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(Mis)adventures in Paleontology.

Mormoopid]2. Engineers said:
thats really interesting stuff. ive always thought about a career in archaology (sp?) or paleontology. i think it may have stemmed from watching jurassic park as a kid.
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Archaeology.

Mormoopid said:
It's also because bizzare or 'useless' oddities are frequently associated with attraction.
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Usually that's the case, like colorful and huge feathers, pouches, etc., on birds, but I kind of agree with the 'adaptation' and 'addition' definitions of t&b.

And BTW, I was reading some pages I came across with while I was looking for news on the Tiktaalik, and I was surprised that as a scientist one can see the subtle and small progression on the evolution of different species, while other people regard that as 'being biased' towards unproven facts... have you ever encountered such, ehm, stubborn individuals?
 
T+B- Semantics, all semantics. Still, you do have a point.

Dragonpoke- I encounter them all the time. Mostly it's the ID (intelligent design) people or flat out creationists. I have starting ignoring them because they are more concerned with changing what I believe than what I actually know. How is a series of fossils showing clear evolutionary progressions 'unproven fact'? Hell just look at horse and whale evolutionary history and you'll get a solid, if not undeniable, progression of 'unproven fact'.

Not to mention those idiots misuse the words theory and fact left and right. I'm not bitter.

On the paleo front today it's kind of boring- reading some reports and taking yet another day off (with pay). Man I love my job.
 
Mormoopid said:
Dragonpoke- I encounter them all the time. Mostly it's the ID (intelligent design) people or flat out creationists. I have starting ignoring them because they are more concerned with changing what I believe than what I actually know. How is a series of fossils showing clear evolutionary progressions 'unproven fact'? Hell just look at horse and whale evolutionary history and you'll get a solid, if not undeniable, progression of 'unproven fact'.

Not to mention those idiots misuse the words theory and fact left and right. I'm not bitter.
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I'm not bitter either, but you're one of the few people I've encountered who make that distinction between what you believe and what you know. I once gave one of them a dictionary to look up the words theory and fact xD... so funny how he couldn't continue the argument.

I just tend to ignore them too. I have bigger whales to chase, anyway.
 
Believing in ones self is for people who need to overcome something. What on Earth would I have to overcome?

For field prep I usually go to the local adult superstore and get loaded up on porn to be honest, at least one duffel bag full per week. Variety is the spice of life, to quote Banky from Chasing Amy.

Ahhhh now it's my turn not to resist.


Usually I just chuck a bunch of my gear, which is always in limbo scattered around my room, into a bag. Rock hammer, hand lens, compass, tons of water bottles, light long sleeved shirts, cliche wide brimmed hat, steel toe (or non steel toe) hiking boots...uhhh yeah it's basically autopilot at this point.
 
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This was obligatory.

Awesome adventures Mormoopid.

Question about bears: Are they the perfect archaologist killing machine? They seem to be around you, a lot.
 
Funny you mention that, my next adventure (one week from today) I'm even further into bear territory without quads. So it'll be us, the bears and a helicopter to rescue us every day. Us walking, probably quietly enough to sneak up on a bear, kilometers away from help...

Archaeologists cower in fear of bears. Paleontologists fear nothing. I'm fairly certain about that.

As a side note, I was doing some pre-fieldwork research at the local pub (okay that's just where we do it). Looks like there is lots of goodies in these formations, including dinosaurs. Should be awesome.
 
This is a tale of heartbreak and paleontology. Not the most exciting story, but one nonetheless.


<dramatic pause>


Okay so there I was in Rocky Mountain House. It's basically at the western edge of the Canadian rockies. I was camping with my best friend, my ex, my ex's best friend (the japanese one) and her new boyfriend and my ex's other friend who I later slept with. Now, some group politics, for drama:

-I wasn't over my ex
-My ex's friend that I later slept with loved me for 2 years without me knowing it or caring
-My ex's best friend (the japanese one) just cheated on my close friend with this new guy, who was a total twat.
-the twat in question was named "Anatoly". By the end of the trip, we called him "Anatotallygay".

We were indeed drunk most of this trip; mostly my best friend and I. the other 4 copped out all three nights because they are idiots. What a shocker there.

