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Critters Encountered While Fossil Hunting


Xiphactinus

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Nice Agkistrodon there. I need to collect a couple of Agkistrodons for the Plano Living Materials Center in Plano Tx. Did you see more than one? And could you post the locality where seen. I completely understand if you do not wan't to disclose locality info.

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B

Woah... nice largemouth. :o (That's what it is, right? I'm not so good on fish identification, lol). I love fishing too, but I never get to go, thanks to a lack of friends that like going. :(

It's really hard being a stick in the mud like me. :P I like getting out and doing stuff like this, but unless someone goes with me, I won't go. I don't want to run the risk of getting hurt without a way to get help... or run the risk of running afoul of some kind of killer or rapist, lol.

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Woah... nice largemouth. :o (That's what it is, right? I'm not so good on fish identification, lol). I love fishing too, but I never get to go, thanks to a lack of friends that like going. :(

It's really hard being a stick in the mud like me. :P I like getting out and doing stuff like this, but unless someone goes with me, I won't go. I don't want to run the risk of getting hurt without a way to get help... or run the risk of running afoul of some kind of killer or rapist, lol.

Yes it's a Black bass or largemouth. Get out go fishing! Dont Worry Be Happy! Or carry a little friend with you! :)
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Agkistrodon! It just sounds ancient and imposing. Snakekeeper this snake was solo...and we'll leave the location as east of the Balcones Escarpment. ;) My experience with them has been similar to yours. Adults seem to be very reluctant to give up any ground, and like Auspex said, they are generally very aware of their surroundings. Probably just part of being a pit viper.

I must confess that I gently touched her tail...with my canoe paddle handle to get her to display. Then, I just took the photo before she could get a heat track on my camera hand. Some may be smiling now because you've been there, but those cringing don't worry...I wasn't going to risk not getting the fossils home!

However, my favorite fossil encounters are with the American Cobra...OK, not really. It's an Eastern Hognose. I found this one on the same gravel bar as the mosasaur vertebra.

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The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true.  -  JJ

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This is Centruroides vittatus - the common striped scorpion. It was clinging to a piece of sandstone that I flipped over on a recent trip to Jack Co., Texas. I've been stung by these in the past (though not while fossil collecting) and, while not fatal, the sting is definitely enough to make you stand up and take notice!

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-Joe

Illigitimati non carborundum

Fruitbat's PDF Library

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This is Centruroides vittatus - the common striped scorpion. It was clinging to a piece of sandstone that I flipped over on a recent trip to Jack Co., Texas. I've been stung by these in the past (though not while fossil collecting) and, while not fatal, the sting is definitely enough to make you stand up and take notice!

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-Joe

Nice ,scorpions are great! We called em bark scorpions around Dallas where I grew up.

Looks like the same ones we used to catch. We would pick them up from behind the tail between the stinger segment and the next segment down. If you hold them that way between your index and thumb fingers you can observe them much closer ;)

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Agkistrodon! It just sounds ancient and imposing. Snakekeeper this snake was solo...and we'll leave the location as east of the Balcones Escarpment. ;) My experience with them has been similar to yours. Adults seem to be very reluctant to give up any ground, and like Auspex said, they are generally very aware of their surroundings. Probably just part of being a pit viper.

I must confess that I gently touched her tail...with my canoe paddle handle to get her to display. Then, I just took the photo before she could get a heat track on my camera hand. Some may be smiling now because you've been there, but those cringing don't worry...I wasn't going to risk not getting the fossils home!

However, my favorite fossil encounters are with the American Cobra...OK, not really. It's an Eastern Hognose. I found this one on the same gravel bar as the mosasaur vertebra.

Great photo, did you know that Heterodon actuall have small teeth in the rear of their mouths that are thought to be used for puncturing the skin of frogs to inject a venom{that is harmless to us}!

They eat lots of frogs!

B

nice vert

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How about this critter? Not dangerous, but this battle fascinated my kids for quite a while. The toad did eventually escape...snake just couldn't get him down. Never know what you will see out on the trail!

