Animal News Stories

News stories and articles that do not necessarily feature extinct animals.

27 07, 2010

Gigantic Rat Bones Discovered – The biggest Rat known to Science

By Mike|2023-03-06T08:49:23+00:00July 27th, 2010|Categories: Animal News Stories, Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Main Page|0 Comments

East Timor Expedition Reveals Evidence of Giant Rats

Often the subject of urban myths, the brown rats and black rats (members of the Rattus genus) seen in the sewers and subways of cities are sometimes described as being huge. Some folk claim to have spotted rats the size of a domestic cats. These highly successful members of the rodent family have certainly benefited from feeding off all the rubbish and fat filled food to be found on and beneath our streets. However, a scientific expedition to the remote south-east Asian island of East Timor has found evidence of a truly gigantic member of the rat family.

Gigantic Rat Bones

East Timor is an independent state, once formerly a Portuguese colony that covers the eastern part of the island of Timor. Although much of the island has been deforested, those areas of rain-forest that do remain are dense and largely unexplored by scientific teams. Archaeological research has unearthed the remains of the biggest rat known to science, an animal with an estimated body weight of six kilogrammes, something like twenty times the size of a black rat (Rattus rattus), a species commonly associated with our cityscapes.

A series of cave excavations in the rain-forest of East Timor has revealed a total of thirteen species of rodents, eleven of which are completely new to science. The bones and teeth discovered suggest that at least eight of the rats discovered weighed more than a kilogramme.

The Australian/U.S. led expedition, part of CSIRO research on the island of East Timor to map the extensive unique fauna and flora has published their findings in the scientific journal “The Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History”. The acronym CSIRO stands for the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. It is Australia’s national science agency.

A Hot Spot for Rodent Evolution

Discussing the discovery, Dr Ken Aplin, a wildlife biologist at the Australian National Wildlife Collection stated:

“East Indonesia is a hot spot for rodent evolution. We want international attention on conservation in that area. Rodents make up forty percent of mammalian diversity worldwide and they are a key element of ecosystems, important for processes like soil maintenance and seed dispersal. Maintaining biodiversity among rats is just as important as protecting whales or birds.”

Carbon dating tests on the bones and teeth found in the cave system suggest that the biggest type of rat that ever lived could have survived until around 1,000 to 2,000 years ago. Only one of the smaller species of rats whose remains were found in the cave is known to survive on Timor today.

Rats on the Island of Timor

Pictures show a partial skull of the new to science giant rat compared to the skull of a black rat.

Dr Aplin added:

“People have lived on the island of Timor for over 40,000 years and hunted and ate rates throughout this period, yet extinctions did not occur until quite recently. We think this shows people used to live sustainably on Timor until around 1,000 to 2,000 years ago. This means extinctions aren’t inevitable when people arrive on an island. Large scale clearing of forest for agriculture probably caused the extinctions, and this may have been possible following the introduction of metal tools.

A number of the islands of eastern Indonesia evolved their own unique flora and fauna, including unique types of rat and other rodent. Dr Aplin and his team have also found six new species of rat on the island of Flores. Flores has been in the scientific media spotlight recently for the discovery in 2003 of a previously known species of human – homo floresiensis, known as the “hobbit” of Indonesia.

Some of these new species of rat, might still be living on Flores according to Dr Aplin, evading detection by western scientists in the dense and remote jungles of this island.

Few Native Mammals

The island of Timor has few native mammals, the strong tidal currents making the migration of such animals to Timor very difficult. The majority of the mammalian fauna is made up of bats and rodents, many of the roles in ecosystems occupied by other mammals may have been filled by these rodents and this may have led to the development and diversification of the rodent species.

Pictures show the partial skull and teeth of East Timor’s extinct giant rat compared to the skull of a black rat (Rattus rattus) on the right.

Commenting on the possibility that new species of rats, even giant ones may still be awaiting discovery, Dr Aplin stated:

“Although less than fifteen per cent of Timor’s original forest cover remains, parts of the island are still heavily forested, so who knows what might be out there?”

He went on to add:

“During a recent field trip in East Timor, I found the remains of a freshly dead rat which we knew about only from cave deposits.”

The largest extant species of rat weigh around two kilogrammes and can be found in the rain-forests of the Philippines and New Guinea. Unless of course those urban myths about giant rats lurking in sewers underneath our feet are to be believed.

For models and replicas of extinct mammals: Prehistoric Animal Figures and Replicas.

