Auspex Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 It's pretty sad what some folks will do. LINK "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! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullsnake Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 (edited) Who are they going to show it off to now that it is news? Anyone who may be interested in seeing it, or even potentially buy it, is going to want to know the provenance. EDIT: It would be helpful to know what the piece looks like to watch ebay, perhaps. Edited September 7, 2014 by Bullsnake Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmaier Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 Here's a link that shows the damage... http://www.inquisitr.com/1458325/dinosaur-national-monument-vandalized-reward-for-information/ No dimensions are given, but the chunk missing looks like about 10 inches long. The whole display is so massive that this will not be very diminish the breath-taking overall display. It's a fantastic park and display for people who are dino fanatics. The deposit on display is a bone jumble of large sauropods and other dinos. Quite the sight. I've spent a lot of time at parks and seen some amazingly bad things happen. It's a battle to keep things together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troodon Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 Very sad and sick but the chunk removed unlikely came out in one piece and will have little value on the commercial market. Hopefully the individual will boast about it and get caught. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamalama Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 Why would you take just a chunk out of a full bone? just to say you have a piece of dino bone? Stupid. -Dave __________________________________________________ Geologists on the whole are inconsistent drivers. When a roadcut presents itself, they tend to lurch and weave. To them, the roadcut is a portal, a fragment of a regional story, a proscenium arch that leads their imaginations into the earth and through the surrounding terrain. - John McPheeIf I'm going to drive safely, I can't do geology. - John McPheeCheck out my Blog for more fossils I've found: http://viewsofthemahantango.blogspot.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted September 7, 2014 Author Share Posted September 7, 2014 Trophy/souvenir, taken at the expense of all who view the site from now on. This is a really senseless act of selfishness and disrespect. This sort of thing happens all happens all too frequently. "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! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxytropidoceras Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 Below are some articles with pictures: Rangers Discover Damage and Theft of Fossil Fragments along Fossil Discovery Trail, National Park Service http://www.nps.gov/dino/parknews/fossiltraildamage.htm Reward Offered To Find Vandals Who Damaged Dinosaur Fossil, CBS Denver, September 7, 2014 http://denver.cbslocal.com/2014/09/07/reward-offered-to-find-vandals-who-damaged-dinosaur-fossil/ Park Service trying to track fossil vandals at Dinosaur National Monument, Colorado News, September 7, 2014 http://colorado.icito.com/park-service-trying-to-track-fossil-vandals-at-dinosaur-national-monument/ http://summitcountyvoice.com/2014/09/07/park-service-trying-to-track-fossil-vandals-at-dinosaur-national-monument/ Dinosura National Monument http://www.nps.gov/dino/index.htm Yours, Paul H. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmaier Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 The going rate for dinosaur bone is about $20 to $30 bucks per pound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossilized6s Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 Another problem that i see coming because of this idiot is a complete shutting down of the park or removal of the said bones and replaced with fakes like in the Badlands. It's cheaper just to shut it down though.... ~Charlie~ "There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why.....i dream of things that never were, and ask why not?" ~RFK ->Get your Mosasaur print ->How to spot a fake Trilobite ->How to identify a CONCRETION from a DINOSAUR EGG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmaier Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 This kind of thing happens commonly at the parks. What is uncommon is that it actually got printed. That chunk is so small relative to the whole jumble display at this center, if you took a high density photo of the jumble then that chunk ould only be a couple pixels. It's a massive pile of massive bones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramo Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 That link from the National Park Service that Oxy posted shows a "before and after" from "slightly different angles". I looked it over and I would be willing to bet those are different bones. Look it over and let me know what you think. Ramo For one species to mourn the death of another is a new thing under the sun. -Aldo Leopold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missourian Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 That link from the National Park Service that Oxy posted shows a "before and after" from "slightly different angles". I looked it over and I would be willing to bet those are different bones. Look it over and let me know what you think. Ramo I figured some matrix had been cleared off before the chunk was removed, but looking at it again, the end looks different in the two photos. Context is critical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamalama Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 I think the angles and lenses used are somewhat different. Here is my attempt to annotate the photo to show that it is the same bone. Original My interpretation Not to defend whomever took the bone chunk, but possibly it was loose and "broke" when they touched it. I don't see any obvious tool marks indicating they worked hard to get it out. Probably some idiot who said, "I wonder if I could pull a piece off", kind of like that jerk who videotaped himself tipping over a pedestal rock in Goblin Valley state Park, Utah last year. -Dave __________________________________________________ Geologists on the whole are inconsistent drivers. When a roadcut presents itself, they tend to lurch and weave. To them, the roadcut is a portal, a fragment of a regional story, a proscenium arch that leads their imaginations into the earth and through the surrounding terrain. - John McPheeIf I'm going to drive safely, I can't do geology. - John McPheeCheck out my Blog for more fossils I've found: http://viewsofthemahantango.blogspot.