In our twenty fourth episode of I Know Dino, we had the pleasure of talking with Amaury Michel, the winner of our I Know Dino podcast giveaway in March, who has additionally been on two dinosaur digs: one within the Morrison Formation in Wyoming and one within the Prince Creek Formation in Alaska.
He was sort sufficient to share some photos from his experiences:
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On this episode, we focus on:
- The dinosaur of the day: Carcharodontosaurus saharicus (Carcharodon is the group together with the nice white shark and megalodon) identify was chosen as a result of the tooth are sharp and serrated in an identical method to the nice white sharks, one thing that meant they might slice by means of the flesh of prey like sharp knives
- Initially described as Megalosaurus saharicus as a result of as we talked about earlier than Megalosaurus was used as a “catch-all” taxon on the time.
- As a result of bones have been destroyed throughout a bombing raid throughout WWII it hasn’t been as fashionable as T-Rex, however for the reason that massive cranium was re-discovered in 1995, it’s rising in reputation once more (seen in a number of video video games and the BBC collection Planet Dinosaur)
- Carcharodontosaurus fossils have been first revealed by Charles Depéret and J. Savornin in North Africa in 1927. Initially known as Megalosaurus saharicus, its identify was modified in 1931 by Ernst Stromer von Reichenbach.
- The Carcharodontosaurus is a big theropod dinosaur. These massive dinosaurs sometimes walked on two legs (Theropoda is Greek for “beast ft”)
- Like Giganotosaurus it had 8-inch-long serrated tooth.
- It was about 13,000 kilos and was about 43 ft lengthy in all probability barely bigger than T-rex. Additionally had a large tail, a cumbersome physique, and heavy bones. Its arms have been brief and had three-fingered palms with sharp claws.
- Closest widespread lineage to the T-rex is that they’re each within the Tetanuran clade which began about 100my earlier than Carcharodontosaurus.
- Carcharodontosaurus is usually falsely dubbed the ‘African T-rex’, one thing which has misled many individuals into pondering that they’re the identical.
- Carcharodontosaurushas laterally compressed (flattened) tooth that slice by means of flesh. Tyrannosaurus in distinction has spherical conical tooth for crushing bone. Embrace different variations equivalent to dimension and form of the cranium and general physique proportions, and it’s clear that the 2 are utterly unrelated.
- Paleontologists as soon as thought that Carcharodontosaurus had the longest cranium of any of the theropod dinosaurs. Nonetheless, the premaxilla and quadrate bones have been lacking from the unique African cranium, which led to misinterpretion of its precise dimension by researchers. A extra modest size of 5 ft, 4 inches.
- The Carcharodontosaurus lived through the Late Cretaceous Interval (100-93mya).
- The Carcharodontosaurus most lived on what’s now modern-day northern Africa
- South America had seemingly simply damaged other than Africa throughout that point, and it’s in all probability why Carcharodontosaurus and its kin from South America are so alike in look. It’s setting was seemingly very heat and humid, with many rivers and lakes flowing by means of, contemplating Spinosaurus and Sarcosuchus (each aquatic/semi-aquatic predators) have been present in the identical location.
- Though it was seemingly top-predator within the space, Carhcarodontosaurus was in all probability very territorial and had massive areas of territory, which might seemingly must battle for towards rivals and different big predators within the space, like Spinosaurus and Sarcosuchus, and even kin like Sauroniops, Deltadromeus, and Bahariasaurus.
- The massive tooth have been in all probability a key to the looking technique of Carcharodontosaurus. Carcharodontosaurus would in all probability create a large open wound which might in all probability trigger the animal to enter shock and disoriente it permitting Carcharodontosaurus to simply end it off or simply watch for it to bleed to dying.
- Most likely got here into battle with the biggest carnivorous dinosaur of all time – Spinosaurus
- Carcharodontosaurus was a carnivore, with huge jaws and lengthy, serrated tooth as much as eight inches lengthy. It could have hunted in packs like its smaller cousin Allosaurus, however no fossil proof of this exists. It could have been a scavenger in addition to an lively predator. It had a big head with over 60 8-inch (19 cm.), blade-like tooth, which have been designed to pierce and tear aside the flesh of its prey, which principally consisted of the big sauropod Paralititan and a hadrosaur known as Ouranosaurus. It’s arms have been considerably brief, however nonetheless longer than T. rex’s and nonetheless fairly robust. They’d three claws on every of its fingers, which may’ve been used to get a greater seize on a few of its smaller prey.
- Carcharodontosaurus had lengthy, muscular legs, and fossilized trackways point out that it may run about 20 miles per hour, though there’s some controversy as as to if it truly did, due to its big physique mass.
