Jingmai O’Connor: The Field Museum’s Coolest Dinosaur Expert
What is your role at the Field Museum of Natural History?
I am the Associate Curator of Fossil Reptiles, but I am usually just referred to as the dinosaur curator. This is a new role for me — I only started in October; I spent the 11 years previous at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing.
What is your favorite bird/dinosaur?
I have a couple (since there are multiple categories). Favorite extinct bird: Jeholornis, an Early Cretaceous bird with a really long reptilian tail (the only Cretaceous bird with this feature, that we know of). That alone makes it totally different from every bird alive today, but it also had a weird short face (like an oviraptorosaur) with tiny teeth, a unique tail plumage with a fan of feathers at the start and a palm-like frond at the tip of the tail, weird expanded sternal ribs, and a surprisingly modern shoulder girdle despite the fact that, among birds, it’s only more derived (crownward; advanced) than Archaeopteryx.
All these features evolved after this lineage split away from other birds, such that despite its basal position, it could probably fly a lot better than Archaeopteryx.
Favorite living bird group: Tie between hummingbirds and kingfishers (but I also like magpies, the Hoatzin and the Secretary bird — too many good ones to choose from; if we knew of 10,000 Mesozoic birds I also probably couldn’t pick just one favorite). Favorite non-avian dinosaur: Either Mononykus (weird little theropod with a short, robust arm reduced to a single digit ending in a powerful claw — what’s that all about?) or Yi (a theropod that flew with a membranous wing similar to a flying squirrel, the discovery of which drastically changed the way we view the evolution of dinosaurian flight).
For those aspiring to become paleontologists, can you run us through your day-to-day?
I’m basically banging away on my computer from dawn until dusk (hardly an inspiring image). Normally my typing up of manuscripts (and making of scientific figures) would be interrupted every couple of days or so to spend some hours studying a specimen under a microscope (birds and their closest non-avian dinosaurian relatives are small), examine some histology slides, or chat with a student or colleague about ongoing collaborative projects. Every couple of months or so, I’d head to a different museum to study specimens in their collection for a few days (I’m very much describing my life in China here by the way); on average twice a year I’d pop off somewhere for a conference; and every summer I’d join one or two expeditions and look for new fossils for a few glorious weeks.
Now that I’m in the States, which places more value on outreach, I can add to my routine participating in some form of public outreach event once a month and giving a talk to some professor’s lab or paleontology class every few weeks or so. I may not have made it sound like fun but being a research scientist is a great job. With evolving ideas, new techniques and ever-growing data, it’s never the same one year to the next.
Was there someone or some event that pulled you toward paleontology?
I was attracted to Geology by my mother, who went back to school and did her PhD, also in Earth Sciences, when I was a kid. However, I never had much interest in paleontology specifically (my little brother more than me, he had a pretty nice trilobite collection whereas I collected minerals, not to say he ever thought about being a paleontologist though). For me it was Dr. Donald Prothero, my advisor in undergrad, who introduced me to paleontology and sparked my passion for the subject. Not intentionally mind you, but he’s a wonderful, dynamic teacher and I guess you could say his enthusiasm was contagious to someone who hadn’t really yet figured out what they wanted to do in life (and as a consequence did everything pretty half-assed).
In my first year in college, I took his course on Historical Geology (a really awesome class that takes you from the big bang to the formation of galaxies, solar systems and planets, through Earth’s 4.54-billion-year history right up to the evolution of humans).
I was fascinated by how life on Earth has changed through time and told him I wanted to study evolution and be a paleontologist like him. He told me to take his course on Paleontology before I made a decision. A couple weeks in I told him I was even more enamored with the subject and that I didn’t want to wait until the class was over to make my decision. He gave me the “paleo is a competitive field and there are no jobs” lecture and I told him I didn’t care, I wanted to follow my passion.
When he couldn’t dissuade me, Dr. Prothero (or “Professor” as I will always call him) switched gears and did everything in his power to support my decision and give me a fighting chance to become a successful paleontologist. I’ve always been fascinated by my Chinese background and I wanted to combine my interest in paleo with my love of China by studying Chinese fossils (really exciting discoveries of feathered dinosaurs in particular started coming out of China in the late 90’s; Microraptor was described while I was in college).
He contacted all the paleontologists he knew in the Los Angeles area who worked on Chinese fossils which led to me working with Dr. Xiaoming Wang at the Los Angeles Natural History Museum, where I met Luis Chiappe who would later become my PhD advisor. I volunteered in the prep lab there and learned the basics of preparing and casting fossils. The Professor introduced us (there was a small gang of us all interested in paleo at the same time, five in total — two of us are still in the game) to research, set us up with projects to work on, paid for us to go and present our results at SVP and GSA (big international conferences) as well as smaller, local conferences, took us to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City to do specimen research in their collections (on his dime mind you), hired us on as field assistants for a summer expedition, and helped us apply for graduate school.
