Admin Table of Contents
Where is Joan Wiffen from?
New Zealand
Joan Wiffen/Place of birth
Did Ankylosaurus live in New Zealand?
Ankylosaur fossils have been retrieved from Late Cretaceous sediments on James Ross Island in Antarctica, and a small plant-eater similar to Hypsilophodon has been found in the region. Indeed, Antarctica and New Zealand are among the last places on earth to yield dinosaurs.
What was Joan Wiffen famous for?
Joan Wiffen (1922–2009) was a palaeontologist who studied the Cretaceous period in New Zealand and was the first to discover dinosaur fossils in New Zealand. These were priceless treasures from the past – and, suddenly, I was hooked. I knew what I wanted – to collect fossils.
Where was Joan Wiffen born NZ?
What dinosaurs lived in New Zealand?
Non-avian dinosaurs
| Name | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Joan Wiffen’s theropod | Maastrichtian | Possibly a megaraptoran |
| Titanosaur | Maastrichtian | Known from a rib |
| Unidentified dinosaur | Early Maastrichtian | Known from footprints. Possibly a thyreophoran. |
| Unidentified theropod | Late Cretaceous | Known from toe bone around the size of Allosaurus |
Do paleontologists still dig?
Paleontologists locate and excavate fossils and specimens out of the ground, using dig sites and technology to learn secrets about a world long gone.
Where did dinosaurs live in NZ?
This is the first evidence that titanosaurids once lived in New Zealand. The bone was found by Dr Joan Wiffen west of Mohaka in northern Hawke’s Bay.
Who found the first dinosaur fossil in NZ?
Joan Wiffen CBE
Joan Wiffen
| Joan Wiffen CBE | |
|---|---|
| Born | Joan Pederson4 February 1922 |
| Died | 30 June 2009 (aged 87) Hastings, New Zealand |
| Nationality | New Zealand |
| Known for | First discovery of dinosaur fossils in New Zealand |
Where did Joan Wiffen find fossils?
Career. In 1975 Wiffen discovered the first dinosaur fossils in New Zealand in the Mangahouanga Valley in Northern Hawkes Bay. Her first discovery was the tail bone of a theropod dinosaur. Her later finds included bones from a hypsilophodont, a pterosaur, an ankylosaur, mosasaurs and plesiosaurs.
Where did Joan Wiffen find fossils in New Zealand?
Joan Wiffen and colleagues were famous for finding fossils at Mangahouanga Stream, in north-west Hawke’s Bay. Dr James Crampton, paleontologist at GNS Science, outlines some of the marine reptiles and dinosaur fossils they found. He explains why dinosaur fossils are so rare in New Zealand and how hard they are to extract from the rock.
Where did Joan Wiffen find the plesiosaur skull?
In 1979, Australian scientist Dr Ralph Molnar identifies it as from an ankylosaur. Complete skull of plesiosaur found, though not extracted from rock until 1984. Joan Wiffen’s discoveries show dinosaurs lived in New Zealand after it split away from Gondwana in the Early Cretaceous. Fossil leaves of Glossopteris found in Southland.
Who was Joan Wiffen and what did she do?
Joan Wiffen CBE (née Pederson, 4 February 1922 – 30 June 2009) was a New Zealand amateur paleontologist. Wiffen was born in 1922 and was brought up in Havelock North and the King Country. She only had a very short secondary school education as her father believed that higher education was wasted on girls, so he made her leave.
Where did Pont and Joan Wiffen live in Hawaii?
The Wiffens lived near the 2YH radio transmitter at Ōpapa, where Pont worked, for the first five years of their marriage. In about 1958 they purchased a 10-acre farm in Tuki Tuki Road, Haumoana. Joan worked on the property, growing glasshouse tomatoes and cucumbers and outdoor asparagus to help make ends meet.