perhaps at first glance you wouldn’t
expect to find evidence of marine
animals in the arid deserts and canyons
of southern Utah but a team of
paleontologists believe it’s the perfect
spot led by National Geographic grantee
Barry Albright they’re searching the
remote sections of Grand
staircase-escalante national monument
for the fossilized remains of
Plesiosaurus a large marine reptile that
swam here 93 million years ago I think
one of the biggest questions people ask
is why are we looking for large marine
predatory reptiles in southern Utah you
know we’re not over on the coast of
California though the eastern coast were
not anywhere near an ocean 93 million
years ago the world was an entirely
different place during the age of the
dinosaurs this barren desert was covered
by a vast Inland Sea it stretched all
the way from the Gulf of Mexico to the
Arctic Ocean basically cutting what’s
now America into this area Utah was once
the coastline of the shallow sea
something experts can tell by the
exposed rock
they’re particularly interested in a
gray layer known as tropic shave which
holds fossils of ancient sea life this
area is so inaccessible that a
helicopter had to drop the team here
with enough supplies to last several
days all right here we go here’s a
here’s a fossil not a plesiosaur but
we’ve got a fossil here Alan here’s a
nice oyster check that out yeah I’m a
ceramide yeah yeah team member Alan
Titus has the ability to date layers of
rock by examining fossilized
invertebrates in the shale called
ammonites these ammonites are great
because we call them guide fossils and
they do just that they guide us to the
right layers that we need to be looking
at and in fact this one tells us that
I’m in a layer that’s just a little
below where we should be focusing our
efforts to find Plesiosaurus the team
must hike four miles up and down ridges
and valleys looking for exposed shale
here we go again today’s the day the
traffic shale doesn’t reveal it’s it’s
fossils readily it’s not highly
fossiliferous but you can go literally
for days I’ve spent days and weeks out
here with a crew of six or seven or
eight people and we’ve walked the
tropics yelled eight nine ten hours a
day and not found anything more than a
couple of shark’s teeth so it’s not as
though these please these ores are just
laying around everywhere after searching
for days over rugged terrain something
catches the eye of one of the team
members
what do you think huh I think we got
some vote I think so too
elbowing maybe tell you about listless
there’s more oh here’s a fragment
there’s a fragment get all over in here
okay we’ve got a we’ve got a site here
ah whoa here’s a nice
here’s a nice fragment this stuff is
just eroding out at last they have found
the remains of an ancient Plesiosaurus
and the search is on for bones and clues
oh hey Merle I got a shark’s tooth
finally I got a shark suit right on the
surface
nice one look at that it’s quality core
axe looks like we’re in a let’s say we
found a little zone here that we can
spend some time and we’ve got bone
fragments we’ve got shark’s teeth this
is really encouraging the team gathers
enough fossilized bone fragments to
determine that they’re from a small
species or possibly a juvenile pleasee
asuras were not dinosaurs although they
live during the same time period they
were coniferous reptiles that thrived
under water they had the upper part of
the paddle essentially so just imagine
the shaft of the limb bone coming down
broadening out in this way and also
going from round to flat again along
along the end of this bone would have
been what are equivalent to our wrist
bones and then beyond that extending out
would have been what are equivalent to
our finger bones just like in a in a sea
turtle today or in a dolphin today the
finger bones have been elongated and
there’s many more than just the three
finger bones and each of our fingers
because are out here yes the discoveries
by Albright and his team will help us
better understand what life was like in
our world some 93 million years ago when
dinosaurs ruled the earth and
Plesiosaurus swam a vast Inland Sea
sponsored by National Geographic mission
programs taking science and exploration
into the new millennium
expect to find evidence of marine
animals in the arid deserts and canyons
of southern Utah but a team of
paleontologists believe it’s the perfect
spot led by National Geographic grantee
Barry Albright they’re searching the
remote sections of Grand
staircase-escalante national monument
for the fossilized remains of
Plesiosaurus a large marine reptile that
swam here 93 million years ago I think
one of the biggest questions people ask
is why are we looking for large marine
predatory reptiles in southern Utah you
know we’re not over on the coast of
California though the eastern coast were
not anywhere near an ocean 93 million
years ago the world was an entirely
different place during the age of the
dinosaurs this barren desert was covered
by a vast Inland Sea it stretched all
the way from the Gulf of Mexico to the
Arctic Ocean basically cutting what’s
now America into this area Utah was once
the coastline of the shallow sea
something experts can tell by the
exposed rock
they’re particularly interested in a
gray layer known as tropic shave which
holds fossils of ancient sea life this
area is so inaccessible that a
helicopter had to drop the team here
with enough supplies to last several
days all right here we go here’s a
here’s a fossil not a plesiosaur but
we’ve got a fossil here Alan here’s a
nice oyster check that out yeah I’m a
ceramide yeah yeah team member Alan
Titus has the ability to date layers of
rock by examining fossilized
invertebrates in the shale called
ammonites these ammonites are great
because we call them guide fossils and
they do just that they guide us to the
right layers that we need to be looking
at and in fact this one tells us that
I’m in a layer that’s just a little
below where we should be focusing our
efforts to find Plesiosaurus the team
must hike four miles up and down ridges
and valleys looking for exposed shale
here we go again today’s the day the
traffic shale doesn’t reveal it’s it’s
fossils readily it’s not highly
fossiliferous but you can go literally
for days I’ve spent days and weeks out
here with a crew of six or seven or
eight people and we’ve walked the
tropics yelled eight nine ten hours a
day and not found anything more than a
couple of shark’s teeth so it’s not as
though these please these ores are just
laying around everywhere after searching
for days over rugged terrain something
catches the eye of one of the team
members
what do you think huh I think we got
some vote I think so too
elbowing maybe tell you about listless
there’s more oh here’s a fragment
there’s a fragment get all over in here
okay we’ve got a we’ve got a site here
ah whoa here’s a nice
here’s a nice fragment this stuff is
just eroding out at last they have found
the remains of an ancient Plesiosaurus
and the search is on for bones and clues
oh hey Merle I got a shark’s tooth
finally I got a shark suit right on the
surface
nice one look at that it’s quality core
axe looks like we’re in a let’s say we
found a little zone here that we can
spend some time and we’ve got bone
fragments we’ve got shark’s teeth this
is really encouraging the team gathers
enough fossilized bone fragments to
determine that they’re from a small
species or possibly a juvenile pleasee
asuras were not dinosaurs although they
live during the same time period they
were coniferous reptiles that thrived
under water they had the upper part of
the paddle essentially so just imagine
the shaft of the limb bone coming down
broadening out in this way and also
going from round to flat again along
along the end of this bone would have
been what are equivalent to our wrist
bones and then beyond that extending out
would have been what are equivalent to
our finger bones just like in a in a sea
turtle today or in a dolphin today the
finger bones have been elongated and
there’s many more than just the three
finger bones and each of our fingers
because are out here yes the discoveries
by Albright and his team will help us
better understand what life was like in
our world some 93 million years ago when
dinosaurs ruled the earth and
Plesiosaurus swam a vast Inland Sea
sponsored by National Geographic mission
programs taking science and exploration
into the new millennium
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