He also introduced me to grant writing and encouraged me to apply for two grants, both of which I got, which allowed me to go to China on two separate trips and do field work there as well. With this solid resume built up under his guidance and efforts, I graduated a year early and was accepted straight into a PhD program after graduation. I will always be grateful for his immense efforts and generosity, above and beyond what I have ever seen any other teacher take upon themselves for students.
Why did you choose to focus your research and work on Mesozoic birds?
Well, what most people don’t know is that what you work on isn’t really your choice — you can’t really work on just anything you want. You apply to graduate programs which means you are applying to work specifically with this or that paleontologist who has a specific set of skill sets and research interests. Your future advisor usually has a specific project in mind that they want a student to work on (of course you can apply to work with someone who works on the group you want to study and if you’ve got super high GRE scores you can probably get in anywhere, but my interest in paleo was new, so I hadn’t yet developed a strong interest in any particular group.
I applied to both invertebrate and vertebrate paleo programs. From the two programs I got into I had a choice of three potential advisors. I chose to work with Luis Chiappe on Mesozoic birds (which are dinosaurs) because a) it would allow me to work in China and b) I thought it would improve my chances of succeeding in paleo. At the time birds were (and still are) being uncovered in the hundreds (if not thousands) from Lower Cretaceous deposits in northeastern China. These specimens were (and still are) drastically expanding what we know about Mesozoic birds (at least 75% of everything we know is from the Jehol Biota) and I thought being part of this Mesozoic bird revolution would be advantageous — it certainly has enabled me to be prolific.
Once I moved to China, I was able to branch out from the single group of birds I had focused on for my PhD and even work on some non-avian dinosaurs relevant to the origin of birds and thus relevant to understanding the polarity of early avian evolution. During this time, we realized that small dinosaurs that seemed very closely related to birds (like Microraptor or Yi) were actually mostly similar because they were also flying and thus evolving similar features in parallel to each other (rather than a shared single origin of said feature to indicate close relationships) in response to the similar aerodynamic pressures imposed by volant behavior in each lineage. Thus, I came to work not only on birds but other groups of flying dinosaurs as well.
What’s the biggest debate in your specific field?
There are a few: What group of dinosaurs is most closely related to birds is probably one of the biggest (also, why did non-neornithine dinosaurs go extinct 66 million years ago; how did crown birds survive the end Cretaceous mass extinction; did flight evolve once or multiple times in the Dinosauria; how did flight evolve, etc.). I prefer not to engage in such debates and instead focus on the pursuit of new data that will eventually clarify the issue. Not to sound all high and mighty but it really is a waste of energy to debate such things in paleo. Debates exist because our understanding is incomplete so why not either wait for new fossils to provide clarity or seek new data through novel analyses?
Any recent research or published work that you’ve come across (including your own) that you’re excited about?
[Not my work]: Recently an oviraptor sitting on a clutch of eggs that contained embryos was reported. This is a pretty cool discovery because before we weren’t sure if oviraptors preserved sitting on eggs (there are a few, the first was reported in 1999 from Mongolia) were actively brooding (incubating) like living birds or just protecting the eggs, or if they just happened to be killed in the act of laying them. This recent find shows the adult stayed with the clutch either to protect or incubate the eggs. The embryos are also at different developmental stages further supporting inferences regarding asynchronous hatching which in turn supports interpretations the oviraptors engaged in brooding, that they were actively incubating their eggs (since it is through differences in heat provided to the eggs by the adult that asynchrony is achieved).
What does learning about the past inform us about the future? Why should we care about the study of fossils?
Ordinary people should care about the natural world in order to be better stewards of the planet for the sake of their own survival.
If most people had a better understanding of biology and maybe some basic chemistry, they may understand better the consequences of their consumption, how we are destroying our delicate ecosystems, and why that should matter to them (or even just how to wear a mask correctly during a pandemic). Since we are well into the sixth mass extinction, and we are the cause of it, we can also be the solution. In order to do that, we must have a firm grasp of science and think about long term consequences (for example, many recent advances have not considered long term detrimental effects and have caused enormous problems such the harmful effect of chemicals released into the environment, big data, or single use plastics).
Knowledge has to be paired with a shift in consciousness; where we place our values and how we let ourselves be ruled by fear, evidenced by the rampant hatred visible in our society, needs to change. Consumer culture is bad for the environment which means it’s bad for us.
Paleontology tells us about past mass extinctions and how life was affected by these biotic disturbances — some organisms adapted whereas others went extinct. This knowledge can help us deal with the crisis of the current mass extinction. Dinosaurs first appeared in the wake of the greatest mass extinction in Earth’s history (the Permo-Triassic extinction aka the Great Dying) and they survived the two subsequent mass extinctions (Triassic-Jurassic and the Cretaceous-Paleogene). Not only have dinosaurs survived to modern times, but they are also currently the most diverse group of land vertebrates. There are more than twice as many species of birds as there are mammals. Understanding their survival and success can help us navigate the mass extinction we have created.
