Activity

Digging through some old photos and I found one of the first ones we took of Bernie’s skull! Bernie, for those who don’t know, is a currently undescribed (the paper will be out sometime soon!) thalattosaur me and my father found waaaay back in 2011. They (we have at least 8 individuals) are being described by Eric Metz of the University of Alaska. This has been an example of amateur/professional partnership, me and my father found the fossils and arraigned for the landowner to donated them to the University of Oregon. My father then prepared the fossils (over 200 bones!) at OMSI’s paleolab (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry), and Dr. Pat Drunkenmiller and his graduate student Eric Metz of the University of Alaska have been working on describing it. It really shows what we can do when we all put our heads together!Bernie was named after Mr. Bernard, the landowner who donated the fossil to UO. He was killed in a tragic car accident just prior to excavation. His widow has been invaluable in her continued support for paleontology on her land.