a fossil snail shell, from the new layer i'd "discovered". little did i realize that these little things were THE KEY clue in the whole ongoing poaching crisis around drumheller!this leads to the latest palaeo challenge people of the innerweb. complete with a cool prize from prehistoric insanity for any correct guesses!
it was right in front of my snout the whole time (and anyone who reads my blog!). i'd stumbled on the answer to this already in my trip. the hordes of snail and clam shells that lined this specific layer turning up throughout the horseshoe canyon formation were telling me what the poachers were after. only i hadn't thought of it!
can you figure out what a huge number or snail and clams in a mudstone layer left by a slow moving river could indicate? (hint i talked about it in a previous post during my homecoming, i just hadn't connected the two!)
After looking through your past blog entries, I think I've stumbled upon what may be the answer: eggs! You once said that amniote eggs are often preserved in places near lots of snails and clams because the shells would create some extra calcium and buffer the dissolving of the eggshells. The Pack was poaching eggs of some sort! Am I right?
ReplyDeleteI'm with Albertonykus -- this set-up made me think of those Orodromeus nests Jack Horner found.
ReplyDeleteThose turned out to be Troodon nests, but the principle is the same.
ReplyDeleteWell..I missed some of the said posts so I'm going to have to go with Albertonykus and Sean Craven on this, Traum. I might not have been around if and when you covered this, so...yeah...:P
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