Canada's biggest ammonite fossil

[Creek - Don]

 

[jpc]

Did he say.. "It's a big snail" ?

 

[IsaacTheFossilMan]

32 minutes ago, jpc said:

Did he say.. "It's a big snail" ?

 

"This right here - is a big snail!"

 

Well, you heard it here first, folks - cephalopods like squids are now in fact gastropods. This'll ruffle up invertebrate palaeontologist's feathers...

 

Jokes aside, that's an insane find! Hopefully he called some museum on that?

[Top Trilo]

5 minutes ago, IsaacTheFossilMan said:

Jokes aside, that's an insane find! Hopefully he called some museum on that?

It was found in 1947 and is called the "Fernie Ammonite"

[IsaacTheFossilMan]

1 minute ago, Top Trilo said:

It was found in 1947 and is called the "Fernie Ammonite"

Awww, darn clickbait titles!

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

57 minutes ago, jpc said:

Did he say.. "It's a big snail" ?

 

 

Actually, he later corrects himself. But it's not uncommon for ammonites to be referred to as snails. I've got a German book on fossil preparations here that also refers to Holzmaden's pyritized ammonites as "Goldschnecken", golden snails, in a playful way (it's clear the author does know they are cephalopods, though - don't worry!)

[piranha]

Frebold, H. 1957. The Jurassic Fernie Group in the Canadian Rocky Mountains and Foothills. Geological Survey of Canada, Memoir, 287:1-197  PDF LINK

 

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

2 minutes ago, piranha said:

Frebold, H. 1957. The Jurassic Fernie Group in the Canadian Rocky Mountains and Foothills. Geological Survey of Canada, Memoir, 287:1-197  PDF LINK

 

 

The place looks quite different now, looking at the video. I'm actually quite surprised that they didn't think it worth protecting. Or, in fact, that it still seems to pretty much be in the same state now as it was 60 years back...! With it being exposed like this, you might think it would've fallen prey to souvenir-seekers by now... But may be it's indeed hard enough to reach and hidden well enough for not many people to find and reach it. Still, it's going to eventually weather away, of course...

[Wrangellian]

I was in Fernie 2 years ago - in fact that road looks familiar - we stopped on Coal Creek Rd to look at coal mine tailings. Not sure why we didn't go to see the ammonite, but the hike might have been too difficult for some of the people we were with.  And time was an issue, as always. Oh well!

[FossilDAWG]

Perhaps this one is a bit smaller, but a few years ago a very large ammonite (or at least the impression of an ammonite) was found on Vancouver Island.  Here 's a link to a news story about it.  A fiberglass cast was made and it might be on display at the museum in Qualicum Beach.

 

Don

 

[Wrangellian]

On 8/12/2021 at 8:42 AM, FossilDAWG said:

Perhaps this one is a bit smaller, but a few years ago a very large ammonite (or at least the impression of an ammonite) was found on Vancouver Island.  Here 's a link to a news story about it.  A fiberglass cast was made and it might be on display at the museum in Qualicum Beach.

 

Don

 

I know about that fossil and recall the pic, but I don't recall seeing the cast in the QB museum when we visited 1.5 years ago, nor in the Courtenay museum for that matter.

But the Courtenay museum does have a cast of the Fernie ammonite, 'the Western Giant'. I had forgotten about this until I went back to look at my photos.

 

[Creek - Don]

Update to famous Jurassic giant ammonite I posted while back.   Plan to preserve ammonite called " Titanites accidentalis". 

 

https://www.nelsonstar.com/news/project-to-preserve-elk-valleys-famous-ammonite-fossil-falls-over/