- The smaller mind dimension of Carcharodontosaurus was in all probability pre-determined by its archosaurian ancestry as many theropods of its ancestral line even have comparable mind sizes which means that whereas their our bodies grew greater, the brains stayed the identical bringing a halt to additional organic improvement. The coelurosaurian dinosaurs nevertheless, the lineage that would come with Tyrannosaurusand the transitional line to birds developed their brains away from the older archosaurian type permitting for the potential of higher reasoning.
- The inside ear anatomy of Carcharodontosaurus saharicus resembled trendy crocodilians. The portion of the mind involving scent is sort of massive in Carhcarodontosaurus, suggesting a very good sense of scent, in all probability even higher than right this moment’s canine and rivaling the Tyrannosaurus.
- Enjoyable truth:
For many who might favor studying, see under for the complete transcript of our interview with Amaury Michel:
Sabrina: So, how have been you capable of go on these two digs?
Amaury: The primary one was truly a category journey. Should you have been taking the category, you have been happening today. It was with a professor of (? 0:10) course and I suppose he simply wished to get everybody a background in Paleontology. The second, he simply requested me if I wished to go on one other dig. So I mentioned, undoubtedly, I’m able to go on some other dig, sure.
Sabrina: So for individuals not accustomed to the category or the professor, the place did you attend college?
Amaury: I attended my undergrad on the College of Chicago and I took the Paleontology course the third quarter of my fourth 12 months.
Sabrina: Now that you’ve got taken this course and you’ve got been on a few digs, has that influenced what you wish to do, now that you’ve got graduated?
Amaury: Oh sure, like 100%. I want I had taken this course once I had began (volunteering and ? 00:51) as a result of it is rather like such a cool class. Even identical to in-class volunteering is so enjoyable since you get to…I don’t know, cleansing outdated bones is simply actually thrilling, nevertheless it has undoubtedly modified what I wish to do. I truly had a job working within the Chicago faculties earlier than I received requested to go on the second dig. It type of simply modified all the pieces that I used to be doing.
Sabrina: Are you able to speak somewhat about every of the digs that you just went on?
Amaury: So the primary dig was in Wyoming and we have been working within the Morrison formation, proper subsequent to our (? 01:21) and after the solar rose we’d have breakfast after which you might be simply working below the solar. The location was like…our professor had been there earlier than. She knew typically the place issues have been, so we have been working at a website that had beforehand been labored at. In Alaska it was so much totally different. We have been working with shale and it was so much wetter website. So we have been on the North slope, working off a river. The shale was nowhere close to as arduous because the sandstone. So we’d simply hammer away on the shale and we might take away large chunks at a time. Generally you might break up up the shale and [02:00] simply discover bones in it and so they have been completely preserved. They have been so much smaller bones at that website.
Sabrina: What sort of bones did you discover?
Amaury: So in Wyoming, I discovered a Camarasaurus rib and two Stegosaurus bones. We discovered a scapula and an ilium. In Alaska, it was simply a lot of Hadrosaur bones, tons of juvenile bones. We discovered some centenary elements, a lot of femurs; hips and I discovered a couple of Troodon tooth. It was fairly thrilling as a result of you might have all these Hadrosaurs after which you might have a couple of, simply Troodan, like some carnivorous tooth within the combine. So I don’t know what the story was there, nevertheless it was actually thrilling to search out these.
Sabrina: So what do you do as soon as you discover the bones? How do you maintain them, get them out of the bottom or the rock?
Amaury: So you discover the bones and then you definitely begin making what are known as ‘jackets.’ Folks use totally different strategies, however as you clear the bone out of the bottom, you’ll put consolident on it. Which is sort of a glue that can maintain the bones collectively. In order that if you end up hammering on the bottom subsequent to it, it’s a little stronger as a result of a number of these bones are fairly fragile. After getting sufficient consolident on the bone, you’ll both, some individuals use aluminum foil and a few individuals use rest room paper and they’re going to put that over the bone, earlier than you place burlap and plaster sheets over the bones. So you place tons of plaster and burlap over the aluminum, which is over the bone. So you retain surrounding the bone and also you principally maintain reinforcing it. You may’t simply take away it straight away, as a result of it crushes; this stuff are thousands and thousands of years outdated so that you simply maintain digging across the bones. In some fields you’ll get a number of bones overlapping one another, so it’s actually arduous, however in case you are fortunate, you’ll be able to simply dig down and across the jacket that you’ve got made from burlap and plaster and also you simply maintain digging down and round it. [04:00] Ultimately, once you get a comfortably secure distance from the bone, you begin hammering below it or chiseling below it, regardless of the case could also be, it depends upon the type of bone that you’re digging out of the bottom and as you might be doing this course of, you retain jacketing the bone. So you retain reinforcing the bone after which if you end up snug, you’ll flip it. Generally, you’ll in all probability wish to do that with different individuals relying on how massive the bone is. When you might have a sufficiently massive jacket over the bone, you’ll have a collection of ulls below the bone, nevertheless it relies upon as a result of some come out simpler than others. Then you definitely simply flip it in some secure path and you’ll expose an underside. It ought to primarily be simply sandstone or shale or no matter rock you might be working in, then you’ll jacket that in. Then within the lab, which is a extra managed setting, they may clear out all that extra rock that’s across the bone, with the intention to get a clear pattern.
