Dinosaurs of the Lost Continent | Dr. Scott Sampson

Paleontologist Dr. Scott Sampson's public lecture about the ancient lost continent of Laramidia and the remarkable dinosaurs that lived there.
For more than a century, paleontologists have been collecting abundant, often spectacular dinosaur fossils from the Western Interior of North America, with the bulk of these remains found in rocks dating to the final stages of the Cretaceous Period. Only recently have we learned that most of these dinosaurs-among them horned, duck-billed, dome-headed, and armored plant-eaters, as well as giant tyrannosaur meat-eaters and smaller “raptor-like” predators-existed on a “lost continent,” today referred to as “Laramidia."
About 96 million years ago, exceptionally high sea levels flooded central North America, resulting in a north-south oriented seaway extending from the Arctic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. This shallow sea isolated life-forms on the eastern and western landmasses for most the next 26 million years.
We know little of what happened on the eastern landmass, but its western counterpart, Laramidia, witnessed a tremendous florescence of dinosaurs and other Cretaceous life-forms. Surprisingly, despite the small size of Laramidia (less than one-quarter the size of present day North America) and giant sizes of many of the dinosaurs, different species co-existed in the northern and southern regions, at least during certain intervals. How were so many giant animals able to co-exist on such a diminutive landmass? Why were most of these dinosaurs adorned with bizarre bony features such as horns, crests, domes, or spikes? What lessons do these ancient fossils have for humans living on a warming planet?

[@allanchapman7986]

I am in my sixties and never lost my love of dinosaurs. The changes to how we understand dinosaurs over the years as been amazing.

[@julieluckey7902]

I love your comment. I will be 70 in a month and also have never outgrown my love of dinosaurs. I wonder how many other older people are watching this video.

[@allanchapman7986]

@@julieluckey7902 . My grandchildren love them to.

[@julieluckey7902]

@@allanchapman7986 mine too

[@jandrews6254]

Luckily my fascination with dinosaurs meshes nicely with my grandsons. That way I get to go to exhibits

[@MrPeterschmit]

@@julieluckey7902 im 59 and still am fascinated with them,and with shows like cosmos!

[@dyslexiusmaximus]

"Get kids outside to help their mental health and give them a better connection with nature" what a relevant message

[@anthonyhewitt9397]

I go back and listen to this all the time. I've probably seen it like 8 times over the last few years. We need more of these serious lectures aimed towards adults.

[@juliocesardossantos]

This is a man with a heart full of passion for science. Amazing lecturer.

[@kipbrown1549]

Santos Yes and a brain full of shit ///////////

[@speedracer2008]

I’ve met Dr. Scott Sampson at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. He’s a great guy and any dinosaur fan (including yours truly) who gets to meet him is a lucky person.

[@philbuglass4857]

I remember a visit to the Natural History Museum in London, many years ago. They had a window into a room where a technician was extracting fossil bones from the rock matrix... Blew my mind to think that those bones had not seen light for millions of years. Then *really* blew my mind to realise that I was the first person *EVER* to see them!

[@kipbrown1549]

Phil Buglass WOW they may have been the bones of Daffy Duck /////////// WOW JUST WOW ///////////////////////////////////////////////////

[@Raison_d-etre]

I have a cloth bag from that museum. Lovely thing.

[@jtconner7599]

I was surprised there are so many well behaved , interested kids in the audience. But no wonder, Mr Sampson is a very engaging, enthusiastic lecturer and teacher who has not forgotten his passion for dinosaurs since a young boy. I was a dinosaur nut as a kid too and even I learned some things from this lecture. Thank you Mr Scott Sampson

[@alioramus1637]

im 21 one year's old and still a dinosaur nerd

[@jerdasaurusrex557]

@MrCaptainkirk1984 oh no kids are awful. But once you talk about dinosaurs they're sweethearts.

[@kipbrown1549]

Jt Conner do not forget about Bugs Bunny and Peter Pan ///////////////////////

[@bobandmrmecaleb5873]

This man was on Dinosaur Train for crying out loud! His catchphrase is literally: "Hi, I'm Doctor Scott The Paleontologist!"

