of the meteor impact perhaps by drowning in the floodwaters that overwhelmed tanisthis is like a dinosaur csi mr depalma said now as a scientist im not going to say yes 100 percent we do have an animal that died in the impact surge he said is it compatible yesneil landman curator emeritus in the division of paleontology at the american museum of natural history in new york visited tanis in 2019 he saw one of the paddlefish fossils with spherules in its gills and is convinced that the site does indeed capture the day of the cataclysm and its immediate aftermath its the real deal he said in a phone interviewmr depalma also showed images of an embryo of a pterosaur a flying reptile that lived during the time of the dinosaurs studies indicate the egg was soft like those of modernday geckos and the high levels of calcium in the bones and the embryos wing dimensions support existing research that the reptiles might have been able to fly as soon as they hatchedsteve brusatte a paleontologist at the university of edinburgh in scotland who served as a consultant for the bbc documentary is also convinced that the fish died that day but he is not yet certain that the dinosaur and the pterosaur egg were also victims of the impacti havent yet seen slamdunk evidence he said in an email its a credible story but hasnt yet been proven beyond a reasonable doubt in the peerreviewed literaturebut the pterosaur embryo nonetheless is an amazing discovery he said although initially skeptical he added that after seeing photos and other information i was blown away to me this may be the most important fossil from tanis