Alaska"s First Elasmosaur Fossil Excavated - http://clapway.com/2015/07/25/alaskas-first-elasmosaur-fossil-excavated654/

Since much about the early phase of the world is still much unknown, or at least mysterious, many are drawn to that particular era. Who wouldn’t be, what with the exotic sea creatures and land creatures that lived in those times and would eventually become extinct or evolve to the animals of today?

elasmosaur fossil identified by curator of earth sciences at university of alaska

There are thousands of museums across the world featuring exhibits of these ancient creatures. One of those exhibits is in the University of Alaska’s Museum of the North’s Dinosaur exhibit.

With this exhibit already up, it is appropriate that one of the museum’s own, the curator of the Earth Sciences, helped identify a fossil in the mountains that would become Alaska’s first elasmosaur fossil. That person is Dr. Pat Druckenmiller, a vertebrate paleontologist, who also helped in providing things for the dinosaur exhibit, i.e. he helped to excavate some of the fossils.

The discovery of Alaska’s first elasmosaur fossil

The fossil discovered was of an Elasmosaurus, a sea creature from the same family as the plesiosaur. The news of the find was announced by the University of Alaska in a press release, on the 22nd of this month.

The fossil was found in the Talkeetna Mountain area by a several people, one of which included Anchorage based fossil collector, Curvin Metzler. After the initial find, Dr. Druckenmiller was contacted and invited to area in order to examine the fossil, which he then identified as what it was. The piece he examined was sticking out of the 60 foot cliff, and he found it was part of the neck area. So further excavation went underway to see what else could be recovered. From what was uncovered, the length of Alaska’s first elasmosaur was estimated to be about twenty-five feet long. But there is still more to uncover as of yet.

fossil can help us learn more about the time period

By finding Alaska’s first elasmosaur, more studies can be done about the creature and tell us more about life in those olden days in the Alaskan region. As of yet, three of these types of sea creatures have been found in Alaska, and the elasmosaur is just one of those in the family tree.

---

 

try the awesome samson rte2 bluetooth headphones, reviewed below!

Alaska"s First Elasmosaur Fossil Excavated

5 Things You Didnt Know About Fossilized Poop - http://clapway.com/2015/07/24/5-things-you-didnt-know-about-fossilized-poop567/

You Can Wear It

Yeah, there’s a whole group of artists that create jewelry from coprolite (fossilized poop). The diets of dinosaurs, or other prehistoric animals, can be seen by the coloring of the fossilized poop, and some samples actually look more like gems. A herbivorous diet will show a richer diversity of colors—greens, oranges, etc. Being fossilized, you can buy polished and prepared pieces of coprolite as pendants, earrings, and I’m sure cuff links. Talk about a conversation starter!

The Longest Dinosaur Turd

Found in Washington state in 2012, this particular find is credited as being the longest prehistoric piece of fossilized poop ever discovered. Measuring in at a staggering unbroken 3 feet, 4 inches, this dinosaur dropping was expected to win about $10,000 at auction! Believe it or not, dinosaur excrement is in high demand and people are willing to dish out the big bucks for a piece of prehistoric poop. No one has any idea what creature dropped such an impressive fossilized poop, but if I could get $10,000 for it, I’m not sure it would make much difference.

Oldest In The World

No surprise here: the oldest fossilized poop is found in the oceans. Marine creatures have been taking dumps for billions of years. What is really nuts about these finds is that the poop is the oldest known evidence of multicellular life forms! The bodily fossils of marine life may not have survived, but they certainly left their mark.

Everybody Goes

The largest haul of human crap was found in Texas. Found in the Hinds Caves, the depository holds a lot of cool information about the life of ancient hunter-gatherers. Not only have the caves been found to house ancient tools like netting, but they had their own, um, privacy corner. Not only is the human fossilized poop a huge find when it comes to life in the Archaic period, but it could make any immature person giggle.

Best Source Of DNA

Talk about starting your day off right! Nothing is better for studying ancient DNA that fossilized poop. In fact, the finding of human coprolite has helped reveal the migratory patterns of ancient humans! And, the idea of extracting intact dinosaur DNA from fossilized poop is more likely than any other method. Maybe they should take a piece from the longest turd sold at auction! I bet they would discover a pretty impressive beast.

---

 

check out the awesome samson rte2 bluetooth headphones!

5 Things You Didnt Know About Fossilized Poop

How"s that for a behind-the-scenes look? - http://clapway.com/2015/06/07/go-inside-the-autopsy-of-a-recreated-t-rex-123/

The National Geographic Channel’s special T-Rex Autopsy aims to try and help answer why these big, scary creatures still hold our interest. Essentially, this is somewhat of a fake documentary, designed to show viewers what it might be like to stumble upon a recently deceased dinosaur.

A small group of researchers and veterinary surgeons took the opportunity to take a look inside the faux-dino, which was built based on the most recent research about the animal’s anatomy, says John Hutchinson. In addition, Hutchinson was an adviser to the TV autopsy special, that will air on National Geographic this Sunday night.

The T-Rex Autopsy Procedure

There were 4 individuals opening up the dinosaur. British veterinary surgeon Luke Gamble, paleontologists Matthew Mossbrucker and Steve Brusatte, along with paleobiologist Tori Herridge. Gamble is perhaps the one who deals with the messiest portion of the show, beginning the procedure by slicing off the T-Rex’s leg, with a chainsaw. The 4 then then began counting the rings on the T-Rex’s bone, which apparently is a real method, such as tree-ring reading, that scientists employ to decipher the age of animals, Hutchinson says. He does go on to admit, however, that the use of the chainsaw may have been a “bit extreme.”

The 4, led by Gamble, then take their sharp instruments and carve into the belly of the beast, removing what looks to be a very authentic looking trail of intestines, a gall bladder and the T-Rex’s stomach which was easily the size of a bean-bag chair. Their excitement for animal anatomy makes itself evident through the scripting as each of them are peeling back fake flesh.

What did we discover?

The T-Rex dinosaur itself pretty much shares the same dimensions as a real T-Rex, its total length being 46 feet and its total width being 5 feet. The modeling company Crawley’s Creatures that constructed the dinosaur, spent nearly 12,000 hours putting every component together, applying polyurethane foam with silicone rubber and polystyrene, as well as 34 gallons of fake blood. There are 20,000 goose quills lined on the back of the fearsome animal, and this coincides with the increasing scientific support that suggests most of the dinosaurs that existed had feathers or something similar to them, Hutchinson says.

Even mistakes were made

As a group of journalists stood by on set, from an observation deck, and watched the filming of the fake autopsy, Hutchinson was able to spot that the cross-section of the dino’s leg bones were inaccurate. The tibia and fibula had been mixed up. Hutchinson had no choice but to head down to the studio to make the behind the scenes people aware of this, the gaff was then fixed in post-production. How’s that for a behind-the-scenes look?

Go Inside The Autopsy of a Recreated T-Rex