Gregory Funston

I’m a Canadian palaeontologist interested in the anatomy, growth, behaviour, and evolution of dinosaurs and mammals, as well as the ecosystems they lived in. I just finished a position as a Royal Society Newton International Fellow at the University of Edinburgh. Now, I’m a postdoctoral researcher at the Royal Ontario Museum.

My current research is about the mammals leading up to the dinosaur extinction. I’m looking inside their bones and teeth to learn how they grew over their lifetimes. By learning about their physiology and growth, we can start to understand how and why they took over global ecosystems.

Much of my PhD research focused on Caenagnathidae, a mostly North American group of oviraptorosaurs that are very poorly known. By reexamining old specimens and looking at newly discovered material, I’m slowly unravelling their diversity in North America. Recently, I’ve also been in Mongolia working on oviraptorids from the Nemegt Basin. Most species here are represented by complete skeletons, some of which are preserved brooding like modern birds. Because their anatomy is so well known, we can start asking questions about their behaviour, ecology, and evolution.

www.gregfunston.com