Hobbies And Interests
Stag Moose Fossil
In September 2007 the fossilized remains of a stag moose were found on a farm near Bevent. These animals have been extinct for around 12,000 years, having died off at the end of the last ice age. The animals looked similar to today's moose, with differences in the muzzle and horns. Although a few other stag moose fossils have been discovered, this one is important as it was the furthest north of any found. It is thought that the animals preferred habitats similar to today's moose and migrated north as the climate changed. Scientists think the modern moose may have aided in the extinction of the stag moose by competing for food.
Jellyfish
A large group of jellyfish fossils have been found in a quarry at Blackberry Hill. The jellyfish are the largest fossils of these ancient predators in the world, some measuring a full meter across. This discovery is unusual because jellyfish are soft bodied creatures and, as such, do not fossilize often. Scientist Dr. James Hagadorn of the California Institute of Technology (caltech.edu) claims the find is changing our understanding of the Cambrian food chain structure. Most of what we know from fossil records is learned from animals with hard body parts. Distribution of fossils is an important factor in determining ancient food chains and ecosystems.
Protichinites And Climactichnites
Protichinites and climactichnites are all forms of tracks that early animals made while moving across the land. Along with jellyfish fossils, the Blackberry Hill deposit contains a wealth of these fossilized tracks. The tracks are the oldest found on land and are thought to be created by the first species to emerge from the sea. The animals may have been coaxed onto land by mats of microbe food sources, which could have also helped to preserve the tracks. In 2010 scientists discovered fossils of animals they think may have produced many of these tracks at the quarry.
The First Land Animals
In 2010, Joseph H. Collette of the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of California (universityofcalifornia.edu) and James W. Hagadorn of the Department of Earth Sciences at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (dmns.org) reported the discovery of three types of arthropods likely responsible for many of the tracks at the Blackberry Hill deposits. The mictomerus melochevillensis is the first arthropod known that is not a trilobite. It is 10 cm long, with 11 pairs of legs. It is thought to have left the protichnite and diplichnite tracks. The mosinieia macnaughtoni is about the same size but has flipper-like legs. A third arthropod, arenosicaris inflata, measures 3 cm. The animals were all remarkably preserved and will allow scientists to learn much about the first life to crawl from the ancient seas onto land.