Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Dinosaur Highway



One of my stops on the way home was the University of Colorado, Boulder, Natural History Museum. In addition to meeting the collections manager and exploring the lab a little bit, I learned about something that is really common in this area; dinosaur trackways.

This area of Colorado and through the surrounding states is considered the Dinosaur Highway because of the abundance of trackways.

For example, there is an abundance of them at Dinosaur Ridge, a national natural landmark, including all of the major groups of Jurassic dinosaurs. The trackways are really detailed too, letting you see claws in some places and direction or even interactions in others. The site is a little bit touristy (honestly, I'd recommend skipping the visitors center and just going on the walk along the road...) but you can clearly see tracks as well as the shifting environment of the time.
Plus, you can actually stand in and touch a few of the tracks. Wonder if the dinosaurs ever suggested that someone "Follow in their footsteps..."









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My Story (Very briefly...)

Lots of people claim that they wanted to be paleontologists at the age of 3. So did I. The problem is, I never really grew out of it. My third birthday party had dinosaurs. Everywhere. I grew up digging in fossil dirt from Aurora, NC, looking for coral and shark teeth. I practically lived at my local science museums (and still do, only now I get to do research, fossil preparation, and work in collections!) When local paleontologists discovered a dinosaur with a "fossilized heart" (no longer considered such) when I was little, I got to meet the man who led the work. And then, years later a dinosaur bone with soft tissue turned up. I was officially hooked.
No longer was I dreaming about dinosaurs. I was actively pursuing the science behind prehistoric creatures. I didn't want to read about it, I wanted in on the action. So I started working at the museum, and finally going on my own adventures. And thus, I needed a place to share them and maybe inspire others the way I was inspired. I have gone from watching fossils be prepared from one side of the glass at the museum to working on them on the inside of the glass. I am a student working toward my goal. I can finally start to call myself a paleontologist.