THE DYNAMIC EARTH: A BLOG ABOUT GEOLOGY AND THE EARTH SCIENCES

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Neoichnology

Wandering around the autumnal woods here, I ran across a muddy little puddle that had been visited by at least a couple of different kinds of critters. You can clearly see the weird, hand-like footprints of a raccoon, as well as a the huge footprint of an extant therapod known for it's deliciousness (a turkey). Beercap I had in my pocket for scale.



This little puddle must have been a busy place; lots of animals had stopped by for a visit. Of course, if I was feeling snarky, I might make a joke at the expense of some dinosaur track people (about the Raccoon actively stalking the turkey, who had fled in terror from its masked foe). But, I'm not felling snarky, so I won't.

On an unrelated note, is it just me, or does everyone else out there ALWAYS want to somehow ensure animal tracks get preserved? Like dump a bunch of sand on em or something, so they enter the record. Whence comes this weird compulsion, I wonder?

8 comments:

Callan Bentley said...

Pretty handy, just HAPPENING to have a beer bottle cap in your pocket. A little TOO handy, if you ask me... :)

Eric said...

"Always Be Prepared" - Motto of the Drunk Scouts of America

Silver Fox said...

Did you have any sand in your other pockets? ;)

Eric said...

nope, I'm just happy to see you!

Bryan said...

I disagree with your interpretation about the raccoon stalking the turkey. Clearly it was the other way round with the turkey ambushing the raccoon. The evidence also suggests the turkey was able to run at a top speed of about 95 mph (we were only fortunate that one footprint landed in the mud).

And the little footprints were from scavengers which followed around the noble (and terrifying) turkey, hoping to pick up scraps from a delectable raccoon dinner.

Hopefully that is snarky enough. ;-)

Eric said...

I bow to your superior neoichnological and paleopredationary knowledge!

You'll go far in the paleo world, Turner!

Bryan said...

hey hey,

no reason to say things that we can't take back.

;-)

Eric said...

BURN!

I shall henceforth call you Sir Bryan of Burn, Lord of Burnington Castle, in the Duchy of Scorch.