16 07, 2010

Frogs from Switzerland Encountered on Family Holiday

By Mike|2024-04-19T14:59:47+01:00July 16th, 2010|Categories: Animal News Stories, Educational Activities, Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Main Page|0 Comments

Swiss Frogs – Frogs from Switzerland

One of our team members had been recounting to a friend how well our frogs in the office pond had done this year. We had a record amount of frogspawn and this has resulted in a multitude of baby frogs in and around the office pond. However, we had not seen the number of tadpoles encountered by a traveller whilst on holiday in Switzerland. The traveller was keen to tell us all about the frogs from Switzerland that had been encountered.

The pictures taken of a vast shoal of tadpoles in the shallows of a Swiss lake, certainly put the numbers of tadpoles we had seen in our pond to shame. Whilst walking close by to the lake, a strange dark patch was seen in the shallows and it was only when observed at close quarters that the viewer discovered that they were tadpoles – thousands of them.

Frogs from Switzerland

The tadpoles shoal together in vast numbers presumably as a protection against predators. Switzerland may not be famous for its reptiles and amphibians but it has a number of native species including frogs, toads, newts, as well as snakes, lizards and we think a terrapin, although our expertise on central European fauna is a little limited.

The tadpoles were estimated to be more than 2 cm long with large, well developed heads. It is difficult to be certain as to what species they are, after all, we are not very knowledgeable when it comes to the fauna of Switzerland but at a guess we would say that they are what we in the UK call the Common Frog (Rana temporaria). The Swiss call this frog – Grasfrosch.

12 07, 2010

Surrounded by Baby Frogs

By Mike|2023-01-10T07:57:35+00:00July 12th, 2010|Categories: Animal News Stories, Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Main Page|0 Comments

Baby Frogs Leave the Office Pond

Over the last few days, we have been watching the exodus of baby frogs from the office pond. If any of the Everything Dinosaur team members have been out in the back yard, behind the office, we have had to keep a careful look out for baby frogs. We have been able to watch as many as nine at time venture out onto land, leaving the relative safety of the office pond.

These tiny creatures have no real defence against their many predators, their only real hope is to rely on their excellent camouflage. If they are disturbed they can hop (a surprisingly long distance for such a small animal), but they would soon get caught by a sharp eyed blackbird or similar predator.

We have thought about undertaking a survey to see how many frogs we can find in the office yard and surrounding area, this might give us an idea of the fluctuating numbers of amphibians year on year. Perhaps we could do this next spring to see if the resurrection of the pond in the yard is helping.

In the meantime, we shall keep a look out for any baby frogs making sure we don’t tread on any accidentally.

29 06, 2010

Darwin’s Ornithorhynchus – The Remarkable Duck-billed Platypus

By Mike|2024-04-19T14:57:29+01:00June 29th, 2010|Categories: Animal News Stories, Main Page|0 Comments

Duck-billed Platypus gets a Mention in the Origin of Species

The web-footed, venomous, egg-laying mammal (a monotreme), has been known to science for over 200 years. This furry little animal, with its duck-like bill, is a native of eastern Australia and Tasmania. It was first described and studied at the end of the 18th century. Although, when the first pelts of this animal were seen by Europeans it was thought to be an elaborate joke. Europeans thought at first; that the beak had been glued or stitched onto the fur. However, just sixty years after this small mammal became known to science Darwin uses the Platypus to elucidate on the difficulties encountered by scientists as they attempt to classify organisms.

Duck-billed Platypus

The duck-billed Platypus (genus Ornithorhynchus) is actually a very ancient type of mammal, perhaps the oldest known type of mammal extant today. There is fossil evidence to suggest that animals similar to the modern Platypus lived as long ago as the Early Cretaceous, approximately 120 million years ago.

To read more about fossils of Ornithorhynchus: Duck-billed Platypus lived alongside Duck-billed Dinosaurs.

In one of the closing chapters of Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species”, Darwin muses on the problems encountered by scientists as they try to classify organisms on the bases of common characteristics. He uses some of the work of Sir Richard Owen to support his arguments and refers specifically to the duck-billed Platypus stating:

“If the Ornithorhynchus had been covered in with feathers instead of hair, this external and trifling character, would, I think, have been considered by naturalists as important an aid in determining the degree of affinity of this strange creature to birds and reptiles, as an approach in structure in any one internal and important organ.”

One of the problems we have encountered with our copy of “The Origin of Species”, a copy of the third edition, is that the glossary and index are not very comprehensive. It would help readers if an explanation for the genera named in the book and other scientific terms used was given so that readers could appreciate the comments and points Darwin is attempting to make.

