• Support
  • Advertise
  • Locations
  • Contact
Sunday, March 26, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTERS
San Clemente Times
  • Calendar
    • Event Calendar
    • Submit an Event
  • Sections
    • Eye on SC
    • Soapbox
      • Submit a Letter
    • Getting Out
    • SC Living
    • Sports & Outdoors
    • SC Surf
    • Dana Point Times
    • Capistrano Dispatch
  • Digital Edition
  • Best of SC
  • Explore SC
  • Legals & Classifieds
    • Locals Only Business Directory
    • Classifieds
    • Submit a Classified
    • Obituaries
    • Announcements
    • Submit an Announcement
    • Legal & Public Notice Advertising
  • Special Publications
    • A New You
    • Aging Well – For the Young at Heart
    • Best of San Clemente
    • Crib to College
    • Festival of Whales Event Program
    • Go See Do
    • Holiday Happenings & Gift Guide
    • Money Matters
    • Summer Camp Guide
    • Swallows Day Parade & Mercado Event Guide
    • The Green Issue
    • Triton Football Preview
  • SC Guide
  • Real Estate
    • South County Real Estate Guide
    • Real Estate – Who’s Who
  • Calendar
    • Event Calendar
    • Submit an Event
  • Sections
    • Eye on SC
    • Soapbox
      • Submit a Letter
    • Getting Out
    • SC Living
    • Sports & Outdoors
    • SC Surf
    • Dana Point Times
    • Capistrano Dispatch
  • Digital Edition
  • Best of SC
  • Explore SC
  • Legals & Classifieds
    • Locals Only Business Directory
    • Classifieds
    • Submit a Classified
    • Obituaries
    • Announcements
    • Submit an Announcement
    • Legal & Public Notice Advertising
  • Special Publications
    • A New You
    • Aging Well – For the Young at Heart
    • Best of San Clemente
    • Crib to College
    • Festival of Whales Event Program
    • Go See Do
    • Holiday Happenings & Gift Guide
    • Money Matters
    • Summer Camp Guide
    • Swallows Day Parade & Mercado Event Guide
    • The Green Issue
    • Triton Football Preview
  • SC Guide
  • Real Estate
    • South County Real Estate Guide
    • Real Estate – Who’s Who
No Result
View All Result
San Clemente Times
No Result
View All Result

CoastLines: ‘Dinogirl’ Makes Her Mark in the World of Paleontology

Staff by Staff
August 1, 2019 6:05AM
in Opinion Columns, SOAPBOX
CoastLines: ‘Dinogirl’ Makes Her Mark in the World of Paleontology

Clarissa Koos with her namesake dinosaur. Photo courtesy of Koos family

0
SHARES
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

By Fred Swegles

When she was 12 and on a visit to a fossil-rich dig site in the Badlands of Montana, Clarissa Koos so impressed a University of Washington paleontologist there that he named a dinosaur after her.

“Clarissa” is the second-largest Edmontosaurus ever found.

It took time for paleontologists to determine what species “Clarissa” was. If it had turned out to be a new species, the Koos family confided, it would have been the Clarissasaurus.

Scientists determined that this was a plant-eating Edmontosaurus, 40 feet long and weighing two tons when it lived some 66 million years ago. Today, it’s part of the collection at The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture in Seattle.

Clarissa Koos with her namesake dinosaur. Photo courtesy of Koos family
Clarissa Koos with her namesake dinosaur. Photo courtesy of Koos family

As for the human Clarissa, she graduated from San Clemente High School in June. You could say that her horizons have grown by Jurassic proportions over the past seven years.

With support from her parents, Liz and Chuck Koos, Clarissa took time every summer from 2012 to 2018 to visit dig sites, observing paleontologists in action and assisting them. This included recoveries of a Triceratops and a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

“It’s been just a crazy, exciting adventure that has been so much fun to be on,” Liz Koos said. “We’ve learned about things we never expected to learn about.”

Clarissa Koos, pictured with a Triceratops horn, which turned out to be her first solo discovery of a fossilized dinosaur at a paleontology site in Montana in 2017. With her is Wolf Gordon Clifton, who accompanied her that day. Photo courtesy of Koos family
Clarissa Koos, pictured with a Triceratops horn, which turned out to be her first solo discovery of a fossilized dinosaur at a paleontology site in Montana in 2017. With her is Wolf Gordon Clifton, who accompanied her that day. Photo courtesy of Koos family

It all started when Clarissa’s paleo curiosity led her to participate in the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County’s Dino Camp for three summers. In 2012, she visited the museum’s dig site in Utah.

The next year, the Koos family, vacationing at Yellowstone National Park, took a side trip to Montana. Paleontologists had invited them to explore a remote dig site, Hell Creek, that would yield Clarissa the dinosaur.

The rest is, well, history. Clarissa Koos soon found herself the protagonist in a children’s book, Dinogirl, designed to inspire students. Written by a Massachusetts school teacher, it recounts how Clarissa helped unearth her namesake’s fossil remains.

“I actually found a dinosaur in one of my seasons,” Clarissa said. “It was a small Triceratops . . . maybe 10 feet long, maybe 5 to 6 feet tall. The horn was 3 feet long. (The fossil) wasn’t very complete, but was my first discovery, so it was exciting.”