[@tonybusch8771]

Yeah, he's one of my paleontologist heroes.

[@quivuswillow8960]

I honestly love the parasaur, because of the fact they could make music with their horns, and recently their horn has been reconstructed with the tubes, and while it sounds like a boat horn. I can just imagine the varieties of sound it could make when it was alive.

[@kipbrown1549]

Willow Yes one of them did a song with the Beatles. Bet you can not name what song it was ////////////////////

[@Raison_d-etre]

That's wild.

[@christinestill5002]

WHY does the person who recorded this lecture think we need full size lecturer & not the screen at times? Laser pointers don't show up on videos often. Love that all these are from areas I know rather than Patagonia !

[@tonybusch8771]

Dr. Scott Sampson is one of my paleontologist heroes.

[@pootytang7897]

What a great, inspirational speaker. And how cool it must be to have a career in an area of such genuine interest.

[@JojobaNutOil]

52:08 this is the most important moment! theres so much truth spoken in those few words: you cant save what you dont love. and so to love them, you have to see the beauty in them. and the world is BEAUTIFUL.

[@daverobson3084]

You can most definitely save things that you "don't love".

[@jamesdriscoll_tmp1515]

In the end, we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand and we will understand only what we are taught. Baba Dioum

[@StanFalade]

@@jamesdriscoll_tmp1515 ???

[@zarasbazaar]

The best thing about learning about dinosaurs is that you can impress all your friends' kids.

[@ArymatheiaFranco]

Best lecture that I have ever saw, made me cry of joy

[@briangarrow448]

Proud of the University of Washington!!!! Great museum to visit. I have visited with my family multiple times. One of the best attractions in the Seattle area for a family to visit. Take in the Museum of Flight also and make a full day of it.

[@gustavderkits8433]

Excellent presentation. Interesting that this talk is still ‘alive’ with people, like myself who haven’t seen it before, coming upon it and engaging with the material. With respect to the last questioner, recently a paper was published about a piece of Amber from Myanmar that contained dinosaur feathers and lice eating the feathers, like bird lice do today. So a whole ecology from bugs to T-Rex existed and much of it still remains to be discovered.

[@robertgotschall1246]

Wonderful lecture. I remember an undergraduate lecture from a botanist who pointed out that if you really wanted to understand a single oak tree you had to think of it in terms of the Great Barrier Reef of Australia. There is that much going on in every single one of us.

[@kipbrown1549]

Robert Gotschall The only thing going on with you is the runny shit leaking out of your head .

[@thedoctor2203]

And remember get outside, get into nature, and make your own discoveries.

[@Albertonification]

Very well-wished and competent lecturer! Devotee of the dinosaurs theme.I love it!

[@Titus-as-the-Roman]

Everyone seems to have their favorite "Dino" type animals they would like to see, mine would not be a dinosaur, but all the various creatures we'll never know about that lived during the Permian. But I also wouldn't mind seeing those really large flying Pterosaurs.

[@ghostdiaries369]

I am a big fan of Dr Scott Sampson.miss him so much.

[@brucefulper4204]

Is he dead?

[@AMorandir]

No, he's not.

[@lostpony4885]

Oh my gosh i love this presentation so much. I wish the view of the screen was more consistent.

[@Mirrorgirl492]

What a thoroughly enjoyable presentation. What a thrill to hear the young folk in the audience so engaged and enthusiastic. Bravo!

[@Jonah9HexFan9978]

One of the best lectures ever

[@theskip1]

very clear , concise and informative.

[@behemoth5022]

Great presentation, worth watching the whole thing.

[@Titus-as-the-Roman]

Dr. Scott Sampson you are now my official Caped Crusading Freaking Super Hero, I think I shall call you "Sampson-Man". The one thing that seems to Rankle my Neck Feathers when it comes to the current environment debate is hearing constantly by everyone, including those that should know better, is "The End of the Last Ice Age", there is no end of the last Ice age, we are still in the last Ice Age. Regardless of what's causing global warming, this period in time that Humans has been on Earth has NOT been, climatically speaking, the norm for most of Earth's History. We have Evolved during an Abnormal Period.

