Project Exploration Blog

this is where im living!

boy o boy, where to begin. This truly has been the trip of a lifetime, one that I’m sure I’ll never forget. from waking up in the wee hours of the morning to the amazing geography of the badlands, every facet of this great jewel; the best science program ever, is amazing. One mystery that about this land that i am trying my best to figure out how the drastic change from billions of years ago to know happened? why is it that i’ll find fossils that show evidence of reeds, ferns and conifers but when i look around me, i see grasses, shrubs and flowering plants, plants accustomed to a dry environment but the fossils are so different? some other questions i had were, what type of climate do these conifers grow in?the same for ferns and reeds

Before i set on the plane to denver i had some…predictions of how this trip would work out. my expectations were so different from what i have experienced so far. I have done field work before with project exploration, i was a junior paleontologist. The work i did with the J.P’s was a dig in a working mammoth site.  The work i did in the mammoth site is soooooooo verrry diferent from the work i am doing here. with the J.P.’s i feel like the work i did with them is definitely not as rugged or hardcore as the work i am doing in montana. Here in montana i am not working in air conditioned enviroments, here in montana i feel like i am truly getting into the wild, looking for fossils and watching out for things such as cacti, ticks, scorpions and cow pies! i love what i’m experiencing on this trip! One other unforgettable part of this trip is the people i’m meeting, i had been told we would be working with other groups but i had no idea how interesting the people i met would be! their curiosity and scientific knowledge amazes me!

some of the discoveries on this ranch that i’ve either made or heard about were human remains, which i found very intriguing because i have an interest in archaeology. there are also bison remains and i have disovered PLENTY! of ammonite and bivalve remains. the fossils found on this property are very special because the dinosaurs here are from the last era that dinosaurs lived on the planet, ive heard that many dinosaur finds have been of triceratops, i hope that i met run into one of those. other fossils found here are edmontosaurus(duck-billed dinosaurs) one interesting thing about the triceratops found here is that it seems that the triceratops here roamed in herds, just like the living cow which now inhabit the land.

i made three finds that i personally hold with much regard. i managed to find a bone piece of some sort of marine reptile. i knew it was bone because of the porous texture and also i licked the bone! the pores stuck to my tounge and i knew for sure, i found a bone! i was even lucky enough to have my find confiscated by Jason! one other find i made was of a very special ammonite and than i found a very complete bivalve that i did a more in depth study on.  for any chicago residents, friends or family, i have  bags of fossils that i look forward to showing off to all of you. so far, this trip has been amazing, i couldnt ask for a better adventure, i feel so sad that it has to end so soon. i truly look forward to my further adventures here and i look forward to sharing them with all my readers! please stay tuned for more fascinating tales and discoveries from the L.I.T ranch, its 11:47 pm right now and i have got to get some rest! keep on adventuring fellow explorers, JJb out.