Clarissa Koos with her namesake dinosaur. Photo courtesy of Koos family
Clarissa Koos with her namesake dinosaur. Photo courtesy of Koos family

Through her middle school and high school years, Clarissa has attended events and met with lecturers at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and at The Burke Museum. She has volunteered at The Burke’s annual Dino Days, sharing her passion for paleontology with visitors. She has taken university-level courses in scientific illustration from Cal State Monterey Bay.

“This is the first year since I was 11 that I haven’t gone to a dig site,” she said, “and it’s weird.”

She has stayed home, because the Koos family is busy selling their San Clemente house to move to Montana and be closer to Clarissa as she enrolls at Montana State University—majoring in paleontology, of course. It may also lead to a paleontology Master’s degree and a graduate certificate in scientific illustration.

San Clemente residents who visit Casa Romantica Cultural Center and Gardens may already have seen some of Clarissa’s artwork. She has won awards in the Casa’s annual student art exhibit. This year, her pen and ink drawing of a lemur—created from thousands of tiny dots— earned second place.

Clarissa Koos displays the dot-generated illustration of a lemur that earned an award at 2019's Casa Romantica student art show. Photo: Fred Swegles
Clarissa Koos displays the dot-generated illustration of a lemur that earned an award at 2019’s Casa Romantica student art show. Photo: Fred Swegles

Her sketches appeared in Dinogirl, including the cover. But author Denise Porcello has since updated the cover to showcase the smiling face of “Dinogirl” herself.

Clarissa’s artwork has come a long way since those early Dinogirl sketches, and she says it’s possible she could, with further studies, turn professional with her art. “There’s this one artist, Terryl Whitlatch—she worked on the creature design for Star Wars— but then she also does paleo art,” Clarissa said. “She’s my main role model for art.”

This sketch by Clarissa Koos depicts an Edmontosaurus, top, and a Triceratops, two species that now are special to her. Sketch courtesy of Koos family
This sketch by Clarissa Koos depicts an Edmontosaurus, top, and a Triceratops, two species that now are special to her. Sketch courtesy of Koos family

Working with major studios, Whitlatch describes herself on her website as “a professional Creature designer specializing in Animal Anatomy, Paleontological Reconstruction, and the creation of Imaginary Creatures for the Animation, Publishing, Institutional, Academic, and other Transmedia/Entertainment Industries.”

In the paleo field, Clarissa’s reputation as “Dinogirl” has grown with her. “I’ve met paleontologists who knew my story, and I didn’t know them,” she said. “(One) went, ‘Oh, you’re that Dinogirl!’ ”

 

 

 

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Related

Tags: Clarissa KoosDinogirlFeaturedOrange CountySan ClementeUniversity of Washington
ShareTweetPin
Staff

Staff

Related Posts

Council Declines Emergency Actions to Aid Homeless in Harsh Winter Weather

Council to Consider Hiring Private Security to Address Illegal Activity Related to Homelessness

March 24, 2023
Local Film Festival Organizer Honored for Pursuits in Storytelling

Local Film Festival Organizer Honored for Pursuits in Storytelling

March 23, 2023

Obituary: Anthony “Tony” Cappa

March 24, 2023
Student Mask Requirements Dominate Discussions at Tense CUSD Meeting

UPDATE: Council Approves Contract for New Legal Services Provider

March 23, 2023
Next Post
Grom of The Week: Bethany Zelasko

Grom of The Week: Bethany Zelasko

Discussion about this post

No Result
View All Result

SC Times Daily
Get important news and updates delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up here.

Subscriptions
Don’t get the SC Times delivered to your home? Subscribe today.

Advertising
Get new customers and drive traffic to your business. Advertise with us.

Support Local Journalism
For less than the cost of a couple of cups of coffee a month, become an “Insider” member and continue to get “Local News You Can Use” from the only independently owned, dedicated local news organization in South Orange County.

Contribute today.

Picket Fence Media is a proud member of the SoCal Media Network.

  • Archive
  • Contact Us
  • Dana Point Times
  • The Capistrano Dispatch
  • Terms of Use
  • About Us

© 2023 Picket Fence Media

No Result
View All Result
  • Calendar
    • Event Calendar
    • Submit an Event
  • Sections
    • Eye on SC
    • Soapbox
      • Submit a Letter
    • Getting Out
    • SC Living
    • Sports & Outdoors
    • SC Surf
    • Dana Point Times
    • Capistrano Dispatch
  • Digital Edition
  • Best of SC
  • Explore SC
  • Legals & Classifieds
    • Locals Only Business Directory
    • Classifieds
    • Submit a Classified
    • Obituaries
    • Announcements
    • Submit an Announcement
    • Legal & Public Notice Advertising
  • Special Publications
    • A New You
    • Aging Well – For the Young at Heart
    • Best of San Clemente
    • Crib to College
    • Festival of Whales Event Program
    • Go See Do
    • Holiday Happenings & Gift Guide
    • Money Matters
    • Summer Camp Guide
    • Swallows Day Parade & Mercado Event Guide
    • The Green Issue
    • Triton Football Preview
  • SC Guide
  • Real Estate
    • South County Real Estate Guide
    • Real Estate – Who’s Who

© 2023 Picket Fence Media