[@jollyjakelovell4787]

I have found a fellow reasonable and astute observer of the truth, yes this cold spell of the last two and a half million years is the exception not the rule of earth's climate.

[@jollyandwaylo]

@@jollyjakelovell4787 Which is why we may want to keep this climate stable for as long as we can.

[@jollyjakelovell4787]

@@jollyandwaylo With in reason we can try.

[@JackHaveman52]

In our small town there is a company that makes dinosaur fossil replicas and places them in museums all over the world. They have an open house every couple of years and is it ever cool. I've had beers with one of the employees, who travels everywhere to set these replicas in place. What a fascinating job that must be.

[@sandramorey2529]

Bless all those young paleontologists inspired by Dr Scott. Creative,curious minds may yet save the world if they have time to grow up.

[@Bix12]

I wish the camera would focus on the slides instead of Dr Sampson. Extremely annoying. I can't for the life of me understand why this would not occur to the camera operator.

[@agentumsilwersilwer5310]

William L. i totally agree, it makes no sense not showing the pictures as he refers to them and is not showing anything he holds or something.

[@burkemuseum]

Hi William - Thank you for your feedback. We have passed this feedback on to the student who videotaped the event for us and will certainly make sure this is a requirement for future videos of lectures.

[@juliom6555]

Yeah it's kinda irritating

[@RICDirector]

@@burkemuseum Thank you! :)

[@justaguy6100]

Yep, I had to stop watching ultimately just because it was so frustrating.

[@georgemcelroyII]

From the first moment, from the very first moment, regardless of the topic at hand, you can understand when you have someone who is well prepared, nice, and ready to pass to the people attending, all the essence of what he has to say! Nice and simple!

[@RemoteViewr1]

Awesome communicator. Fantastic teacher.

[@patriciamuszynski1328]

Who remembers how the 80's/90's pushed how kids are going to get kidnapped and murdered if you're outside. Mums and dads locked their kids inside to be safe and now it's an issue that people forgot the reason why the kids where told not to play outside.

[@harrietharlow9929]

I played outside as did all my friends--it's sad that so many kids no longer have that experience.

[@MsKariSmith]

A great talk, from the beginning to the end.

[@jandrews6254]

Maybe the reason there were so many enormous animals of so many species in such a limited area is that the climate was warmer and wetter and there was a higher concentration of CO2, all prompting rapid plant growth. More plants that regenerate quickly after being heavily grazed by vast herds of herbivores = more food for carnivores. Gotta have the massive plant growth first.

[@wisconsinaquatics]

I've got the theme to dinosaur train playing in my head now

[@robbie_]

Fascinating talk. Thanks for sharing.

[@WaterShowsProd]

Thank you for this, it was very informative and I love that he doesn't think he needs to dumb it down for kids (he understands the kids get it more than some of the grownups). I hope you will continue to post more lectures and talks like this.

[@Rizon1985]

Except it's just another paleontologist that feels the need to call birds dinosaurs to get attention. It's as dumb of a statement to say as for example that humans are synapsids.

[@dooivid]

@@Rizon1985 it's been 3 years and this is still one of the stupidest comments on KZbin.

[@StanFalade]

@@Rizon1985 birds are dinosaurs though

[@StanFalade]

@@Rizon1985 also humans are fish

[@klackon1]

Cracking presentation: thank you.

[@MrBluebeard3]

This is a guy who loves his job, great talk.