For models of animals from the Cretaceous including dinosaurs: Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal Models.

12 06, 2010

Pelicans Have Had their Pouches for at Least 30 Million Years According to New Study

By Mike|2024-04-19T14:28:44+01:00June 12th, 2010|Categories: Animal News Stories, Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Main Page|0 Comments

Preserved Feeding Apparatus on Palaeogene Fossils Shows Pelican Beak is Old Hat

A beautifully preserved fossil of the earliest known Pelican, a fossil dating from the Oligocene Epoch shows that Pelicans have had their unusual beaks and pouches for at least 30 million years. It seems that as far as the Pelican is concerned, if something isn’t broken it does not need fixing, the feeding apparatus of these birds seems unchanged for 30 million years. If an organism or a part of an organism remains unchanged for a very long period of time, scientists call this “evolutionary stasis”. It seems that the shape of the Pelican’s beak has remained unchanged for millions of years.

Earliest Known Pelican

The significance of this fossil was not realised at the time of its discovery in finely grained limestone deposits in a region of south-eastern France (Luberon). It was only when a French scientist examined this specimen in a colleague’s collection that the importance of this fossil and its baring on bird evolution became clear.

Dr Antoine Louchart of the University of Lyon, realised the significance of this fossil, when reviewing a number of fossils held by his colleague Nicolas Tourment, who is an avid collector of fossils from south-eastern France. The fossil shows that Pelicans and their huge beaks have survived unchanged since the Oligocene epoch. The team’s findings have been published in the scientific publication “The Journal of Ornithology”.

Bought from a Collector

Mr Tourment bought the ancient Pelican years ago from another collector who found it in the area in the 1980s; but its significance only became clear when Dr Louchart looked at it closely.

Dr Louchart commented:

“I was surprised by the completeness and quality of preservation of this fossil. It is embedded in a very fine lacustrine limestone which preserves all the details.”

Pictues show the cervical neck vertebrae (neck bones), parts of the skull and the long beak of this prehistoric bird. The beak measures approximately 30 cm in length and the entire specimen is around 1.2 metres long from the tip of its beak to the tip of its tail, suggesting a very small Pelican, similar in size to the smallest extant Pelicans. However, scientists are not sure whether this is a fully grown specimen. They are confident however, that this fossil belongs in the genus Pelecanus (Pelicans) and the fossil shows morphological and anatomical differences between it and the seven living species of Pelican around today, to make the fossil a distinctive species.

Preserved Beak

Its well preserved beak contains a special joint within that allows its two parts to be extremely distended, opening up the pouch used to collect fish. So Pelicans had their pouches at least 30 million years ago.

Dr Louchart stated:

“It is remarkably similar morphologically to the seven species of living Pelican, but its proportions differ slightly from all of them, so it probably represents a distinct species.”

The discovery has surprised the researchers, because it reveals just how little Pelicans have evolved over huge expanses of time. In the Oligocene, fish existed (teleosts) that were similar in size and shape to the modern prey of today’s Pelicans. This suggests that Pelicans quickly evolved their huge beaks and have maintained them almost unchanged since because they are optimal for fish feeding.

However, it could also be that the giant beak has not evolved in the past 30 million years because of constraints imposed by flying.

The idea is that once Pelicans evolved bodies capable of flying with such a large beak, the beak itself couldn’t evolve further without compromising the birds’ ability to fly, essentially locking in its design.

Dr Louchart added:

“It shows an example of stasis, or no morphological change, in the skeleton, although perhaps changes in other characteristics occurred, such as plumage or behaviour.”

Evolutionary stasis in higher vertebrates is quite rare, although the limited fossil record for most back-boned animals prevents a more complete examination of this phenomenon. Dr Louchart concluded that few other flying animals appear to have survived unchanged for so long. The only other good example would be bats, these animals have a body shape that appears to have survived unaltered since the early Tertiary.

For models of prehistoric animals, visit Everything Dinosaur’s website: Prehistoric Animal Models.

8 06, 2010

Crocodiles “Cruising” on Currents According to New Research

By Mike|2024-04-19T14:47:22+01:00June 8th, 2010|Categories: Animal News Stories, Main Page|0 Comments

Saltwater Crocodiles Ride Currents and Make Long Sea Voyages

A team of Australian scientists have discovered that Saltwater crocodiles are able to “ride” ocean currents enabling them to travel many miles from their home ranges and this has helped them to reach distant islands in the Pacific Ocean. As cold-blooded reptiles, these animals would be in danger of becoming too cold to remain active if they were immersed in sea water for a long period, but these ancient reptiles have learned to conserve energy by exploiting ocean currents to help them to swim long distances.

