Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
A glimpse into North Carolina’s terrestrial ecosystems 20 million years ago!
Much of North Carolina’s fossil record over the last 100 million years is derived from marine environments, often excluding fossils from terrestrial ecosystems. This talk will explore new fossils collected from Jones County and deposited in the early Miocene, about 20 million years ago, that are beginning to shed light on an unusual land mammal fauna from our state.
Sean Moran is the Collections Manager of Paleontology at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. Though responsible for managing and growing the Museum’s Paleontology Research Collections, from fossil crabs to dinosaurs, ferns to sharks, his research interests mostly relate to the evolution and ecology of terrestrial mammals over the last 34 million years.
A glimpse into North Carolina’s terrestrial ecosystems 20 million years ago!
Much of North Carolina’s fossil record over the last 100 million years is derived from marine environments, often excluding fossils from terrestrial ecosystems. This talk will explore new fossils collected from Jones County and deposited in the early Miocene, about 20 million years ago, that are beginning to shed light on an unusual land mammal fauna from our state.
Sean Moran is the Collections Manager of Paleontology at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. Though responsible for managing and growing the Museum’s Paleontology Research Collections, from fossil crabs to dinosaurs, ferns to sharks, his research interests mostly relate to the evolution and ecology of terrestrial mammals over the last 34 million years.
