Day 3: Ellie the Dimetrodon

Last Friday I spent most of my time going through soil samples that go with Ellie. I had worked on some of Ellie's soil samples the week before last, so I decided to asks what Ellie is. I found out she is pieces of a Dimetrodon. By this I mean that they haven't found all if the bones but they've found enough of them to name the Dimetrodon they came from.

A little history on Dimetrodons incase you don't know what they are, which most people probably don't. If you've ever been into the Palentology Hall at HMNS you probably remember staring at a large lizard looking sculpture with huge teeth and a large fin on its back, that's a Dimetrodon. I have also included a picture of one bellow incase you haven't seen this sculpture. (Picture by looloolooweez on Flickr)

The reason Dimetrodons are so important is because they're our ancient ancestors. See the resembelence?......No?........I don't blame you. From the outside we don't look very similar, but when you look at both our skulls you find something amazing. We're both two holers, which means we have one hole where our jaw muscle attaches. All modern day mammals are one holers; and that means that Dimetrodons are their of are ancestors. There are both one and two holers and they're the ancient ancestors of different common day life. If this sounds interesting to you you should look it up because it's pretty fascinating!

As always I have attatched pictures bellow of what I did last Friday, so check out what I found digging in soil samples.