Dinosaur Science with Dr. Spencer Lucas

May 1, 2009 Dr. Spencer Lucas, husband of Yami, paleontologist, stratigrapher, lecturer, author, friend, and more, is a Curator of Paleontology at New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science in Albuquerque. Spencer "specializes in the study of late Paleozoic, Mesozoic and early Cenozoic vertebrate fossils and continental deposits, particularly in the American Southwest." and has travelled all over the world, including our beloved Nova Scotia, for work and research: "Go to Joggins," he says.

Needless to say, we jumped at the chance when he invited us for a behind the scenes tour of the museum - a bright highlight of our New Mexico stay.

Spencer explained (quite eloquently yet in clear terms even we could understand) how a fossil is protected and excavated from a dig site . A fossil is blanketed by paper, burlap, plaster and, in this case, a wood frame since it's a large fossil, which forms a "jacket".

More than 100,000 fossils and fossil casts reside in this room:

Spencer chose a few to explain the dinosaur, the function, the dig for the fossil. Fascinating!

This is one of Spencer's favourite fossils. It's just one small section of the backbone of a Seismosaurus, if I recall correctly. The fossil weighs thirteen tonnes! It was shipped to and from Japan in those metal supports.

Here's a full size Seismosaurus, "the longest land animal that ever lived". It has a whiplash tail ...

... and is about to take out the pesky Saurophaganax, "the largest Jurassic meat-eating dinosaur".

Here they are ignoring the tasty little man below:

We had an awesome edutainment experience with our esteemed guide.

We thank you, Spencer!

-P