TetZooCon 2024

The year has really flown by for me, and before long, it was time for another TetZooCon.

Joschua Knüppe's impressive display of postcards in the paleoart gallery at TetZooCon. Can you guess my favorite?

This TetZooCon was very dinosaur-heavy, and nearly every talk I attended focused on dinosaurs in some way, including Darren Naish on refuting Brian Ford's aquatic dinosaurs hypothesis, Mary Colwell on curlew conservation, Jonathan Meiburg on caracaras, Kai Caspar on inferring the intelligence of extinct dinosaurs, Dave Hone on his new book about dinosaur behavior, and Katrina van Grouw on the next version of The Unfeathered Bird, currently in production.

If you have 3D skeletal models of any of the fossil taxa listed on this slide (or know someone who does), Katrina would be interested in hearing from you! They would be a great help in preparing the new version of The Unfeathered Bird.

Furthermore, reference photos for the specimens listed here would be helpful too!

I also popped into the paleoart workshop for a presentation by the hosts of the Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs podcast, Natee Himmapaan, Gemma Hazeborg, and Marc Vincent. Titled "An Ode to Bad Palaeoart", the presenters discussed what qualifies as "bad" paleoart, with several of their examples eliciting laughs from the audience. At the same time, they emphasized how even some of the "worst" human-made paleoart has value and admirable qualities when examined carefully. Afterward, those of us in attendance were encouraged to make our own "bad" paleoart. I had a go at drawing Asteriornis and Ichthyornis while trying to forget everything I knew about theropod anatomy. Unlearning what one knows can be quite a challenge!

It had to happen sometime... this was the year that my track record of placing top 3 in the TetZooCon quiz was finally broken. Instead, I came in fourth place (tied with Richard Hing), which was apparently still good enough for a prize. I was happy to secure a newly-published print compilation of Sean Hennessy's delightful Speed Thief comics. Their juxtaposition of realistically-drawn animal characters with slice-of-life humor and storylines reminds me a lot of Joshua Barkman's False Knees, but with a distinct paleo flavor. Be sure to check out Speed Thief if you haven't already!

Although the writing had been on the wall for a while, John Conway still shocked us at the beginning of the convention by announcing that this would be the final TetZooCon. The organizers elaborated on this further at the end of the event: starting next year, TetZooCon would be rebranded as DinoCon! Aside from the new name, the inaugural DinoCon will be held in Exeter instead of London, and Conway will be stepping down from organizational duties.

As nice as it is to see the convention expand in scale (and for Conway to get some well-deserved rest), I am a little sad to say goodbye to this rendition of TetZooCon, and there has understandably been some apprehension about what other changes the rebranding might bring. However, Darren's assurance that the name "DinoCon" is primarily for promotional purposes and that the event would not lose sight of other topics covered under the scope of Tetrapod Zoology has gone a long way towards addressing my own concerns, at least. It has also been revealed that DinoCon is planned to take place in different locations every year instead of sticking to a single venue, which is very intriguing. I am excited to find out what DinoCon has in store!

Following the main events this year was the first ever TetZooTour, a multi-day trip to the Horniman Museum, the Lyme Regis coast, and Howletts Wild Animal Park. Due to cost and time constraints, I was not able to join this tour, but social media posts appear to indicate that it was great fun and a resounding success. Darren has expressed interest in running similar events in the future, so sounds like that will be something else for TetZoo/DinoCon attendees to look forward to in the coming years.