This research helps to explain how the Saltwater crocodile, the largest living reptile today, is able to colonise an extensive area of the South Pacific. It is also accounts for the sightings of crocodiles many miles out to sea, some of these crocodiles having been mistaken for sea monsters, which considering these particular animals can reach lengths in excess of 6 metres and weigh one tonne, a sea monster is an apt description.

Saltwater Crocodiles

New findings published in the scientific publication “Journal of Animal Ecology” from a team of scientist led by researchers from the University of Queensland (Australia) shows that despite these animals being relatively weak swimmers they can travel long distances by riding ocean currents, much like surfers catching waves.

The Australian researchers tagged twenty-seven adult crocodiles with sonar transmitters and tracked their movements over the course of a year using satellite navigation equipment. The scientists found that both male and females often travelled more than 50 kilometres (31 miles) from their river and mangrove homes to the open sea. Steve Irwin, the crocodile-hunting and wildlife expert was amongst the research team members. He was killed by a stingray in 2006.

The research team found that one particular male “salty” travelled 590 kilometres (367 miles) in just 25 days, timing its journey to coincide with seasonal currents. A second animal, measuring just under 5 metres in length, covered more than 400 kilometres (250 miles) in just 20 days using fast-moving ocean currents to reach its destination.

Dr Hamish Campbell (University of Queensland) commented:

“The Estuarine Crocodile occurs as island populations throughout the Indian and Pacific oceans, and because they are the only species of saltwater living crocodile to exist across this vast area, regular mixing between the island populations probably occurs.”

Dr Campbell went onto add:

”Because these crocodiles are poor swimmers, it is unlikely that they swim across vast tracts of ocean. But they can survive for long periods in saltwater without eating or drinking, so by only travelling when surface currents are favourable, they would be able to move long distances by sea.”

This new study, having mapped the distances these reptiles can travel has implications for how crocodilians traversed great distances and ending up inhabiting far flung corners of the globe.

Spotting the Differences Between an Extant Crocodile and an Alligator

Crocodile (top) and Alligator (bottom).

Dr Campbell stated:

“This not only helps to explain how Estuarine crocodiles move between oceanic islands, but also contributes to the theory that crocodilians have crossed major marine barriers during their evolutionary past.”

Crocodylus porosus

The Saltwater or Estuarine crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) is found over a vast area of the southern Pacific, stretching from Sri Lanka to the Fiji Islands and including northern Australia.

They may not be the only long-distance travellers however, as the Nile crocodile too, may be capable of travelling long distances by sea. The habitat of the Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) extends south of the Sahara in Africa, it has been known from Madagascar and the Seychelles. The Seychelles are an extensive group of islands, for a Nile crocodile to reach the nearest island to the east coast of Africa would involve a sea voyage of approximately 500 kilometres, so perhaps other crocodile species also “surf” in the same way as their Estuarine cousins.

To view models and replicas of prehistoric crocodilians and their close relatives: Prehistoric Crocodile Models.

4 06, 2010

Anglo/U.S. Research Co-operation on Gomphotheres Announced

By Mike|2024-04-19T10:12:36+01:00June 4th, 2010|Categories: Animal News Stories, Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Main Page|0 Comments

Help from the United States to Sort out Derivation of Amebelodon

As team members at Everything Dinosaur make the final preparations for the new Procon/CollectA, Papo and Carnegie Models to arrive, the fact sheets that our experts have prepared to accompany each new replica are checked and re-checked.

Everything Dinosaur

Amongst the twenty-five fact sheets that have been compiled, there is one for Amebelodon, a member of the elephant family (Proboscidea – animals with trunks), in preparation for the receipt of the Amebelodon model from Carnegie Safari, part of their Prehistoric Life range.

A Scale Drawing of Amebelodon (A. fricki)

A scale drawing of Amebelodon.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

To view our current range of Safari/Carnegie models and other dinosaur toys: Safari Ltd. Wild Safari Prehistoric World Models.

In the course of our research on this particular member of the Gomphotheriidae, our team members became stuck when we tried to interpret the meaning of the genus Amebelodon. The elephant family can be traced back to the Eocene Epoch and they have a long and diverse lineage. The unique shovel-like shape of the lower (mandibular) incisors has led to amebelodonts being called “shovel-tuskers”, but this we knew was not the exact derivation of the Latin (or Greek) name.