Anyways, we had to get to a fossil site that is normally quad access only, but we had no quads. It was at least 5 kilometers out, along a dangerous river (North saskatchewan headwaters) with very little riverbank to speak of. We almost had to swim upstream at one point but I cut us an alternative path through a fallen pine tree.

We had 6 liters of water to carry. My friend and I got sick of carrying it, so we just set it down and walked off. The tool guy, 'Anatotallygay', picked it up and carried it most of the way. Fine by me, I had fucking field gear to carry because I wasn't there just to have sex with a japanese girl. Fuck that still makes me mad, my bestfriend made like 100 bucks off all of us when he proved they were doing it in the tent. That's another story though...

So, when we get to the site and once everyone is done flipping balls (='freaking out') for tadpoles just adjacent to the site, I start looking at fossils and eating food. First thing, the stupid guy asks to borrow my rock hammer...and uses his cheap pile of shit rock hammer to hammer my expensive rock hammer.

First rule in geology field school is to NEVER hit a rock hammer with another rock hammer. This THIRD FUCKING YEAR guy was disreguarding the high shatter rate in situations like this. I corrected the situation, then in angry paleo awesomeness split open a large clam and snail bearing rock....

okay after alot of nothing, eventually I split the biggest rock. I was feeling like there was nothing for me this trip- no new discoveries, heartache and idiots all around me. Then, I saw the crocodile tooth I had revealed. Fucking right on! I could ID that bitch from a kilometer away, easy as hell.

Of course, the ex comes up and questions me as she had done every single day for the last 3 years. Then the lame guy questioned me and soon it cascaded down the shit ranks til everyone but my best friend was speculating wildly that they found a new species of T rex after the end of the Cretaceous.

My best friend finally spoke up and said "Guys...he's ID'd these things for over 100 hours at a world famous musuem with an expert. I think he fucking knows what a crocodile tooth looks like."

Along with that gem, we got another small bit of trionychid turtle, which is soft shell turtle in laymans terms. In summation, it was the worst camping trip ever. I slept in my fucking car every single night because I didn't wanna share a tent with my ex. Also I got heat exhaution but still managed to pound back at least 12 beers that night. That's how we roll in Canada though.

I promise next story will be better guys this was just a long weekend trip with some wannabe paleo mouth breathers (cept my best friend, who infact can breathe through his nose)

Edit: We also learned the hard way that ~30% deet to the eyes is unpleasant to say the least
 
Hahaha, Deet in the eyes sound PAINFUL.

So, let me get this straight... your excursions are basically sex and booze, with a little paleontology thrown in for good measure? Shit man, I'm in the wrong business!

Fuck that still makes me mad, my bestfriend made like 100 bucks off all of us when he proved they were doing it in the tent. That's another story though...
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Do tell!
 
Mormoopid said:
Archaeologists cower in fear of bears. Paleontologists fear nothing. I'm fairly certain about that.
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I beg to differ. I've seen Archaeologists face mountain cats, pumas, black bears, rattle snakes, scorpions, bees, killing bees, twisted ankles and broken legs, broken hearts and shattered bones... xD
 
Lol, I like these stories.Though the last few ones were the ones that got me into reading the first stories.
 
I wish I could have epic adventures such as these. I'll be sure to keep checking back for more.

If I could rate this thread 5 stars I would.
 
DM said:
So, let me get this straight... your excursions are basically sex and booze, with a little paleontology thrown in for good measure? Shit man, I'm in the wrong business!
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DM: It all depends on the adventure. I'm going to the Tyrrell museum this weekend with some very hot chicks to check on things and collect what will probably be a bunch of dinosaur teeth and vertebrae this weekend. Should be good times of sorting fossils and hanging out in the back room.

Well basically the (BAN ME PLEASE)y guy was railing the little japanese girl up to three times per night in their tent. He was so gross I think it was a rebound. The way it was proved was that my friend heard them doing it and then opened the tent mid-sex, yelling "Surprise, cock-(BAN ME PLEASE)" at 2 AM. I even heard the 'surprise' part from the car where I was sleeping. My friend is so awesome cause apparently he said they were disgusting and they stopped doing it. I would have finished up, personally.

