The Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) cordially invites you to a popular-level talk on Dinosaurs of Africa by Prof Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan.
Date: 5 August 2021
Time: 11:00 to 12:00
Platform: Zoom
Register: Click here to register
About Prof Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan
Prof Chinsamy-Turan is a palaeobiologist based in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Cape Town. Her research focusses on deciphering biological signals recorded in the bone microstructure of extinct vertebrates, as well as that of living forms. Among the extinct vertebrates, she is particularly known for her work on the bone histology and growth patterns of dinosaurs including Mesozoic birds and more recently extinct birds (such as Aepyornis, the elephant bird from Madagascar), and the dromornithids (the thunder birds from Australia), as well as the Permian and Triassic therapsids (mammal-like reptiles) from the Karoo basin of South Africa, and a variety of Cenozoic vertebrates from the West Coast Fossil Park.
In this popular-level talk, Prof Chinsamy-Turan will focus on dinosaurs recovered from Africa. She will tell us about what we currently know about dinosaurs as once living animals, and she will highlight the global importance dinosaurs of Africa. The talk will feature the beautiful dinosaur illustrations by Luis Rey who manages to breathe life into these millions of years old bones.
She has been a co-author of the description and naming of several new dinosaur taxa: Nqwebasaurus (a theropod dinosaur from South Africa); Aardonyx and Sefapanosaurus (both basal sauropodomorph dinosaurs from South Africa), Sapeornis (a Mesozoic bird from China), Changuraptor (a four-winged dinosaur from China), Gobiraptor (a theropod dinosaur from Mongolia); Serikornis (a feathered dinosaur from China).
Prof Chinsamy-Turan has an extensive publication track record with over 100 publications in peer reviewed journals, including high ranking journals such as Nature, Nature Communications and Scientific Reports. In addition, she has two academic books, and four popular science books. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of South African, the University of Cape Town and The World Academy of Sciences.