A quick email to Mark Hallett, a palaeo-artist and writer of a recent and most informative article on the history of North American Mastodons; featured in the magazine Prehistoric Times and our problem was solved. According to Mark, who co-incidently had been emailed by a Prehistoric Times reader on this subject just a few days earlier, the name Amebelodon is derived from the Latin/Greek for “shovel” and “dart” plus “dont” (which means tooth). So we get the descriptive name “shovel-dart tooth”. The name is apt as this ancient elephant had two pairs of tusks, a dart-like pair similar to those of an extant elephant in the upper jaw, and the shovel-like tusks in the lower jaw.

Amebelodon

Amebelodon was formerly named and described by the eminent American geologist and palaeontologist Erwin Hinckly Barbour following the discovery of lower jaw material in Nebraska. With two pairs of tusks, one like a set of darts, the second shaped like a shovel, the name Amebelodon is particularly appropriate.

Our thanks to our friends across the Atlantic for helping us out. Old World and New World co-operation with regards to primitive elephants is particularly appropriate. These animals are believed to have originated in Africa (the Old World) and then over the Neogene Period to have migrated across land bridges to Europe, Asia and the New World of the Americas.

9 05, 2010

The 21st Century – A Mass Extinction Event – An Important United Nations Report

By Mike|2024-04-19T10:11:17+01:00May 9th, 2010|Categories: Animal News Stories, Main Page|0 Comments

United Nations Report set to Declare that 30% of all Fauna and Flora Faces Extinction

The economic expansion of countries such as China and India, with the Western World’s inability to deal effectively with environmental threats could lead to the extinction of a third of all the plant’s species before the end of this century. We could be heading for a mass extinction event.

That is one of the conclusions of a United Nations report due to be published next week. It focuses on the huge growth in the human population and consumption and provides a stark warning about the future diversity of life on Earth. The report will link economic growth and extinction rates and provide one of the most critical evaluations on the current state of humanity and our relationship with the natural world.

Mass Extinction Event

2009 has been designated the International Year of Biodiversity, a number of events and activities are being held world wide to highlight the rich and varied ecosystems of our planet, this new report paints a very different picture regarding the state of the natural world.

This new United Nations sponsored report uses research from 120 countries and it will show that no country has succeeded in halting the loss of biodiversity and that 89% of those countries that had submitted data identified climate change as a cause for the extinctions.

Ahmed Djoghlaf, the UN’s leading figure on biological diversification states:

“If the nine billion people predicted to be with us by 2050 were to have the same lifestyle as Americans, we would need five planets.”

The UN report will attract a great deal of debate, but many countries will be reluctant to take action as they will be unwilling to fore go economic growth for the sake of the natural world. The extinction threat extends across all the main ecosystems of the planet, from rain forests to coral reefs, species as different as tree frogs, large mammals, tuna and river dolphins face extinction.

River dolphins and other large freshwater animals are particularly threatened. It is not just climate change but loss of habitat and also pollution that is causing their demise. The Yangtze river dolphin (Lipotes vexillifer), fore example is believed to virtually extinct. No specimens were recorded in a six week survey of the Yangtze river in 2006. To read more about the decline and potential extinction of this unique species:

Yangtze River Dolphin: The Yangtze River Dolphin – How to Define an Epoch.

There is always a certain “background” rate of extinction, as species fail to compete and die out. The fossil record identifies five major extinction events when global biodiversity was significantly reduced, but there have been many other smaller extinction events recorded in the fossil record. However, some scientists have declared the Holocene as the site of the “sixth great mass extinction”, with huge numbers of species threatened with extinction.

The most recent study by the International Union for Conservation and Nature (IUCN) found that more than 17,200 species of the 47,677 species studied were classified as being threatened by extinction. The IUCN compiles a red list of species (first prepared in 1948), this catalogues species and rates them along a spectrum to indicate their threatened status. Species can be classified as LC (least concern) down to EW (extinct in the wild) and ET (extinct). Of the worlds 5, 490 mammal species 79 are classified as extinct. The IUCN has estimated that approximately 30% of all amphibian species, 70% of plants and 35% of invertebrates are threatened with extinction.

Nine Billion People

It has been estimated that by 2050 the human population will have soared to over 9 billion and the increasing human population will increase the pressure on limited resources thus leading to the extinction of many more species. The reduction of diversity and habitat in conjunction with global warning may have dire consequences for our own species.

