@sbnature: Paleontologists use museum specimens of modern-day organisms all the time. 🐙 @universityofutah Associate Professor Kate Ritterbush, Ph.D., visits @sbnature to scan the Museum's specimens of modern argonauts. These pelagic octopuses are _not_ close relatives of ancient ammonites, but they build shell-like egg cases that are remarkably similar to fossilized ammonite shells. 🐚🐚🐚 The cases are incredibly delicate, so Dr. Ritterbush scans them and creates 3D-printed models to use for study, teaching, and outreach. She's helped the Museum get started with 3D scanning, which is useful for increasing the accessibility of many kinds of objects. 🙏 Thank you iNaturalist users Albert Kang, Bella Joy, Bryce Watts Parker, and Matthew Sephton for sharing your exquisite argonaut observation photos with CC and CC-NC licenses so we could show the living animals. #paleontology #Science #naturalhistorymuseum

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Thursday 29 October 2026 16:45:53 GMT