Sabrina: In your Camarasaurus bone that you just present in Wyoming, how many individuals did it take to carry that up?
Amaury: So the Camarasaurus bone, two individuals labored on it, my pal Justin and I had been engaged on it. Then as soon as we had lastly jacketed it sufficient on it, which this one fantastically got here out of the bottom, it wished to come back out of the bottom. It was simply three of us simply gently placing ulls below it after which we flipped it and it was simply painless, however that was three of us that flipped that one. Then there have been a number of different actually massive jackets, just like the Stegosaurus hipbones, that factor was over 1,000 lbs. In order that took simply like six individuals to flip.
Sabrina: Did you might have any coaching earlier than you went on the digs, for the way you cope with the bones or something like that?
Amaury: That first dig, like I mentioned, it was a category journey, so it was actually that coaching train and it was not like we simply received on the market and began hamming away. On day one, a number of issues have been being defined to us, nevertheless it was [06:00] simply discovered by doing. The second journey, I had some expertise as a result of I had gone to Wyoming, however the shale was a lot totally different than the sandstone, however I needed to additionally study once more, how are we going to work with this sort of rock? You may’t simply use the identical methods in every single place.
Sabrina: Certain, may you elaborate somewhat bit on the totally different methods that you just used for each websites?
Amaury: Sure, in Wyoming, you simply must be much more affected person with the sandstone. It’s so arduous; you simply hammer down into the sandstone. You should have a choose and your geological hammer. So customary, anyplace that you’re digging, you will have your hammer, your choose, some brushes and you will have some ulls. So for the Stegosaurus bones for instance, these have been actually massive bones, as soon as we had the jacket round them, we have been simply hammering down into the bottom. So most of our time wasn’t even hammering across the bone, it was simply hammering down sufficient, in order that we have been capable of flip this large jacket. Whereas in Alaska, the bone that was means totally different as a result of it was so dense, there have been so many fossils. On day one, this website that had been beforehand established by Anthony Theorell and his teammates earlier than, I suppose he had a good suggestion that there have been going to be bones, however as soon as we confirmed up, on day one, I began discovering every kind of Hadrosaurus tailbones and vertebrae. The shale would come off in sheets. So you’ll hammer down in a transparent floor and then you definitely would be capable to both pull a sheet out or so much would come out directly. It was simpler to dig into that than into the sandstone and it was additionally so much wetter.
Sabrina: Was it so much simpler to identify a bone within the rock?
Amaury: I suppose some websites are simpler to identify bones. So in Wyoming, we received a number of charcoal, which you’ll inform it’s charcoal as a result of you’ll be able to simply rub it along with your finger [8:00] and it’ll simply rub off, whereas a fossil is not going to rub off onto your finger. Once more, you need to watch out if you end up touching this stuff. I suppose it relies upon what you might be getting as a result of some actually small issues are actually arduous to establish. In Wyoming, the bones have been only a a lot totally different coloration than the sandstone. So in the event you have been taking your time whilst you have been happening into the sandstone, you’ll be capable to see, okay it is a dinosaur bone, however in Alaska, we truly labored at two totally different websites and one was immediately within the shale and it was fairly apparent what was bone and what wasn’t bone as a result of the shale may be very black and the bones didn’t have that very same coloration. We additionally walked alongside subsequent to this river, on this huge bar of simply rocks. We simply spent someday simply strolling alongside these rocks and searching for bones that simply washed up and that was so much tougher since you are principally looking and throughout have been simply rocks, branches and every kind of issues and you might be searching for principally bone fragments. In order that was somewhat tougher, however I imply bones are porous, there are particular properties that bones have that you’re not going to search out in only a rock or a bit of wooden. So even that wasn’t too arduous to establish, I suppose in the event you had seen a fossil or a bone earlier than.
Sabrina: So what are a few of the bone properties that you just search for?
Amaury: So the very first thing that you just search for is the form. So what bones typically appear to be. They’re additionally generally very porous, so in case you are wanting down at a hip bone and it’s lacking a part of it and you’re looking not on the lengthy half, however in case you are taking a look at it horizontally, then you’ll be able to see very positive pores. Different issues that you just search for, I suppose a few of our dredges are very clearly formed, like this isn’t a rock, I can inform that that is from one thing that was residing.
Sabrina: How lengthy do these digs final?