We at Everything Dinosaur, are trying to do our bit. One of our team members has become our “Environmental Officer” and to date we have fitted energy saving light bulbs, reduced our fossil fuel consumption and introduced a new policy on packaging recycling. In addition, we have been slowly converting the area behind our offices into a wildlife friendly habitat by cleaning out and restoring a pond, planting bee friendly plants and putting in some new trees.

Team members have also been encouraged to consider where the food they eat comes from. Vegetable and fruit seeds have been provided and we are all being encouraged to “grow our own”. So far, crops of carrots, beetroot, rhubarb, onions and a series of herbs have been successfully harvested.

We have also been involved in a number of other projects too, we recognise that whilst we cannot make a huge impact on our own we can make a small difference, other plans for this summer include monitoring the grass meadow we helped to establish and creating a fernery and rockery to increase the number of wildlife habitats the area behind the offices has.

Everything Dinosaur Has Built a Wildlife Pond

More frogspawn laid in the office pond (16th March 2022).

Everything Dinosaur has created a wildlife pond which has encouraged amphibians to spawn. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

8 05, 2010

British Columbia Proposes Provincial Fossil (Four Contenders in the Running)

By Mike|2023-03-05T13:22:59+00:00May 8th, 2010|Categories: Animal News Stories, Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Main Page, Palaeontological articles|0 Comments

British Columbia wants a Provincial Fossil – Four Candidates in Contention

British Columbia, Canada’s westernmost province is looking for its own provincial fossil, to join the list of natural fauna and flora that represent this part of Canada. A number of American states and Canadian provinces have their own stated fossil representative, for example Alaska has a Woolly Mammoth and California has adopted the Sabre-toothed cat sub-species S. fatalis in respect to the large amounts of Smilodon material found at La Brea tar pits.

Alberta has fossilised trees (petrified wood) as their provincial stone, but surprisingly this fossil rich area has no official fossil to represent it. Only Nova Scotia in Canada has a provincial fossil – Hylonomus lyelli. This primitive reptile, the oldest known true egg-laying (amniote). Forty of the U.S. states have a state fossil and following this trend, British Columbia has drawn up a shortlist of four candidates.

The British Columbia Palaeontological Association (BCPA) in conjunction with a number of Canadian universities has selected the four candidates from the huge range of extinct fauna and flora in the British Columbia fossil record. All thirteen of Earth’s major, life-bearing geological systems, from Vendian to Quaternary, are represented in the province, spanning the last 600 million years. Examples of British Columbia fossils range from trilobites, conodonts (early relatives of back-boned animals), gastropods and bivalves, corals, early fish, ammonites, dinosaurs and prehistoric animal tracks, huge sea reptiles from the Mesozoic and sharks.

The fossil record of plants in British Columbia is equally impressive with ferns, cycads, ancient conifers and early angiosperms. The BCPA state in their press release that the province has “spectacular samples of the diversity of ancient life that has walked across British Columbia’s varied landscapes and lived in its oceans”.

Provincial Fossil

British Columbia has a number of provincial symbols and has celebrated its rich natural heritage through designation of a Provincial Flower (Pacific Dogwood), a Provincial Bird (Stellar Jay), a Provincial Tree (Western Red Cedar), and a Provincial Gemstone (BC Jade). Government officials now want to add a provincial fossil to this list, a recognition of the importance of British Columbia to the Earth sciences.

Discussions amongst the membership and individual palaeontological societies of the BCPA have resulted in the short-list of four fossils. The four candidate fossils represent a variety of animal types, each group of which has had a significant impact on the development of life on Earth and in British Columbia.

Four Candidate Fossil Specimens

Here is the short-list:

1). The Permian Fusulinid (Yabeina columbiana)

Not the most widely known type of fossil, but a very important fossil from an extremely important group of animals in the fossil record. Fusulinids are an extinct type of sea creature, that lived in ancient oceans from about 440 million years ago to approximately 250 million years ago. Yabeina columbiana was one of the last types of this animal to evolve. Individual Yabeina specimens probably lived like tiny snails, crawling along the shallow, warm sea bottom – an epifaunal lifestyle. These animals were extremely numerous as the accumulation of shells form entire strata of blue limestone.

As the British Columbia Provincial Fossil, Yabeina columbiana would represent an exciting period in the history of the formation of the west coast of North America. It is also abundant enough that everyone could collect a specimen, the strata in which this particular fossil is found is studied by palaeontologists and geologists from all over the world.

