How Do We Figure Out The Sex ... Of A Fossil?

We know a lot about fossils, but there's one thing about all those long-dead organisms that's hard to figure out -- their sex. So let's talk about the ways we can try to determine whether those T. rex bones came from a male or a female, and why figuring it out is so interesting! Correction: 02:23 While female peafowl are more drab than males, the bird pictured here is an entirely different species: a helmeted guineafowl. Hosted by: Reid Reimers (he/him) ---------- Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scishow ---------- Huge thanks go to the following Patreon supporters for helping us keep SciShow free for everyone forever: Adam Brainard, Alex Hackman, Ash, Benjamin Carleski, Bryan Cloer, charles george, Chris Mackey, Chris Peters, Christoph Schwanke, Christopher R Boucher, DrakoEsper, Eric Jensen, Friso, Garrett Galloway, Harrison Mills, J. Copen, Jaap Westera, Jason A Saslow, Jeffrey Mckishen, Jeremy Mattern, Kenny Wilson, Kevin Bealer, Kevin Knupp, Lyndsay Brown, Matt Curls, Michelle Dove, Piya Shedden, Rizwan Kassim, Sam Lutfi ---------- Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet? SciShow Tangents Podcast: https://scishow-tangents.simplecast.com/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@scishow Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/scishow Instagram: http://instagram.com/thescishow Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/scishow #SciShow #science #education #learning #complexly ---------- Sources: https://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/Heart_Mountain.html https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.1086/622560 https://www.usgs.gov/publications/case-tectonic-denudation-heart-mountain-fault-a-response https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYS3r3tk2GI&ab_channel=MyronCook https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012821X14006785 https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/2009JB007113 https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2022JB026185?af=R https://www.researchgate.net/publication/239540406_Hot_water_A_solution_to_the_Heart_Mountain_detachment_problem https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/05/060517083426.htm https://www.usgs.gov/programs/landslide-hazards/landslides-101 https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/epdf/10.1086/692328 https://www.jstor.org/stable/27851899 https://www.usgs.gov/observatories/yvo/news/largest-landslide-world https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/656383 https://geology.utah.gov/map-pub/survey-notes/update-markagunt-gravity-slide/ https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/article-abstract/42/11/943/131423/Catastrophic-emplacement-of-the-gigantic-Markagunt?redirectedFrom=fulltext https://www.kent.edu/research/landslide-21-million-years-ago-rivals-largest-known https://geology.utah.gov/map-pub/survey-notes/update-markagunt-gravity-slide/ https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2022GC010783 https://theconversation.com/mars-we-may-have-solved-the-mystery-of-how-its-landslides-form-127645 https://www.science.org/content/article/beware-shifting-sands Image Sources: https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/stone-layers-in-a-klamm-in-austria-stock-footage/1478027605 https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/heart-mountain-aerial-view-wyoming-park-county-united-stock-footage/529750812 https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/old-landslide-on-teton-pass-aerial-view-wyoming-teton-stock-footage/530175126 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Heart_Mountain_WY.jpg https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/rock-slide-in-the-mountains-stock-footage/1350666901 https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/old-mountain-road-with-landslide-stock-footage/1387892775 https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/flight-past-heart-mountain-aerial-view-wyoming-park-stock-footage/529750548 https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/tungurahua-volcano-erupting-stock-footage/473173025 https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/geological-rock-formations-stock-footage/1656754964 https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/aerial-drone-shot-of-an-avalanche-debris-field-with-stock-footage/1145513217 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Quicksand_(4596511338).jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stuck_in_Quicksand_(13944309974).jpg https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/river-flowing-stock-footage/129471081 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scenic_fall_colours_along_Utah_Hwy_14_-_(22419172589).jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Landslide_on_Mars.jpg https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/the-snowcapped-peaks-steep-cliffs-and-dense-forests-of-stock-footage/1352361861 https://www.loc.gov/resource/highsm.48145/?r=-0.292,-0.013,1.408,0.741,0 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12549-012-0112-6 https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/ichthyosaurs-royalty-free-image/1133041189?phrase=ichthyosaur&adppopup=true