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-Mary Ann

*********

"There is nothing like geology; the pleasure of the first day's partridge shooting or first day's hunting cannot be compared to finding a fine group of fossil bones, which tell their story of former times with almost a living tongue." Charles Darwin, letter to his sister Catherine, 1834

*********

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Guest solius symbiosus
This is Centruroides vittatus - the common striped scorpion. It was clinging to a piece of sandstone that I flipped over on a recent trip to Jack Co., Texas. I've been stung by these in the past (though not while fossil collecting) and, while not fatal, the sting is definitely enough to make you stand up and take notice!

gallery_330_106_63182.jpg

-Joe

That thing looks kind of tasty. How big do they get, and do people eat them?

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snakekeeper64....

Centruroides vittatus IS the common 'bark scorpion' in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. I've lived in this vicinity for most of the past 38 years and, before things got quite as urbanized in the outlying areas I used to collect these little critters almost everywhere. I haven't seen a whole lot of them lately though, at least not in the Dallas area.

By the way...I notice you mentioned the Plano Living Materials Center. Did you happen to know Jim Dunlap, by any chance? He and I went WAY back to the days of the Dallas Herpetological Society when going out to the Trans-Pecos to pick up all of the Texas 'specialties' was still legal.

solius.....C. vittatus is generally too small to make even a decent tidbit....though I suppose if you collected 20 or 30 of them you might have a nice mid-day snack. To get REALLY tasty scorpions in Texas you'd have to go out to the Big Bend area and nab a few of the 4-inch long Diplocentrus species.

-Joe

Illigitimati non carborundum

Fruitbat's PDF Library

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How about this critter? Not dangerous, but this battle fascinated my kids for quite a while. The toad did eventually escape...snake just couldn't get him down. Never know what you will see out on the trail!

A couple years ago, I watched a Leopard Frog with a N. Watersnake on each hind leg, each proceding to (try to) swallow the frog. Unfortunately, they thrashed out of sight; I've always wondered whether either snake got the frog, or maybe even swallowed (or was swallowed by) the other snake. (Pretty Zen-like, huh)?

"There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant

“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley

>Paleontology is an evolving science.

>May your wonders never cease!

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Guest solius symbiosus
solius.....C. vittatus is generally too small to make even a decent tidbit....though I suppose if you collected 20 or 30 of them you might have a nice mid-day snack. To get REALLY tasty scorpions in Texas you'd have to go out to the Big Bend area and nab a few of the 4-inch long Diplocentrus species.

-Joe

I've eaten many a arthropod, but I don't think I have ever devoured a cheliceratid.

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Not exactly while fossil hunting but when I was looking for this echinoid, it seems that my little son hid it in this box plenty of nasty worms, it seems silkworms and now I can't touch it... beeing I as I'm a little bit squeamish, I'm afraid with those monsters.

Now I must wait until that they make their cocoon :(

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Lost My Keys.haha

You drive a Dodge Viper? Cool!

"There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant

“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley

>Paleontology is an evolving science.

>May your wonders never cease!

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You drive a Dodge Viper? Cool!

Ba-dum Ching! "I'm here all week. Don't forget to tip your waitress." :rolleyes:

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snakekeeper64....

Centruroides vittatus IS the common 'bark scorpion' in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. I've lived in this vicinity for most of the past 38 years and, before things got quite as urbanized in the outlying areas I used to collect these little critters almost everywhere. I haven't seen a whole lot of them lately though, at least not in the Dallas area.

By the way...I notice you mentioned the Plano Living Materials Center. Did you happen to know Jim Dunlap, by any chance? He and I went WAY back to the days of the Dallas Herpetological Society when going out to the Trans-Pecos to pick up all of the Texas 'specialties' was still legal.Actually the cottonmouths are for Jim. A good friend of mine Max Peterson asked me to collect the cottonmouths for him. You might know Max as he was very active in the DHS some time back. take care B

solius.....C. vittatus is generally too small to make even a decent tidbit....though I suppose if you collected 20 or 30 of them you might have a nice mid-day snack. To get REALLY tasty scorpions in Texas you'd have to go out to the Big Bend area and nab a few of the 4-inch long Diplocentrus species.

