Over the weekend our kids had the opportunity to help celebrate a very special birthday. The Puntledge River Elasmosaur! It is 80 million + 24 years old :)
We headed to the Courtenay Museum where they had craft tables set up, birthday cake, dinosaur movies and of course access to the whole museum. I guess the Elasmosaur fossil found here is one of the most complete ever found! Casts have been taken from it and are displayed all over North America!
One of the many cool things about living here is that we live on a fossil bed. One of the kids favorite summer activities is to head to the river and look for fossils. The first time we went I was hoping that the kids would find at least something. I had no idea how many they would actually find. Literally buckets full! Now when we go we have to limit the amount of fossils they take because what do you do with buckets of fossils?? Most of the fossils are clam shells or ammonite shells, but the kids had found a few that we had no idea what they were. As part of the 'Birthday celebration' you could bring your own fossils and they would tell you what you had. The kids each picked one to ask about. Tavie ended up having a Ghost Shrimp fossil. I guess they are still living today. Brecken and Huxley both had one of these things (picture below) a Glyptoxoceras subcompressum. I have no idea what it is... a bug? some type of shell fish? No idea, but they boys thought it was pretty cool.
A picture of what the Elasmosaur looked like when it was alive. Not sure I would want to be swimming around in the ocean if that was lurking below...
As the years go by and the river, wind and rain wash away more and more layers of earth, the more things are being discovered. Who knows, maybe the Price family will stumble upon the next big 'fossil find' :)
what a cool way to spend a day!
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