[@Chompchompyerded]

Definitely kids need to be outdoors, for all sorts of reasons. When I was a kid in the early '60's, indoors was, "Aw Mom! Do we have to?!?" You couldn't make Pine Needles in Dirt Sauce indoors. Got a little older and it became clear that you couldn't kayak or cross country ski inside. To be fair, I wouldn't have had my career if as a child I hadn't spent 40 hours a day practicing my violin and viola. But as soon as the weather warmed up just enough that the mittens could come off, it was more fun to practice outside than in. I even had my own special places where I liked to go to practice... outdoors. I have to admit that I was extremely lucky. We lived on a ranch on Colorado's western slope and I had parents who were lifetime learners who wanted to raise lifetime learners, and beyond that, we had quite an unusual mix of people in our little valley. There was a heck of a lot of retired or vacationing diverse brain power type people up that valley, and they were all wanting to share knowledge with any kid who wanted it. Even though the area was extremely rural and a good 40 miles from the nearest small town, and several hours from the nearest community college they were there, and all I had to do was tell my mom where I was going, grab a bicycle or a horse, and go see whoever it was whose knowledge grabbed my interest on that day. Often times it was hard to decide. We didn't have any TV reception on the ranch (pre-cable or satellite TV days), and even the selection of radio stations was pretty limited and was heavily dependant on weather and what time of day it was. On a good day we could get KRAI out of Craig. At night there were two more stations which turned up the power and cranked their way into our space; a station out of Window Rock, AZ where everything was in Dine (Navajo), and El Radio Canyon out of Chiuaua, Mexico. At the time I didn't speak either Dine or Spanish so they were of limited interest. So instead, when we should have been sleeping, my sister and I would hide under the covers with a flashlight and read. I didn't realize until I was a parent myself that my parents absolutely knew that was going on. Some of the light always escapes through the blankets, and the dead give away is a kid who always needs fresh batteries for their flashlight. You kinda turn a blind eye to it, because you definitely want your kid to be a reader, and you know that under those nice warm blankets it won't be long before they pass out. Funny. I never remembered turning off the flashlight and putting it and the book neatly on the nightstand next to my bed. I'm pretty sure my kid didn't remember it either. Also, somehow that didn't happen anymore after I left home. Well, here's to people who encourage kids to play outdoors, and to learn, and to love the planet we all live on. If more people were intimately familiar with it, maybe there would be a much greater push to keep it healthy, rather than letting climate change and other pollution destroy it. Maybe that's wishing for too much. I'll still wish for it though.

[@ALV5252]

These lectures about dinosaurs have been helping me go through tough times. Damn had I pursued the sciences, I may have been in this career.

[@kipbrown1549]

Alvin Another liar/////////////////

[@StanFalade]

@@kipbrown1549 ?

[@theoorval5771]

WONDERFULLY, HUMOROUS AND INFORMATIVE LECTURE.

[@kevinmorgan8782]

41:41 "which led to life" The explanatory power of that statement is truly amazing!

[@ralphditchburn1456]

The most thorough and entertaining dinosaur information available. Thankyou

[@tiadiad]

Enjoyed this very much. Thank you.

[@OutdoorsWithJosh1990]

Scott you are an awesome inspiring person, we dinosaur lovers thank you 😊

[@scottbailey5541]

Thanks

[@iBEEMproject]

You unlocked my fascination of dinos

[@harrietharlow9929]

Great presentation! I've always thought dinosaurs were cool--and I'm 67. I've watched with great interest as the science has evolved over the decades.

[@violetgibson9]

Seven minutes a day, not for my kids! I used to irritate them until outside was their best option. Never less than half an hour any day that the weather wasn’t dangerous. Okay, being honest, I shared a bunch of that time with them.

[@Jason918114]

Brilliant lecture 👏

[@rodendz3153]

Just amazing.

[@zed1stwizard]

Great work DR.Sampson. Dinosaurs are my favorite dinner.

[@zed1stwizard]

frankos rooni never eat your dino unless it's fully cooked,. and a chardonnay would be a better choice.

[@zed1stwizard]

frankos rooni Bordeaux would be fine if your a rebel.

[@agentumsilwersilwer5310]

frankos rooni lika big turkey i think :-)

[@henryscott370]

Birds are dinosaurs, we know what they taste like lol

[@woohoo273]

Taste like chicken 🐓

[@anotherelvis]

Great talk. I would love to see more of the slides in the video.

