Hi Reddit! Our research team—collectively working as part of the Antarctic Peninsula Paleontology Project, or AP3—is on a National Science Foundation-supported research vessel on its way to Antarctica. This will be our third expedition to explore the Antarctic Peninsula for fossils spanning the end of the Age of Dinosaurs (the Late Cretaceous) to the dawn of the Age of Mammals (the early Paleogene). During that time, roughly 90–60 million years ago, Antarctica was relatively warm and lush, as well as home to a great diversity of plants and animals—including dinosaurs! Antarctica may have also been the place of origin for several key animal groups seen in today’s ecosystems—such as modern birds and certain kinds of mammals. On our past expeditions we’ve made important discoveries, including fossils of non-avian dinosaurs, fish, marine reptiles, and birds. During our 2011 field season, we discovered additional fossils of Vegavis iaai, an extinct bird that is related to ducks and geese. Vegavis is the only undoubted example of what is considered to be a modern bird that co-existed with non-avian dinosaurs. We also discovered a previously unrecognized set of rocks that were laid down during the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) boundary interval, one of the very few such sets of rocks to be recognized on the entire Antarctic continent. This recently-identified rock section could yield new insights into the effects of the (in)famous K–Pg mass extinction that killed off all non-avian dinosaurs. These paleontological and geological discoveries have provided many clues as to what Antarctica was like tens of millions of years ago, but countless mysteries remain. That’s why we’re off to Antarctica to explore for new fossils and to gather data that will help us better understand how the environment has changed through time. We are: Matt Lamanna, the AP3 director, a paleontologist and the principal dinosaur researcher at Carnegie Museum of Natural History, who specializes in the study of dinosaurs from the Southern Hemisphere. Julia Clarke, a professor of paleontology and evolutionary biology at The University of Texas at Austin who named and described the Antarctic fossil bird species Vegavis iaai in 2005. Julia studies the evolution of dinosaurs, birds, and flight to better understand major transitions in the history of life. Pat O’Connor, a professor of anatomical sciences at Ohio University whose research interests include the evolution of crocodiles, dinosaurs, and birds during the Cretaceous Period. Ross MacPhee, a curator of mammalogy and professor at the American Museum of Natural History who studies paleobiogeography, extinction, and cranial development in mammals. Eric Gorscak, a doctoral candidate in Pat O’Connor’s lab at Ohio University who studies the evolutionary history of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaurs during the Cretaceous. Abby West, a PhD student at Columbia/American Museum of Natural History studying fossil mammals. Chris Torres, a PhD student of Julia Clarke’s, studying fossil birds. Kerin Claeson, a paleontologist at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine studying fossil fishes. Meng Jin, a paleontologist at the American Museum of Natural History studying fossil mammals. Steve Salisbury, a paleontologist at The University of Queensland studying fossil crocodilians and non-avian dinosaurs. Eric Roberts, a geologist at James Cook University. Zubair Jinnah, a geologist at the University of the Witwatersrand. Check out our expedition website: antarcticdinos.org Follow us on Twitter at: @AntarcticDinos #ExpeditionAP3 We’ll be back at 12 pm et (9 am PT, 5 pm UTC) to answer your questions, ask us anything!