Pictures show a small sample of blue limestone with a number of Yabeina fossils, the rock looks like it has been pock-mocked and it is these marks that represent the fossil. Under a powerful microscope, the fine detail of the tiny fossil shells can be made out and it is differences in the shell structure that is used to determine individual species.

2). The Cretaceous Ammonite (Canadoceras yokoyamai)

Ammonites were cephalopods, extinct relatives of squid and cuttlefish. They are important world wide as zonal fossils and there are many genera known from British Columbia. Ammonite fossils are relatively common in British Columbia, especially in the Cretaceous aged rocks on the west coast as well as in the northeastern part of the province.

The ammonite selected for the shortlist is Canadoceras yokoyamai, sometimes called the “Canadian horn”. It is known from rocks about 80 million years old that are preserved along the eastern side of Vancouver Island. This genus of ammonite was named after Canada, the species name, yokoyamai, is named after the Japanese palaeontologist Yokoyama and examples of the species are also known from Japan.

This fossil is also known from many other regions of the Pacific Rim, including California, Alaska, and Far East Russia. This ammonite fossil demonstrates the strong geological links between western British Columbia and other countries that border the modern Pacific ocean.Picture Credit: BCPA

The strong rib lines can clearly be seen on specimens. Ammonites are important to palaeontologists and geologists as they can help establish the relative ages of widely separated outcrops of rock using the fossils that they contain.

3). The Cambrian Lace Crab – Marrella splendens

Tucked along a precipitous mountain face in Yoho National Park in southeastern British Columbia, is an excavated pit which has produced some of the most important fossils the world has ever seen. This is the famous Burgess Shale quarry pit, which exposes sedimentary rocks that accumulated during the Cambrian Period early in the Palaeozoic Era, approximately 530 million years ago.

The animal life preserved in the Burgess Shale pit, called the “Burgess Shale Fauna,” is important as it documents an abundance of soft-bodied life-forms (that is, animals lacking shells) that represent a veritable explosion of evolutionary activity early in the history of large-scale life on Earth. Prior to this “Cambrian Explosion,” the world’s seas were seemingly the domain of simple life-forms, such as jellyfish and sponges. But around the time of the Burgess Shale, an abundance of new, unusual, and unique life forms appeared.

One of the most abundant and fascinating of these Burgess Shale forms is the “Lace Crab,” or Marrella splendens. Marrella has wispy appendages and unusual morphologic features which led palaeontologists starting in the 1970s to question the identification of many of the Burgess Shale fossils with the traditional arthropod groups to which they had been assigned. In fact, many of these forms were found to represent life forms which have no modern counterpart in the modern Earth biota, that is no extant relatives. It was only then that the true importance of the Burgess Shale fauna became clear.

The site preserves a record of many experimental life-forms that evolved early in the Palaeozoic Era, in the early beginnings of multicellular life, many of which proved to be evolutionary dead-ends which soon went extinct. Given its importance for the history of Life on Earth, the Burgess Shale quarry has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.

In the wonderfully well preserved fossil in the pictures, antennae, legs and even the delicate gills are clearly visible. Named the “Lace Crab” by Charles Doolittle Walcott, the famous American palaeontologist who discovered the first “Burgess Shale” fossils in 1909, Marrella is in fact believed to be a primitive nektonic (animal that swims actively) shrimp.

4. The Cretaceous Elasmosaur from Puntledge River

A superbly preserved, almost complete fossil of a Late Cretaceous marine reptile makes up this quartet of potential British Columbia provincial fossils. Elasmosaurs were long-necked plesiosaurs that lived world wide and survived until the very end of the Cretaceous period.

While individual pieces of elasmosaur specimens have been found at various localities in British Columbia, the most complete elasmosaur ever found in Canada, is the specimen on display in the Courtenay and District Museum and Palaeontology Centre on Vancouver Island. This elasmosaur specimen was found by an amateur paleontologist Mike Trask and his daughter Heather, who were looking for fossils along the Puntledge River one fine autumn afternoon in 1988.

Expecting to find the usual ammonites and clam fossils that are mostly found in these rocks, the father and daughter team was surprised to find what appeared to be fragments of vertebrae sticking out of the strata in a rock wall along the river. Subsequent collecting over the next several weekends turned up numerous teeth and bone fragments which eventually were found to be part of a complete jaw and skull.

Once the significance of the find was established, the Courtenay Museum organised a major scientific excavation of the fossil specimen, which galvanised local community attention. Many hundreds of volunteers turned out to help with the excavation work, firing the interest of many in the science of palaeontology. As a result of all this activity, one of British Columbia’s first palaeontological societies was formed, in Courtenay.