[@burkemuseum]

Thank you for letting us know! We have shared your feedback with the student who videotaped the lecture for us and will certainly make sure to include closeups of the slides as a requirement for future videos of lectures.

[@staudtj1]

Me as well. I was getting so frustrated at not seeing what the Dr. was referring to that I just quit watching.

[@philbuglass4857]

Yes, it is an unfortunate fact with a lot of the videos of scientific lectures. The camera stays on the presenter, and ignores what he is showing on the screen. As long as we can hear him, we would be better off looking at the screen. Having said that, I realise that these things are not being filmed by BBC experts, and appreciate the fact that someone takes the time to record them at all!

[@MsGreyMouser]

@@burkemuseum Thank you so much for making this video available, and I hope the student who filmed it wasn't too flattened by some of the more negatively-expressed comments. We live and learn (hopefully!). They did an excellent job of filming Dr Sampson, and his enthusiasm and joy in his work certainly came through loud and strong, together with his important point that we are learning new information and developing new ways of seeing things all the time, and that there is huge scope for youngsters coming into these professions to make important discoveries of their own. He is a true ambassador for science, and the audience obviously appreciated his presentation, as did I.

[@adamsmith8370]

Outstanding program

[@henryscott370]

Love this guy! :)

[@kiztorres3218]

A disservice to this wonderfully engaging lecturer. The camera work is atrocious and the sound is very poor.

[@dwightehowell8179]

The true lost continent is the island continent landmass, sometimes landmasses, in eastern north America. We seriously don't know much about what lived there at the time our host is talking about. A few stray bones and that's about it.

[@michaelszczys8316]

Continents floated around like the island in old Dr. Doolittle book.

[@scottbatey3130]

Mr Sampson should consider, engaging some vehicles built for rock crawling, if you can walk up the rock face, they could drive up it

[@steveconn]

I visit Seattle every so often but have yet to visit the great Burke. On my must do list!

[@erichodge567]

This is so amazing!

[@Packless1]

Very important point! You can only protect something, if you know it...! KIDS, GO AND PLAY OUTDOOR!!!

[@ElinT13]

What a great and super interesting lecture!

[@PifflePrattle]

This generation is going to need to be extra vigilant about protecting those parks.

[@TheBernito2]

The bigger the animal gets, longer its digestive track is, making it more efficient and less mass of nutriment they proportionally need to intake.

[@ratomirspasojevic1734]

Than you for my childhood.

[@ericvulgate]

it is important to note that if dinosaurs needed insulating feathers, they must have been warm blooded and in need of that insulation.

[@THESHOMROM]

We know what Dr. Sampson looks like. It would have been nice to keep the camera on the screen for longer periods.

[@andypanda4927]

Curious that majority of these lectures are about finds in West north America and eastern Asia. Not much about the dino finds in Australia, Antarctica, Argentina, and Europe. Don't recall coming across anything about dino finds in eastern north America, northern areas of South America except a mention small pterosaurs, and very little about dino finds in parts of Africa. Maybe lectures like this are out there, but, haven't came across the material.

[@claycolvin5307]

Awesome thanks for the main message which is getting the kids outdoors exploring! I want to do this same kind of presentation with artifact info. And all about the native Americans.

[@retroitcomplex]

amazing speaker, you're doing a favour to this worls by encouraging kids into science

[@johnlime1469]

lol I'm well past the kids' and the teens' years and I'm still having a blast

[@syewilliams2372]

Yeah same, very good lecturer. But camera person could actually show the pictures rather than playing blink and you miss it and focusing on the man in dark suit against dark background? Very annoying

[@Electronic424]

Fantastic! Bravo

[@bukurie6861]

Thank you for your interesting presentation for fosile of Dinosaurs that live on ancient😍👋

[@OldieBugger]

Good talk, but the camera *should* have the slides in full view all the time, as they are an integral part of his lecture.

