, omnivorous or Herbivore, herbivor ...
pseudosuchia Pseudosuchia, from Ancient Greek ψεύδος (''pseúdos)'', meaning "false", and σούχος (''soúkhos''), meaning "crocodile" is one of two major divisions of Archosauria, including living crocodilians and all archosaurs more closely relat ...
ns,
temnospondyls Temnospondyli (from Greek τέμνειν, ''temnein'' 'to cut' and σπόνδυλος, ''spondylos'' 'vertebra') or temnospondyls is a diverse ancient order of small to giant tetrapods—often considered primitive amphibians—that flourished wo ...
, and trace fossils. Zanno has contributed to naming many new species of theropods, including the therizinosaur ''Falcarius,'' the troodontid '' Talos sampsoni'', the
hadrosaur Hadrosaurids (), also hadrosaurs or duck-billed dinosaurs, are members of the ornithischian family Hadrosauridae. This group is known as the duck-billed dinosaurs for the flat duck-bill appearance of the bones in their snouts. The ornithopod fami ...
'' Velafrons coahuilensis'', the oviraptorosaur '' Hagryphus giganteus'', the
iguanodontia Ornithopoda () is a clade of ornithischian dinosaurs, called ornithopods (). They represent one of the most successful groups of herbivorous dinosaurs during the Cretaceous. The most primitive members of the group were bipedal and relatively sm ...
n '' Choyrodon barsboldi'', the
allosauroid Carnosauria is an extinct group of carnivorous theropod dinosaurs that lived during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. While Carnosauria was historically considered largely synonymous with Allosauroidea, some recent studies have revived Carn ...
'' Siats meekerorum'', and the
tyrannosauroid Tyrannosauroidea (meaning 'tyrant lizard forms') is a superfamily (or clade) of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaurs that includes the family Tyrannosauridae as well as more basal relatives. Tyrannosauroids lived on the Laurasian supercontinen ...
'' Moros intrepidus''. Her work is supported by numerous awards, primarily from the
National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...
, and has been extensively covered by major news outlets, including the
Science Channel Science Channel (often simply branded as Science; abbreviated to SCI) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel features programming focusing on science related to wilderness survival, engineering, manu ...
,
History Channel History (formerly and commonly known as the History Channel) is an American pay television television broadcaster, network and the flagship channel of A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney General Entertainme ...
,
National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...
, the
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
,
NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
and the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
. Zanno serves as the president of th
Jurassic Foundation
and co-chair of the program committee for the
Society of Vertebrate Paleontology The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP) is a professional organization that was founded in the United States in 1940 to advance the science of vertebrate paleontology around the world. Mission and activities SVP has about 2,300 members inte ...
's annual meeting and previously served as Science Advocate for the Walking With Dinosaurs Arena Spectacular and on-air host for The Ice Age Exhibition. Below is a list of taxa that Zanno has contributed to naming:


Outreach and science communication

Zanno is active in community and science outreach, including on Twitter and through ExpeditionLive!, a platform developed to connect with the public during fieldwork. She has spearheaded several initiatives through the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, such as FossilPhiles, which invites students in grades 8–11 to work with museum paleontologists; Shark Teeth Forensics, which provides primary school students with the opportunity to conduct research using shark teeth; an
Cretaceous Creatures
which will provide students with the opportunity to conduct research using microvertebrates. The last of these is part of the new Dueling Dinosaurs Program, an exhibit slated to open in 2023 that is centered around a remarkable specimen of a complete skeleton of ''
Tyrannosaurus ''Tyrannosaurus'' () is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The type species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' ( meaning 'king' in Latin), often shortened to ''T. rex'' or colloquially t-rex, is one of the best represented theropods. It lived througho ...
'' side-by-side with a skeleton of ''
Triceratops ''Triceratops'' ( ; ) is a genus of Chasmosaurinae, chasmosaurine Ceratopsia, ceratopsian dinosaur that lived during the late Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous Period (geology), period, about 68 to 66 million years ago on the island ...
''. The specimen of ''T. rex'' represents the only fully complete skeleton of this species that is known to date, and the specimens were donated to the museum by the affiliated Friends of the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, who purchased it for US$6 million from a private collector. The specimen had previously failed to sell at the seller's minimum price in 2013 and was subsequently the center of a lengthy legal battle over the ownership of the fossil.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zanno, Lindsay Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century births Living people American paleontologists American taxonomists Women taxonomists American women paleontologists University of New Mexico alumni University of Utah alumni People associated with the Field Museum of Natural History 21st-century American scientists 21st-century American women scientists