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramo Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 Shamalama I believe you are correct, that is the same bone. The difference in angles really changes the appearance. You can even see a crack in the original part where the pieces were taken. Ramo For one species to mourn the death of another is a new thing under the sun. -Aldo Leopold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nandomas Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 (edited) From your man in Vernal, UT: Yesterday I was in mission for TFF, here the preliminary report: NO SIGN OF VANDALISM on the dino bone. I toke the first photo in 2007. You may clearly see the fractures on the bone. Edited September 18, 2014 by Nandomas Erosion... will be my epitaph! http://www.paleonature.org/ https://fossilnews.org/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nandomas Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 given that the place is at more than 5.000 feet in elevation, in the desert near the Uinta mountains, hence prone to be below zero in winter and to the high temperatures in summer, and there were is no sign of any tool, I support the thesis that the infamous erosion is culpable of the breakage Erosion... will be my epitaph! http://www.paleonature.org/ https://fossilnews.org/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamalama Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 I would hope that Erosion is the true culprit but then shouldn't they have found the broken piece lying nearby? Or did someone walk off with that? -Dave __________________________________________________ Geologists on the whole are inconsistent drivers. When a roadcut presents itself, they tend to lurch and weave. To them, the roadcut is a portal, a fragment of a regional story, a proscenium arch that leads their imaginations into the earth and through the surrounding terrain. - John McPheeIf I'm going to drive safely, I can't do geology. - John McPheeCheck out my Blog for more fossils I've found: http://viewsofthemahantango.blogspot.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arion Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 IMO, looks like a fair assessment, Nandomas. I've seen several bones with similarly missing chunks (all appendicular elements from latitudes with significant summer-winter temperature fluctuations), and I would think that to reproduce this manually would require tools. I would doubt that sampling like this would be for commercial purposes if only because I don't know that anyone would pay all that much for a chunk of bone that's difficult to identify out of context for most people. From some of these pictures it looks like the bone has been subject to other weathering as well (i.e. on the epiphysis). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmaier Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 You have to remember that the chunks that went missing happened all on the same day, and were reported by a tour guide who is accustom to discussing it as part of his tour. The guides are pretty used to seeing certain things after 100's of times through, and they notice when things disappear. As I mentioned, this isn't uncommon, it is only uncommon for it to get this much notice in the press. If the water cooler where you worked suddenly disappeared, would you mark it down as evaporation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arion Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 You have to remember that the chunks that went missing happened all on the same day, and were reported by a tour guide who is accustom to discussing it as part of his tour. The guides are pretty used to seeing certain things after 100's of times through, and they notice when things disappear. As I mentioned, this isn't uncommon, it is only uncommon for it to get this much notice in the press. If the water cooler where you worked suddenly disappeared, would you mark it down as evaporation? Hm, indeed...pays to read the full story sometimes lol With that information that rules out erosion, but still doesn't answer the question of why would someone do that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted September 19, 2014 Author Share Posted September 19, 2014 ...why would someone do that... They wanted a piece of a dinosaur, and that one was loose, and no one was looking... "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! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arion Posted September 20, 2014 Share Posted September 20, 2014 They wanted a piece of a dinosaur, and that one was loose, and no one was looking... I can understand, but still, there are MANY much better ways to get some dinosaur than illegal appropriation...heck it's not that expensive to pick up a similar-quality scrap of bone, and if you have a slightly healthier money tree you can pick up some decent stuff. Personally I think part of the enjoyment of fossils is the story behind them (and hence I feel a greater attachment to specimens I've found and prepared than ones I've purchased), where you can say "This is a specimen of Genus species from the Jurassic Upper Rock Formation; I found this in 1998..." or "This is what I've learned about Genus species from studying this specimen...". What story do you have here? "Yeah this is a fragment of a sauropod humerus I took from Dinosaur National Monument in 2014; it made internet headlines and there's a reward for its return...so now I'll have to kill you..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted September 20, 2014 Author Share Posted September 20, 2014 I suspect that the person who took it might never have thought about having a chunk of dinosaur before, but in the moment, saw it as a souvenir. "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! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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