-Joe

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While working the other day in SW Kansas I stopped to look for fossils, and found this bird nest in the grass. Later that day, I found these little guys crossing the road with thier Mama and just had to stop and check them out. Mama ran over to the denand just watched while these two acted just like little puppies. I was surprised how friendly they were. They followed me around, and never tried to bite. I had to take them over to their den, because they kept trying to follow me back to my truck.

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For one species to mourn the death of another is a new thing under the sun.
-Aldo Leopold
 

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Gotta LOVE friendly badgers!! Every one of those I've ever encountered was downright foul-tempered!

Here's a beastie that I came across on a trip to Dinosaur Valley State Park near Glen Rose, Texas on Saturday.

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It is a Six-Lined Racerunner (Cnemidophorus sexlineatus)...nothing hazardous, obviously, but still a pretty lizard.

-Joe

Illigitimati non carborundum

Fruitbat's PDF Library

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Badgers are sure cute lil guys..

Joe,

What did you think of the park? I have never been.

Welcome to the forum!

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Roz...

I've been to Dinosaur Valley State Park MANY times over the years. It is a small park but does have a nice picnic area for day use and a decent camping area for overnight use. I took my daughter on her first camping trip there a number of years ago and she still likes going there with me. The Paluxy River is nice too and there are some good 'swimming holes' available....very welcome on a hot summer day!! There's plenty of wildlife (deer, raccoons, etc., etc.) and lots of wildflowers at various times of the year. The dinosaur tracks are, of course, the main attraction and they are fairly abundant in the riverbed. They're mostly of Pleurocoelus (a 'brontosaur') and Acrocanthosaurus (a bipedal carnivore). There's a new commercial 'dinosaur exhibit' right outside the park where they claim to have over 100 life-sized dinosaur models but places like that have never appealed to me much so I haven't visited it. There's also the infamous 'Creation Museum' within a couple of miles of the park as well...I've never visited it either.

Of course, there's no fossil collecting allowed in the park but there are abundant road cuts along Hwy.67 between Cleburne and Glen Rose that contain abundant echinoids, ammonites, clams, etc. that are free for the taking as long as you don't cross over any fences onto private land. Considering how close the park is to the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex, it is certainly worth the gasoline and the price of admission (day use is $5.00 per adult, children under 12 are free).

Here are a few random pictures I took last Saturday. We took a small group of students from a local Dallas high school out to let them get a taste of the 'wilderness'.

-Joe

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Opuntia (Prickly Pear Cactus) flower

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One of the better 'swimming holes' in the park

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Wildflowers are in abundance this time of year

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One of the smaller dinosaur footprints - possibly Acrocanthosaurus

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Another very small dinosaur footprint with a student for scale

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A view down the Paluxy River

Illigitimati non carborundum

Fruitbat's PDF Library

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I had to share a pic from some video I shot on a creek bank yesterday. They were about two handfuls big, and they reminded me of some I've raised thru the years. Shortly afterward, I picked up this small jaw fragment.

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The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true.  -  JJ

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Saw this guy enjoying the sun this Saturday over Post Oak Creek! Just an cautionary advisor as to what to watch out for while colleting that area! :opost-417-1211948836_thumb.jpg

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Guest N.AL.hunter

Please to all fossil collectors out there.. don't kill anything unless it is absolutely necessary for your safety or the safety of others. And I can hardly find a time when that would be necessary (However, a poisonous snake at a favorite swimming hole for the local children would be necessary, if you could not catch and release the critter somewhere else). All snakes, even the poisonous ones do a lot of good for the environment my helping to keep rodent populations down.

I really envy Bowkill for the badger encounter!!

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