Sara: The World Traveling Ceratopsian

[jpc]

Today Sara joined a Tate Geological Museum Members Only outing.  The group went to a private ranch north of Casper and searched in the Jurassic Sundance Formation.  

Sara found a lot of belemnites.  matter of fact, everyone did.  They are abundant here.   It was a cloudy and sometimes rainy day, but nothing that told us to leave before the roads got muddy. Here is Sara with a few belemnite pieces.  She was tickled pink.  Look at the expression on her face.  I mean... does it get any cuter than that?  

 

 

Sara even found a really big one while others on the next hill looked for its colleagues. 

I showed Sara (and the humans) the layer slightly below the belemnite beds where they could find star shaped crinoid pieces.  In the Sundance Fm, bits and pieces are par for the course.  Complete crinoids or even strings of columnals are rare.  No one found any today.  This is a quantity over quality site.

As trip leader it was my duty to tell people they could also find ichthyosaur bones, but they are rare.  I found a few scraps.  Nothing worth writing home about, or even sharing with Sara.  I did not tell them there are also plesiosaur bones to be found, because they are exceedingly rare.  At the end of the day, a very sharp young 6 year old had a question for me.  It was the 30th time today he said "Um, I have a question".  He said "I found a bone shaped like this [he drew an in-the-air finger drawing of a stereotypical leg bone, a Milk Bone dog treat, if you will] ...can you tell me what it is" . I told him I would need to see it.  A few minutes later he came back with this:

Since the youngster was indeed a youngster, I exclaimed "Holy Guacamole!  That is wicked cool."  Great sez he, but what is it?  "That is a finger bone of a plesiosaur".  As soon as he heard that he jumped for joy and danced about exclaiming "I found a plesiosaur bine they are my favorites."  After the initial thrill wore off, he followed with: " Plesiosaurs are the best cuz they are like a brachiosaurus but live in the ocean and are [imagine carnivore face and clawing fingers]  carnivores!"  Back at the museum I was able to show him a model of a plesiosaur named after our museum, Tatenectes (the primary plesiosaur known form the Sundance) and show him where his finger bone would have come from.   

 

Best find of the day, made by the most excited and curious young fellow.  

 

Sara's adventures were also punctuated by some birdwatching.  Here she found a lark sparrow:

 

and a Brewer's sparrow

 

In future editions, Sara will visit the prep lab and the display cabinets.  Yay, more fossils.  

 

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

1 hour ago, jpc said:

As trip leader it was my duty to tell people they could also find ichthyosaur bones, but they are rare.  I found a few scraps.  Nothing worth writing home about, or even sharing with Sara.  I did not tell them there are also plesiosaur bones to be found, because they are exceedingly rare.  At the end of the day, a very sharp young 6 year old had a question for me.  It was the 30th time today he said "Um, I have a question".  He said "I found a bone shaped like this [he drew an in-the-air finger drawing of a stereotypical leg bone, a Milk Bone dog treat, if you will] ...can you tell me what it is" . I told him I would need to see it.  A few minutes later he came back with this:

Since the youngster was indeed a youngster, I exclaimed "Holy Guacamole!  That is wicked cool."  Great sez he, but what is it?  "That is a finger bone of a plesiosaur".  As soon as he heard that he jumped for joy and danced about exclaiming "I found a plesiosaur bine they are my favorites."  After the initial thrill wore off, he followed with: " Plesiosaurs are the best cuz they are like a brachiosaurus but live in the ocean and are [imagine carnivore face and clawing fingers]  carnivores!"  Back at the museum I was able to show him a model of a plesiosaur named after our museum, Tatenectes (the primary plesiosaur known form the Sundance) and show him where his finger bone would have come from.   

 

Best find of the day, made by the most excited and curious young fellow.  

 

That's a crazy find indeed! Beautifully preserved too! Wow!

[IsaacTheFossilMan]

6 hours ago, jpc said:

"Plesiosaurs are the best cuz they are like a brachiosaurus but live in the ocean and are [imagine carnivore face and clawing fingers]  carnivores!"

 

That... might be the best description of a plesiosaur I have ever heard of - they literally are water brachios! 

 

"Holy Guacamole" indeed, that is a stunning, stunning find - it's lovely being able to see the awe and wonder on a youngster's face - it makes our job that much better when you get a younger one interested in it!

 

Thank you for the thoroughly entertaining post, make sure to pass my wishes to Sara, too! 

 

P.s. I really liked the crinoids... 

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Some lovely photos there. 

Landscape, nature, fossils and Sara! 

Good to see her journey continues 

[jpc]

This is Sara writing now... jpc has been a bit of a slacker here.  I got covid so he left me in the garage lab for a while and pretended to live his life.  I think he forgot about me.  I got over the covid months ago. 

 

I did take a few selfies in his lab while he wasn't looking.  I used his microcsope to look at itty bitty fossils. 

He says he finds them by screen washing certain rocks.  He says these rocks dissolve in water.  That doesn't sound like much of a rock to me.  He calls this his screen-washing corner. 

  

 

I sneaked a peek at a few things he prepped this summer like these Eocene things... a lizard jaw, a crocodile leg bone and a little rodent jawbone.  He gets a kick out of these things... I don't get it.  Even though he had me locked up in the garage, I tried to keep my covid mask on.  

 

 

 

But he also has some cooler stuff in the lab... look at this crocodile jaw (Eocene as well) he has been pretending to work on this summer.  I looked through his books and he did most of the work last winter.  I haven't seen him here in the lab very much this summer.  I guess he might be busy doing other things. 

 

I don't understand this thing... jpc says it is a Cretaceous ammonite from Wyoming.  I don't get it.  

