National Fossil Day 2013

It's National Fossil Day!  It is important to remember the scientific importance of fossils and why we study them.  There are many reasons for this but the reason that is most important to me, as someone who works with living animals, is that fossils help us understand the world around us today.  Its important to know your past and the pasts of the living things that you co-exist with as well.

So would you like to see some of the fossils in my personal collection?  I actually don't have that many.  All of the fossils I'm about to show you I obtained when I was in New Mexico this past summer, working with the Mesalands Dinosaur Museum.  Don't worry!  I had permission from the museum to keep each one of these. 

First up are three Redondasaurus teeth. 

When alive the animal that these teeth belonged to looked something like this.

Redondasaurus life reconstruction by Christopher DiPiazza.

Here is a section of armor plating from the aetosaur, Typothorax.

Typothorax life reconstruction by Christopher DiPiazza.

 Finally, check out this piece of bone!  It was split and you can actually see that it is hollow on the inside!  This means that it had to have come from a dinosaur like Coelophysis or possibly a poposauroid, like Shuvosaurus. 

White material is bone.  You can see the hollow cavity which is filled in with brown rock on the inside.

 
Some fossils are impossible to completely get out of the rock because they are just so delicate.  That was the case with this one.  I actually tried to get as much rock off of it as I could until I noticed that little pieces of the bone were starting to flake off as well.  I then covered it in a light layer of thin glue and left it as is.  I think it has a nice little stand this way anyway.

Outside of the bone.

Shuvosaurus

Coelophysis

Happy Fossil Day!