Museum Volunteers.

[Ptychodus04]

I spent the morning prepping in the lab at the Perot today. It was a lot of fun. I was working on a block with a Pachyrhinosaurus neural process and some random bones from a quarry in northern Alaska.

[DE&i]

I spent the morning prepping in the lab at the Perot today. It was a lot of fun. I was working on a block with a Pachyrhinosaurus neural process and some random bones from a quarry in northern Alaska.

Sounds exciting Kris....you've certainly hit the ground running.

[Ptychodus04]

I got to spend some time working on an unknown ornithischian dentary fragment from Alaska at the Perot today. It doesn't look like any of the species known from the site to date.

[ElToro]

Love reading about the behind-the-scenes volunteer work at museums! I love our local Western Australian Museum, its a world class joint, and go there about once a week. I like it there. Except that I have too many complaints. Too dark. Displays not properly lit. Cool stuff like giant Meg tooth too high for kids to see. Awesome Giant Deer skull in the total darkness ABOVE THE EXIT SIGN like an old pub. Whenever I bring this up they shrug it off because the Museum will be demolished in June for a 2020 rebuild. To me this is the wrong attitude. I always offer my services and even said I'll buy new lights and displays myself but they just vaguely directed me to the website.

Very sad to see the Museum in such a bad state. Also the current front-of-house volunteers must be ninjas because I can never see them. They are supposed to be available for help but arnt so I always spend a few hours wandering around and telling folk about the fossils, especially kids. Last time I attached myself to a mother and two kids (the mother really had no clue) and took them on a tour. I'm not the most knowledgeable dude, but I have unbridled enthusiasm!!!! And I'm big and loud so am great at getting kids excited. You should see me Anomalocaris impression! I put my arms out the front like the graspers and wiggle my body in a swimming motion.

Anyway, sorry for the rant. I just get a bit excited sometimes... Love your volunteer work! We need more folk like y'all.

[Ptychodus04]

Love reading about the behind-the-scenes volunteer work at museums! I love our local Western Australian Museum, its a world class joint, and go there about once a week. I like it there. Except that I have too many complaints. Too dark. Displays not properly lit. Cool stuff like giant Meg tooth too high for kids to see. Awesome Giant Deer skull in the total darkness ABOVE THE EXIT SIGN like an old pub. Whenever I bring this up they shrug it off because the Museum will be demolished in June for a 2020 rebuild. To me this is the wrong attitude. I always offer my services and even said I'll buy new lights and displays myself but they just vaguely directed me to the website.

Very sad to see the Museum in such a bad state. Also the current front-of-house volunteers must be ninjas because I can never see them. They are supposed to be available for help but arnt so I always spend a few hours wandering around and telling folk about the fossils, especially kids. Last time I attached myself to a mother and two kids (the mother really had no clue) and took them on a tour. I'm not the most knowledgeable dude, but I have unbridled enthusiasm!!!! And I'm big and loud so am great at getting kids excited. You should see me Anomalocaris impression! I put my arms out the front like the graspers and wiggle my body in a swimming motion.

Anyway, sorry for the rant. I just get a bit excited sometimes... Love your volunteer work! We need more folk like y'all.

I'm excited and saddened at the same time by this. It's terrible that your local museum is so indifferent to their potential but it is great to read of your impromptu tours and lessons. You may be the reason one of these children gets into science. Without you, they may be completely turned off by the museum staff.

[Auspex]

I'm excited and saddened at the same time by this. It's terrible that your local museum is so indifferent to their potential but it is great to read of your impromptu tours and lessons. You may be the reason one of these children gets into science. Without you, they may be completely turned off by the museum staff.

'Tis enthusiastic people who make the difference between a storehouse and an experience that kindles wonder.

[ElToro]

Thanx guys! I'm thinking of starting some sort of fossil hunting/collecting club here, as we have nothing like it here. Give the curious some cool stuff to do and see for the 4 years the Museum will be shut.

However I have no idea how to do this or what it involves! Like I said, there is nothing like it here.

[DE&i]

I've now been assigned and very privileged to lead field trips to our local working Clay Quarry.

As a volunteer I'm going to clean this find that I found on our most recent trip in our laboratory and offer it them as a donation.

Muraenosaurus phalange

[DE&i]

Continued :

[Ptychodus04]

Very nice phalange!

I had the privilege of discovering an ammonite in the bowels of the basement of the Perot today! I've been working on a slab that contains a nearly complete Tylosaurus skull. One of the weekend volunteers uncovered a small red lump in the matrix. This is not at all uncommon and usually is not a harbinger of anything interesting.

Thankfully, they didn't scribe through it! I started working on the area today and exposed a complete 4" ammonite with an inflated living chamber and a partially crushed phragmocone. Yay! faunal associations. The ammonite died first as it is below the mosasaur in its original orientation.

[Ptychodus04]

The Tylosaurus block is coming along nicely. I had the privilege (or sentence) to remove a block containing a vert and a random cranial bone from on top of the maxilla today. The fun part is the extremely fractured nature of the specimen. Everything seems to be cracked and waiting to fall apart as soon as you get near it with a scribe! Butvar is my friend.

The vert and cranial bone came away from a fracture and left only a wee bit behind to be recovered before we can expose the rest of the maxilla. But, this thing is HUGE! The tooth crowns are nearly 2" long!