The 12-metre-long elasmosaur is one of the best preserved of all vertebrate Late Cretaceous fossils, ever found in North America. A replica of the specimen, is the star exhibit in the Courtenay and District Museum. The elasmosaurid is even used as the logo for this museum.

A Model of an Elasmosaurid

Provincial fossil candidate an elasmosaurid.

An elasmosaurid is a candidate for the Provincial fossil of British Columbia. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

To see a replica model of an elasmosaurid and other prehistoric animal models, take a look at the CollectA Age of Dinosaurs Model range: CollectA Prehistoric Life Age of Dinosaurs Models.

These four specimens represent the diversity of the Canadian fossil record. British Columbia can be very proud of its fossils, all four candidates are strong contenders and the BCPA is inviting comments and feedback before a winner is selected.

After some debate amongst Everything Dinosaur team members, we have agreed to support the Marrella specimen. Not only is the degree of preservation exquisite but the Burgess Shale has yielded thousands of Cambrian fossils, many of which have their soft parts preserved and as such it is one of the most remarkable fossil sites in the world.

6 05, 2010

Lobster Fisherman “catches” Beautiful 300-million-year-old Lobster

By Mike|2024-04-19T10:19:54+01:00May 6th, 2010|Categories: Animal News Stories, Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Main Page|0 Comments

Canadian Fisherman Hauls up 300-million-year-old Lobster Claw

We have all heard stories of fishermen who tell of the “one that got away”, tall tales are as much a part of fishing as bait and boats, but for one Canadian fisherman, a remarkable stroke of luck whilst setting pot traps for lobster on the seabed led to the discovery of a 300-million-year-old lobster fossil.

For Canadian fisherman Colin Dandy a routine trip to set traps to catch shell fish and lobster of Cape Breton (Nova Scotia) turned out to be a red letter day for the history of crustacean palaeontology. Last year, Colin was fishing off the east coast of the isle of Cape Breton, close to the small islands known as the Bird Islands, when the fossil containing rock became hooked to the back of his boat’s scallop rack.

For Colin, a fisherman with over 30 years experience, he was able to recognise the strange object as the claw of a lobster but he did not know its age and importance.

Recalling the moment he first saw the rock containing fossil stuck on his scallop rack; Colin stated:

“I picked it up and hosed it off. I saw it was a lobster claw but I didn’t think it was that old.”

Once the fossil had been shown to an expert, at the local natural history museum, the true age and importance of this fossil was determined.

Dr Stuart Critchley, the Curator at the Cape Breton Fossil Centre stated:

“I looked at the fossil. It was surrounded by a thin layer of carbon. It is the same as the carbon we see on our plant fossils here. So as an educated guess, it was formed 300 million years ago, the same time as the Carboniferous era.”

A Stunning Fossil of a Sea Scorpion Claw

A stunning fossil of a sea scorpion (eurypterid) claw housed at the National Museum Cardiff (Wales) photographed in 2019 when team members at Everything Dinosaur visited. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Crustaceans such as crabs and lobsters are members of the phylum Arthropoda, the largest phylum of all in the Kingdom Animalia. This phylum consists of insects, spiders, mites and several extinct groups such as the trilobites. The hard outer coating (exoskeleton) of arthropods usually consists of chitin, but it may be further strengthened by calcium carbonate or calcium phosphate, increasing the preservation potential of the hard outer shells of these animals. Some Arthropoda genera are important zonal fossils for palaeontologists, helping to establish the age of different rock strata.

For crustaceans like lobsters, growth occurs during periodic moulting when the exoskeleton is shed and a new larger exoskeleton formed. This means that a lobster may shed its hard outer shell on many occasions during its lifetime. The moulting of the exoskeleton leads to many fossils of cast and shed elements of shell in the fossil record as well as fossils of the dead animals.

It’s not the first time Dandy has seen a fossil like this. He said his father unearthed two similar fossils about 50 years ago. They are now at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax. It is likely that the fisherman are placing their pot traps on a part of the seabed that consists of exposed fossil bearing rock. As pot traps tend to get set in the same area of seabed then the chances of a rigging on a pot bringing up a fossil increase, although the chances of finding a fossil using this method, no matter how fossiliferous the strata, are still remote.

Dandy’s recent find has been donated to the Cape Breton Fossil Centre, he said, so local children will be able to view it.

For models of ancient Palaeozoic creatures: Prehistoric Animal Models and Figures.