 

One day he came by to show off his collection.  Did I really want to see his dumb fossils after he locked me up in the garage for most of the summer?  Not gonna answer that, but he says "it'll be fun"... that's what he said.  Fun.  I am not so sure.

 

I took notes as to what he said these things are:

A Nebraska oreodont skull.

 

A pile of mammal fossils, he said White River Formation.  I don't see a river.  Do you?  

 

Now these are cool.  I liked seeing them... some crocodile scutes.  He said there is a better word for them... let me look in my notes... osteoderm... skin bones.  Not sure how that works, but what a concept.  Bones in the skin.  

  

 

These were my favorites.  He said these are remains of my bretheren.... dinosaur teeth and such.

 

I was told these are all little teeth of Eocene mammals that he found using both the screen washing corner and the microscope.  He likes them.  But also keeps them locked up in little plastic boxes.  I tried to release them but found my lack of opposable thumbs to be a hinderance.  

 

 

And then he said something about more ammonites from Wyoming and a Sharan desert rose he found in Algeria.  "You found that?" I said, then he fessed up that he traded a Bic pen for it with an Algerian kid.    

 

The next day he took me to work.  I will try to tell you about some things I saw there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jpc]

Hi ... jpc is writing again.  Sara was a bit upset when she wrote that last page.  Can't blame her.  She did spend much of the summer in the lab all by herself.  

 

Here are a few of the things she saw at work... the Tate Geological Museum in Casper, Wyoming. 

 

A couple of Wyoming ichthyosaur specimens (Jurassic).

 

 

A mammoth... biggest mounted Columbian mammoth in the world.  Sara is saying hi to Dee the Mammoth.

 

A Cretaceous croc skull and baby hadrosaur jaw in the background.

 

One of many pterosaur footprints at the Tate.  A local specialty.

 

a whole display of minerals from around the world.

 

Sara even got to play one of the games we have set up.  She was a little out of place as this one is all about Pleistocene extinctions, but she enjoyed meeting some friends of the same size.  (Yes, she is in there somewhere).

 

and lastly, she thought this was really cool... a genuine ceratopsian skull.  This is the Torosaurus known as Nicole.  Mostly complete.

 

 

And now, Sara is ready for her next adventure.  I apologize for taking so long to get this out here.  Been a busy summer pretending to live my life.  

 

Edited September 19, 2022 by jpc

[fifbrindacier]

That's so great, i can't imagine how much happy Sara must be !

[Darktooth]

@jpc You have had Sara about 4 months now. Do you ever plan on sending her to the next recipient? 

[Tidgy's Dad]

I agree.

This is ridiculous.

Please don't spoil it all now.

[Darktooth]

7 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

I agree.

This is ridiculous.

Please don't spoil it all now.

It is not fair to those who are waiting to host Sara. Also not fair to those following this thread.

[Tidgy's Dad]

Yeah, and not even bothering to post progress. 

[Bobby Rico]

@jpc Hi can you please update us to Sara whereabouts. A lot of members have a sentimental attachment to her, so it is only fair we know what is happening. Cheers Bobby 

Edited November 18, 2022 by Bobby Rico

[jpc]

Yes, I am guilty, and I apologize profusely.  I could make up excuses but I shant bore you (with a busier summer than planned, a death in the family, and a war in Ukraine).

 

I just PMed the next recipient @Hokietech96 for an address. 

 

Sara is packed and will be on the road soon....

 

 

 

 

[Bobby Rico]

1 minute ago, jpc said:

apologize profusel

Apology excepted   and my deepest condolences on your loss .
The war in Ukraine is heartbreaking . MrsR and I have raised money and also purchased quite a few pairs of modern army boots , jumps and socks , to do our little  bit.

 

Thanks for Sara’s update and please let us know when she traveling again.  Bobby  

[Tidgy's Dad]

@jpc @hokietech96

Any updates, please? 

[jpc]

none.  This week is Thanksgiving here in the states.  Next week I would like to contact the next person on the list if hokietech96 doesn't get back to me....if that is allowed?  

[Darktooth]

34 minutes ago, jpc said:

none.  This week is Thanksgiving here in the states.  Next week I would like to contact the next person on the list if hokietech96 doesn't get back to me....if that is allowed?  

It is ok to skip the next person on the list if they don't respond in a reasonable amount of time. This has already been done. And if I remember correctly hokietech was supposed to receive Sara before me, but at the time declined, for some reason. 

[Tidgy's Dad]

14 hours ago, jpc said:

none.  This week is Thanksgiving here in the states.  Next week I would like to contact the next person on the list if hokietech96 doesn't get back to me....if that is allowed?  

Yes, move onto the next person on the list, please. 

[jpc]

Next person in line has been contacted. Thanks for nagging me, T's D. 

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

On 11/26/2022 at 9:15 PM, jpc said:

Next person in line has been contacted. Thanks for nagging me, T's D. 

 

Any updates, please? 

[jpc]

3 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Any updates, please? 

I have contacted three people on the list... no replies.  I know the fourth person will reply, and I checked in today to PM her.  

[Caverat]

4 hours ago, jpc said:

I have contacted three people on the list... no replies.  I know the fourth person will reply, and I checked in today to PM her.  

I presume you are up to Coco then?

[jpc]

5 hours ago, Caverat said:

I presume you are up to Coco then?

good detective work.  Yes, I will be sending Sara to coco in France this week.  

Prepare toi, mon amie. 

[Coco]

Hi,

 

I’m ready JP Here it’s cold, it’s freezing, this morning it’s all white. We’re not going on a field trip, but I have a lot of things to show Sara

 

Coco

[Ludwigia]