Thierry Smith

Thierry Smith is a vertebrate paleontologist investigating the origin, evolution, paleobiodiversity, paleobiogeography and biostratigraphy of early modern mammals and other contemporaneous vertebrates, as well as the paleoenvironment and paleoclimate of Cretaceous and Paleogene continental ecosystems.

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Function

Since 2006, Thierry works as a permanent researcher in vertebrate palaeontology at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS). His expertise is particularly focused on the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum, one of the fastest and most intense global warming events since the dinosaurs disappeared 66 million years ago. This event, which happened 56 million years ago, seems to be at the origin of the rapid dispersal of the earliest modern mammals (primates, perissodactyls, artiodactyls, rodents, carnivorans, cetaceans, bats...) via land bridges, notably in Greenland and the Bering Strait.

Research team: Paleobiosphere Evolution Research Unit
Research theme: Evolution and the Web of Life  &  Ecosystems over time

Current Project(s)

2023.02.01-2025.11.01: Project BELSPO Brain B2/233/P2/PERISSORIGIN "Origin and early radiation of perissodactyls based on precious fossil collections".

RBINS coordinator with IVPP in Beijing and Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution in Montpellier as partners.

PERISSORIGIN

Area of Expertise

Thierry’s research is mainly based on discoveries made during fieldwork campaigns. He leaded more than 40 international paleontological expeditions (explorations and excavations) in India, China, Romania, Wyoming, RD Congo... After fossil preparation, he performs systematic and taxonomic analysis and study phylogeny, functional anatomy, biostratigraphy and paleobiogeography of vertebrate species.

External activities

Dissemination activities

Excavations for the earliest modern mammals from North America

A prehistoric owl that hunted like a hawk

GIANTS Gigantopithèque

T'as 2 Minutes ? 

Professional Experience

Thierry holds a master's degree in zoology and a PhD degree in geology and mineralogy from UCLouvain. He was a research fellow (1994-1998) at the National Fund for Scientific Research (FRIA grant holder) and prize-winner of the 2000 annual examination of the Royal Academy of Belgium (Class of Sciences, question in Geology) for his PhD thesis that he performed at the RBINS. He obtained several postdocs at the RBINS before being permanently recruited in 2006.

Publication highlights

Smith, T., Rose, K. & Gingerich, P.D., 2006. Rapid Asia-Europe-North America geographic dispersal of earliest Eocene primate Teilhardina during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. PNAS, 103(30): 11223-11227. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0511296103

Rose, K.D., Holbrook, L.T., Rana, R.S., Kumar, K., Jones, K.E., Ahrens, H.E., Missiaen, P., Sahni, A. & Smith, T., 2014. Early Eocene fossils suggest that the mammalian order Perissodactyla originated in India. Nature Communications, 5(5570): 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms6570

Smith T., Quesnel F., De Plöeg G., De Franceschi D., Métais G., De Bast E., Solé F., Folie A., Boura A., Claude J., Dupuis C., Gagnaison C., Iakovleva A., Martin J., Maubert F., Prieur J., Roche E., Storme J.-Y., Thomas R., Tong H., Yans J., Buffetaut E., 2014. First Clarkforkian Equivalent Land Mammal Age in the Latest Paleocene Basal Sparnacian Facies of Europe: Fauna, Flora, Paleoenvironment and (Bio)stratigraphy. Plos One, 9(1): e86229. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0086229

Smith, T., Kumar, K., Rana, R.S., Folie, A., Solé, F., Noiret, C., Steeman, T., Sahni, A. & Rose, K.D., 2016. New early Eocene vertebrate assemblage from western India reveals a mixed fauna of European and Gondwana affinities, Geoscience Frontiers, 7: 969-1001. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gsf.2016.05.001

Bertrand O.C., Shelley S.L., Williamson T.E., Wible J.R., Chester S.G.B., Flynn J.J., Holbrook L.T., Lyson T.R., Meng J., Miller I.M., Püschel H.P., Smith T., Spaulding M., Tseng Z.J. & Brusatte S.L., 2022. Brawn before brains in placental mammals after the end-Cretaceous extinction. Science, 376: 80-85. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abl5584