A fun timelapse video of the preparation of a massive 4” wide lower molar of an adult Titanothere from the Chadron Formation of South Dakota. I found this on a trip this summer with
and
. The molar is a little weathered as it was exposed and sticking out of a cliff face when we found it. It’s actually prepped out really well though and has all its complete root system. Titanotheres or Brontotheriidae (also known as “Thunder Beasts”) were the massive horned herbivorous giants of North America during the Oligocene.
Tag: fossil
Baby bird found in 99-million-year-old amber
A nugget of amber from Myanmar has been found with a nearly complete baby bird inside. The specimen is one of the several recently discovered amber nuggets with entombed body parts of feathered dinosaurs.
Paleontologists Lida Xing and colleagues announced the discovery of one of the most amazing fossil specimens yet known: a baby bird preserved in a nugget of amber. The amber specimen, about the size of half of an avocado, allows details of the bird’s anatomy to be seen in extraordinary detail and in three dimensions, something no other fossil specimen have shown.
Rocks deposited in the middle portion of the Cretaceous Period from Myanmar (formerly called Burma) are famous for their numerous large amber specimens. This amber is important for the gem and jewelry industry, and many scientifically important amber specimens have been discovered in amber markets. Amber is formed when tree sap is buried in sediment. Over millions of years, the sap hardens and can frequently contain parts of plants and insects. On rare occasions, amber can preserve portions of larger animals, as in this case.
Read the original research in Gondwana Research.
Fossil Stingray (Cyclobatis oligodactylus, Cretaceous) – Haqil, Byblos, Lebanon
An incredibly Boedaspis trilobite fossil. This rare species is arguably one of the most impressive trilobites in the world. Over a month of preparation work went into extracting it from the surrounding limestone by a master fossil preparitor. It’s done using low pressure air abrasives and airscribes under microscope.
Details at: https://www.fossilera.com/fossils/insane-boedaspis-trilobite-incredible-preperation
HEAVY BEATHING
palaeoartTime for another time lapse video of the preparation of a Phacops species of Trilobite from Ofaten, Morocco. This trilobite is from the Middle Devonian – 365 million years ago! The matrix was incredibly tough so took a while to work out. Sorry for twisting and turning the rock so many times. Hope you don’t get motion-sickness watching it!!!palaeoartTime for another time lapse video of the preparation of a Phacops species of Trilobite from Ofaten, Morocco. This trilobite is from the Middle Devonian – 365 million years ago! The matrix was incredibly tough so took a while to work out. Sorry for twisting and turning the rock so many times. Hope you don’t get motion-sickness watching it!!!
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