Dinosaur digs, Dinosaur tours, Dinosaur travel

Our third season was long, busy, and full of exciting discoveries. Our biggest find of the summer was a very rare (1 of 15 specimens in the world), 15 -20 foot long, Polycotylid Plesiosaur from the Greenhorn Formation of Butte County, SD. Most people generally think of the Loch Ness Monster when you mention the word plesiosaur, but our critter, nicknamed "Doc" died over 90 million years ago and had a much shorter neck and longer skull than what most people envision for this animal group.

To date, we have collected over 250 bones (35%) from this specimen, consisting of the entire pelvic girdle, portions of the pectorals (highly weathered), at least three paddles (with rare articulation down to the very tip on two), and fragmentary ribs and vertebrae. Unfortunately, we have not found any bones from the skull to date so exact diagnosis is not possible at this time. Tentatively, we have assigned the specimen to Trinacromerum bentonianum, however that might change as preparation and excavation continues. Most Trinacromerum specimens have been found in Kansas. Our specimen appears to represent the first reported Trinacromerum from South Dakota. A close relative of Trinacromerum is the recently described Pahasapasaurus found a mere 10 miles south near Fruitdale, SD, from an older rock formation. Another close relative would be Dolichorychops, which will take the starring role in an upcoming IMAX movie this fall. Trinacromerum and the other polycotylids ate fish and looked like a penguin crossed with a large reptile.

As always, our exploits in the Hell Creek Formation have yielded fossils. We can add two more bone beds; ENS (Enigma Site) and TD (Tooth Draw). Tooth Draw, was discovered by one of our great land owners, and appears to have a tremendous ammount of potential. The bone bed, consists of over two meters of channel lag conclomerates and sandstones, each of which contains hundreds of small to large fossil bones and teeth (hence the name). Many shed T. rex teeth, Raptor Teeth, Triceratops Teeth, Edmontosaurus and Crocodile teeth have been recovered. Larger bones range from numberous water worn chunks (showing high velocity stream transport) to isolated Triceratops and Duckbill pieces and parts, to potential associated skeletons. In September we began to recover several Thecelosaurus bones that may be from the same animal. Interestingly, we have recovered several more from what appears to be a juvenile Triceratops. We will keep you posted on our progress.

Our other finds include a potential duckbill skeleton, potential Triceratops skeleton and a site we call CS or "cliff site", where Struthiomimumus material has been found eroding out. CS however is going to be a problem since it is about 300 feet in the air with a 75-80 degree slope (I'm not found of heights! LOL!) and another 50 feet of overburden! EEK!

It's now the end of September and what a busy season! Our tour business really picked up this summer with over 20 trips to the field and dozens of happy guests. We made lots of good contacts this year and now have six ranches under contract totalling over 70,000 acreas of land. That should keep us busy for quite awhile.

The majority of the summer was spent chasing ST deep into the hillside. Unfortunately it looks like the bulk of the animal either was not there to begin with or eroded out thousands of years ago (only to be re-buried by quaternary alluvial deposits.) EEKKK! The specimen is now known as "Ruthie" in honor of one of the land owners. Though preparation has not really begun in earnest, it appears Ruthie was a mid-sized, smallish Triceratops horridus. More details as preparation continues.

Also this summer we discovered at least six microsite bone beds including: "HH"- "Horse Head Butte", "DB" "Davis Butte", "CBA" and "CBB", etc. CBA and CBB I believe are from the same prominant channel lag (river) deposit which goes completely through a large butte and comes out the other side. Lots of very interesting microfossils have been recovered from these sites. Contrary to popular opinion, the little fossils tell us more about the Late Cretaceous ecology and climate that the big dinos. From the little fossils we get the bigger picture! Important specimens recovered include a fairly large (about 2 inches across) varanid(?) lizard braincase, mammal bones and teeth, pachycephalosaur toes and claws, and the tiniest raptor(?) toe and phallange that I have ever seen (phallange is less than 1 mm long).

Oh, and by the way... we are presently putting the finishing touches on the new AAPS sponsored "Journal of Paleontological Sciences"(JPS). The JPS is a professional, peer-reviewed, online publication that finally enables for the publication on privately held specimens. I won't even get into the back story and debate on this one it would take all night! Check out www.aaps.net for more information.

The 2006 season is starting off with a bang. We have aquired several new ranches for our investigations, discoverd a few more bone beds and have begun work on "ST" (see below). The specimen appears to be a partial skeleton of a medium sized Triceratops, but that could change after preparation. So far all of the elements are disarticulated with some pre-depositional breaks. The skeleton suffered some predepositional weathering and at least two periods of post depositional weathering (Quaternery alluvial deposits cut off the bone bed and the part of the sacrum). Elements recovered so far (6/1/06), include a large pile or ribs, sacrum, illium (?) and a few dorsal vertebrae.

The 2005 season was a busy one as we tried to tackle the creation of a new business, renovate a 50 year old motel and manage a two year old child(or was he managing us?). Despite the obstacles and the nay-sayers we were able to get into the field an average of two days per week for the entire summer and a good part of the fall. Dig-sites discovered this summer included the following:

CHM- Heather's Mosasaur- Pierre Formation, Butte County, SD- Partial skeleton of a Mosasaurus from the Didymoceras nebrascence zone. HEATHERS FIRST BIG DISCOVERY. Specimen was disarticulated with possible scavenging. A relatively complete skull (pending preparation) was recovered including elements of the neck, torso, and forelimbs. Unfortunately, it appears the majority of the rest of the body and tail were lost to time and the elements. This specimen will be prepared during the Winter and Spring of 2005/6 and will probably be placed on temporary display at the Tri-State Museum in Belle Fourche, SD until it finds a more permanant home.

LGD- Leonards Grey Dino- Hell Creek Formation, Butte County, SD- Partial Triceratops skull and possible skeleton. This specimen was found in a medium to light grey mud-shale and the color of the unweathered bone matches the color of the rock perfectly! Several elements of the skull were recovered, but time prevented further excavation. We intend to re-open the site in the Spring of 2006.

ST- Slump Trike- Hell Creek Formation, Butte County, SD- Partial Triceratops skeleton. Specimen was discovered in the last week of field season so not much was recovered from the site. Specimen looks very promising though. We will re-open this site in the Spring of 2006. (NOW KNOWN AS "Ruthie")

DED- Hell Creek Formation, Butte County, SD- Partial Edmontosaurus skeleton/bone bed in a really bad location. The site had bad access and was located in a remote corner of the ranch. Several bones were recovered including a nice femur but these pending preparation may indicate we are dealing with more than one animal. We may re-open this in the summer of 2006.

LBB1: Leonards Bone Bed- Hell Creek Formation Butte County, SD. Our main tourist dig site. Dozens of isolated elements have been recovered to date from a variety of different genera. These include Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, Edmontosaurus, Dromaeosaurus, Nanotyrannus, Thescelosaurus, and other flora and fauna typical of a Hell Creek micro-site.