I read somewhere that North America and Asia have some of the highest concentrations of dinosaur fossils. Given that you’ve had experience in both places, how does it compare?
America has a longer history of active excavation; a lot of work was done in the 19th century, whereas China has been rapidly catching up over the last 50 years. Dr. XU Xing at the IVPP has named more species of dinosaurs than anyone else and Dr. WANG Min more Mesozoic birds.
With regards to Mesozoic bird fossils, China has more than any other country. More than half of the known diversity and an even greater proportion of the number of actual specimens, come from China, but from a single region recording the Jehol Biota captured by three successive geologic units recording a period of approximately 11 million years. These units are Lagerstatten — rich layers with exceptional preservation. Only three other sites in China have produced Cretaceous birds and two of these only one specimen each. The enormous number of birds and feathered dinosaurs attests to the richness of these deposits and the number of people working them.
The US has more sites that have produced Cretaceous birds but for the most part these specimens are rare and very fragmentary — an isolated bone fragment or two here or there. The North American Smoky Hill member of the Niobrara Formation that has produced specimens of the Late Cretaceous birds Hesperornis and Ichthyornis is considered a lagerstatte but it pales in comparison to the Jehol Lagerstatten. The early record of Jurassic dinosaurs closely related to birds is also almost entirely limited to China. The US has a good record of their larger, younger relatives but the key to understanding the origin of birds lies in Jurassic deposits like those that have produced the Yanliao Biota in China, from which hundreds and hundreds of nearly complete specimens of a probable troodontid named Anchiornis have been uncovered, many preserving soft tissue traces.
Do you think the US should adopt the “if you find it, it belongs to the government” rule? What are the pros and cons of privatization/commercialization of fossils?
Definitely. Commercialization means that important fossils are lost to science as they end up sold to private collectors who can offer more money for them than museums and when that happens, we all lose. With sales of specimens like Stan the T. rex going for millions of dollars, ranchers who may have let paleontologists collect on their land in the past may now prefer to let commercial collectors on their land for a share of the profits from potential finds. In China all fossils of scientific value belong to the government (of course there is a huge black market for fossils but at least there is legislature in place if an important specimen needs to be seized for science).
Any underrated fossils/specimens that you’d like to see more of?
I think enantiornithines are pretty underrated. They are the dominant clade of Cretaceous birds, often considered the first major avian radiation, but no one really cares about them outside a small handful of researchers. It would be great to find enantiornithines older than those from the Jehol Biota (which are the oldest at the moment but already diverse) or to find more complete specimens from the Late Cretaceous, as this would really help us better understand the evolution of this group and answer the big question: How did they go from the dominant lineage in nearly every Cretaceous avifauna for 65 million years to extinct with the other non-avian dinosaurs?
What’s the best part of working in paleontology? What’s the worst?
The travel and the great friends I’ve made among my colleagues. My work takes me to conferences, museum visits, and field work all over the world (Greece, Russia, Japan, Mongolia, Thailand, Australia, France, to name a few). At each of these places I get to hang out with my friends and have a blast catching up, learning new shit, and seeing awesome fossils.
The worst part is probably applying for grant money for research — there isn’t enough funding available in the US and it takes an enormous amount of work to apply for a grant that you have, if you’re good, 20% chance of getting funded. It’s a waste of time and we always have to justify our research in a broader impacts section. The fact you have to justify science in America is ridiculous.
In China, my boss was awarded a massive grant that was designed so that you have funding for 5 years and don’t have to waste time on grant writing. If you are productive, the grant is extended another 5 years. I was very spoiled under this system; since I was part of a huge research team funded by the grant, I never wanted for research money and I could go anywhere I wanted for research, hardly wasting any time writing grants (I only did so for the sake of my resume).
Limited funding creates pressure that taints science in other ways; we must measure ourselves according to the grants we get, the number of papers we publish and in which journals which means it’s no longer just about doing good science. The competition also makes people nasty — you should read some of the reviews I get back — thinly veiled venom paired with more often than not invalid criticisms.
I would argue you’ve broken a couple of glass ceilings, especially with your new role. How have you felt the impact of your success? Has it inspired a new generation of young, female scientists to get involved?
I don’t really feel successful. I suffer from what I have recently learned is called “imposter syndrome” but you know what I say to young scientists? Embrace it. If you are worrying, you are second guessing yourself, double checking your work, proceeding with care. What’s wrong with that? When you start thinking you’re hot shit you stop thinking, what if I’m wrong? And science is all about admitting you’re wrong (and no matter how careful you are you will make mistakes).
The ego is one of the biggest enemies of scientific progress, so I say embrace feeling like you’re not good enough. Perhaps more white males should feel this way. As for inspiring others, I had a parent reach out to me because her daughter was doing a school project on me. She even wore a fake lip ring for her presentation. Pretty cool mom who allows her daughter in elementary school to do that! It’s because of her mom — not me — that that little girl will grow up to be a success.