This next official work stuff I'm doing, I've been informed, has a retarded amount of young male bears around. Like encounters at least once a day kind of thing. So curious and dangerous are they that they apparently come towards the sound of helicopter- our only method of transit in those parts!


Dragonpoke: Unfortunately, archaeologists lose to all those things. I saw one had to be sent home my last trip cause of mild carpal tunnel syndrome.

Skiddle: I would rate is 6 stars cause I love myself
 
Okay I decided to be awesome today. Here's some pics and videos of my burgess shale adventure I talked about before.
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I seriously did wear that shirt to a world heritage site. Also that's my ride there, the helicopter. Note the game face, indicating that I am infact a man who is ready to throw down.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v180/kremlinator/?action=view&current=Picture310.flv

okay I know this link isn't a pic. Instead it's a video of our approach, via helicopter, to the famous Walcott and Raymond quarries. For all of you who don't know, Walcott and Raymond quarries are THE Burgess shale quarries.


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This is an Anomalocaris appendage from their little collection box up at the main quarry (Walcott quarry). I thought you would like to look upon it.

This is what Anomalocaris looked like in real life (well as close as an artist can make it):

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Note: I almost always imagine the beast above with a jetpack, for reasons of posterity and awesomeness.


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This is on top of fossil ridge. Yes, it's on top of a mountain. Mount Wapta in the background is indeed higher up and connected but I'm gonna go on a limb and say that I conquered this mountain anyways. Check out my bitchin shirt, I dress in style. FYI it's a 'wild' salmon who doesn't conform to society and selects to show how wild he is by riding a harley and sporting some defiant looking sunglasses. You can see the snow in the middle of Canadian summer!!! It was +30 C or so out, so you can imagine the altitude we are at.

Unfortunately after this, we had the super dangerous task of going down a super steep slope covered in skree (= loose rock). Luckily I took a 'creative problem solving' class in grade 8 so I was fully prepared (yes, it's another video):

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v180/kremlinator/?action=view&current=Picture316.flv


Yes, we are actually using a cross between sprinting and skiing techniques to get down the loose rock. Note the other student, my friend who came with us, is really shitty at it. Also I crash at the end. You can see near the end (look for the orange flags) the part in the Shale that I excavated, was the second person EVER to see and is now going to be named after me in the literature. Yeah okay I'm bragging a little...


Okay so our last day went from +30 (this was in August, so summer in Canada) to fucking snowing in less than 15 minutes. A storm came overhead, then disappeared really fast. The fucked up thing was that it snowed almost an inch and had thunder/lightening, in a SNOW STORM, in a 15 minute span. We were almost snowed in at the site, away from our camp and supplies. Luckily we aren't cowards and braved the slope, which was wet cause it warmed up right after.

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yeah that was the last thing I saw on the slopes of this site. We hiked down for like 5 or six hours, on a trail we didn't know...it was awesome. Saw lots of fresh bear signs and some really fucked up montane biomes transitioning pretty neatly.

Fin.
 
Haha, that post is epic. I love how it goes from sunny and green, to snow-capped mountains with shorts on, to FUCKING SNOW STORM AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.
 
Oh my god I just realized I'm a fucking retard

That's mount Field not mount Wapta

Also thanks DM; keep in mind those pics span over a week period but the weather did go from amazingly sunny to a fucking blizzard in 15 minutes or less. It just came over the mountain and wrecked our shit.
 
I know I'm probably trolling this thread a little

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but it is okay cause I want to start a discussion about Thylacoleo carnifax, the marsupial answer to cats. Look at those teeth! Anyone have any cool insight?
 
Lol these fangs look really weird, they're like a knife each, unlike human teeth.
 
The thing that jumps out at me is the very strange arrangement of the teeth. I wonder why the incisors and molars look like that.
 
Blade like premolars are actually called "carnassials". The back teeth are for literally slicing meat- it works like it does with cats carnassials. They use the side of their face to slice off a chunk of meat.

The front teeth are cause it's a marsupial. Marsupials have never once been able to get their shit fully together, cept the Red Kangaroo. I'm sure Anti will agree that it is a beautiful animal...

Tea and blues I don't even wanna fucking hear about how marsupials are adapted just look at their shitty reproductive system and super pregnancy okay?
 
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