Amaury: The primary dig, I feel we have been out within the subject a couple of week. We pulled a number of jackets from the bottom. Most likely round 1,000 lbs. as a result of a few of them have been so large. The second was longer; we have been within the subject for about two weeks.
Sabrina: What was day-to-day life like on the dig? Did you are feeling such as you have been ready as a result of I do know that you need to go to a distant location and perhaps it’s actually sizzling or perhaps it’s actually chilly, issues like that, that should be considered?
Amaury: So I feel I undoubtedly over ready for each journeys, however the second journey once I went to Alaska, it undoubtedly took much more preparation as a result of it wasn’t like a category subject journey. There have been a pair paleontologists, a geologist, and a bone preparer and we have been going out to the positioning. So I wished to deliver a number of my very own instruments, I needed to deliver my very own all the pieces principally. I wasn’t actually ready for a solar that by no means set. That was a really attention-grabbing a part of that journey, the solar was simply at all times within the sky, however the different journey that was in Wyoming was much more…listed here are all of the instruments and let’s simply work, let’s learn to extract bones from the bottom.
Sabrina: While you have been in Alaska, it should have been someday through the summer time, proper?
Amaury: Sure, I used to be in Alaska in August, so in direction of the top of summer time.
Sabrina: Because the solar is at all times up, do you simply must schedule, like okay with these X variety of hours you might be simply going to must sleep and drive your self to sleep?
Amaury: I don’t wish to make it sound prefer it was immediately overhead, it could type of set, it was somewhat dimmer at evening, however you might principally get up naturally at any time. We weren’t preventing for daylight, then we’d work for eight hours or no matter quantity of labor we would have liked to do in someday. It was truly actually handy since you may work at no matter hours you wished to. Should you began working later within the day that’s positive [12:00] as a result of the solar wasn’t actually going to set.
Sabrina: That’s simply what I used to be going to ask since you do want daylight to have the ability to do these digs; I do know generally that may be a constraint so sure that needed to have been fairly good to have that flexibility.
Amaury: Sure, it was good. In Wyoming it was much more like…you wish to work when the solar is out since you wish to see all the pieces, but additionally regardless that that was earlier in the summertime, with out the solar it simply will get actually chilly as a result of it’s this dry warmth so it doesn’t linger or something.
Sabrina: Would you think about happening extra digs now?
Amaury: Oh undoubtedly. Since then, I at the moment have a job someplace else, however I’m simply making an attempt to learn scientific papers, I’m making an attempt to learn scientific books and I attempt to discover a place the place I can volunteer if I’ve that chance, however undoubtedly I’d go on a dig in a coronary heart beat.
Sabrina: For those who haven’t had this expertise but, however perhaps they wish to go on a dig, how would you go about discovering a spot to volunteer, do you might have any recommendation for that?
Amaury: Sure, in case you are lucky sufficient to stay in an enormous metropolis that has a museum that has fossils, attempt to volunteer. Clearly there’s by no means any assure that you’re going to go on a dig, however you aren’t going to go on a dig by not being round. So in case you are at a college and you may take any programs associated to paleontology or geology, simply an enormous array of issues, take these courses, volunteer at fossil labs at your faculties. You may also, in case you are not lucky sufficient to stay by an enormous metropolis or have entry to fossils, you’ll be able to take a look at surveys of land and discover out what fossils is likely to be round you after which you’ll be able to simply exit and see, oh that is this (? 13:37). Don’t take something in case you are not working with a bunch, however it’s a good technique to even get that have for your self. To say, okay that is the kind of rock I’m taking a look at, perhaps there are fossils right here.
Sabrina: Had been you curious about dinosaurs earlier than you took this class and even went on these digs?
Amaury: I used to be occupied with dinosaurs, so sure I used to be as a lot as any science particular person is , I suppose [14:00] as a result of dinosaurs are superior and it’s a cool half within the story of life on Earth, however I wasn’t psyched about them. What I’ve come to appreciate with Paleontology is, lots of people have been loopy about Paleontology since they have been youngsters, and so they simply by no means stopped being loopy about dinosaurs. Which is superior as a result of you might have individuals which can be tremendous passionate in regards to the topic by means of there entire lives. I type of received into it in faculty.
Sabrina: What’s your favourite dinosaur?
Amaury: My favourite dinosaur, oh man, there are such a lot of cool ones. I feel and perhaps this can change quickly, however I feel my favourite dinosaur now’s a carcharodontosaurus. It was large initially it was this loopy Theropod. It has actually cool tooth, but additionally it has such a cool identify…Carcharodontosaurus and then you definitely simply apply that identify to this large and I simply suppose it’s so cool.
Sabrina: Thanks a lot for taking the time to talk with me right this moment.
Amaury: Sure, no downside