[@garyfinchum5816]

Nice presentation. My view of the variations in species might be due to the way the carnivorous dinosaurs fed. Instead of going off to find a meal, they instead followed the herds of plant eaters and nested not far away so that their young could take advantage of the smorgasbord of plant eaters that hatched every season. Carnivore young could fed on herbivore young and learn the best ways to kill their quarry as they matured. I would imagine that they all followed a predetermined route to keep getting at the best feeding grounds maybe of a thousand miles or more.

[@cm94returns19]

that should be a documentary someday where dr scott sampsons is the host of the show to follow the lives of the dinosaurs that lived here from kosmoceratops all the way to a tyrannosaurid in the area as well

[@monderkbaeli9411]

If we learn about the past we can predict the future. people are in their majority believe in superstitious stuff but strangely consider evolution as a theory still !!. that's some of the reasons why working on dinosaurs is important in my opinion

[@motorcitymangababe]

"Going outside is great for kids!" And then theres me, who had an asthma attack anytime i went outside. So i just read next to a window.

[@motorcitymangababe]

@Jacob Zondag its all Good i ended up with epic reading skills and a love of knowledge so it all evens out

[@chrissimpson1183]

I am about the same age as Scott, we remember what it ment when the street lights came on...

[@kathrynquinn3255]

I actually have a Christmas tree that I decorate with dinosaurs. After the festive season of course.

[@steamcookie6878]

Why not show us the slides he was speaking about?

[@sherolynsimmons7284]

Loved this so much. I study all the time about all Dinosaurs. I found out that many of the Triceratop Dinosaurs that have been named are really the same Dinosaur. They are versions of a baby, teenager and adult, showing their head bands at different stages. So many that are currently named as a new Dinosaur are not a new one at all. They will have to be taken off the record of names.

[@michaelszczys8316]

It's a whole new species. If baby is smaller it's a whole new species. If teenager has longer toenails its a whole new species. That's how it's done

[@Raison_d-etre]

The idea that there was only one species came to the fore 4 decades ago. Since then, the dominant view is that there were two species, and other species are disputed. It'll take time, and more fossils, for the debate to settle.

[@markgrunzweig6377]

He's transparent to the trancendent, which is the first quality necessary for learning. He has "beginners mind", so everything opens and opens to him. It is so, for the trancendent is trancendent. The most enightened people are always "teaching".

[@StanFalade]

?

[@nickmitsialis]

The lower island to the East is Appalachia but what's the upper Eastern Island called? Is that considered part of Appalachia too? I've never seen it named.

[@andrewhart8150]

Did the newly discovered ceratopsian mentioned in the lecture get described?

[@ta192utube]

Fail to see how more food or less eating explains the odd distribution pattern of genera and species over the length of Laramidia. Wouldn't different flora be a better explanation, at least for herbivorous forms. Different diets = different species (Galapagos finches)

[@RikoJAmado]

Hey! I recognize him! He is the "Aaaactuallyyyy...' Scott the Paleontologist from PBS's "Dinosaur Train"!

[@PUBHEAD1]

Fantastic speaker

[@valeriehough2259]

great presentation but wish we could actually see the slideshow

[@heaterpistol6067]

I tried to help at a paleontologist dig but they said I needed a master's degree.

[@penyuinsidestudios]

Love it♥️

[@bobandmrmecaleb5873]

Hey! It's Doctor Scott The Paleontologist!

[@harrymusgrave2131]

referring to why the same animals are different across north America. Is it possible that they had natural barriers such as inland seas and different terrains at their time that kept them apart?

[@timblack6422]

Great talk! Start to finish!

[@billyhallmon6867]

I am a dinosaur junkie; HOWEVER, what ELSE lived in the Triassic, Jurrasic, and Cretacious?

[@geraldking4080]

Amphibians, fish, marine reptiles and pterosaurs...

[@aboomination897]

Maybe the big ceratopsid's crests (also) acted as counter-weights to the horns. It's a stretch, but maybe someone who knows stuff might get something out of it :D

[@stepchicken3238]

Poor camerawork! Won't allow us to stay with the slides for long, as doesn't understand the point of the lecture.

[@user-roninwolf1981]

So what did they name the 4th Ceratopsid?