A 12-year-old boy from Bay Minette, Alabama, recently discovered a rare fossil in Greene County.
The University of Alabama says Aiden Taylor was on a week-long trip with the university's Museum Expedition when he found a fossil of a reptile that roamed the planet millions of years ago.
But the fossil is not technically part of a dinosaur. Dr. Dana Ehret, Curator of Paleontology for the university museum, says it is a neck vertebra of an Elasmosaurus. That was a large marine reptile with a long neck and paddles for front and hind limbs that lived near the end of the dinosaur age, from 90 million to 65 million years ago.
Ehret says Elasmosaurus fossils are particularly rare, and the vertebra is definitely part of the same specimen another middle school student found in the same area two years ago. He says they were specifically looking for more vertebra in that area.
The fossil will be cleaned at the school's Paleontology Prep Lab and will possibly be put on display this fall.
Mayors from across the country including two from Alabama are headed back from the annual United States Conference of Mayors in San Francisco.
The conference was an opportunity for mayors to collaborate and share ideas for dealing with issues in their cities. They also develop policies that are voted on and eventually submitted to the U.S. Congress.
Birmingham mayor William A. Bell was among the delegates. Bell says one of the main policy focuses at this year’s conference was trying to find a way to fund new infrastructure.
“Our bridge structures – many of them have been in place since the 1920s if not longer, and they require constant maintenance. So if we could get the support of Congress to approve the legislation that was put forward, we would have the funding to address the needs of our roads as well as our bridge structures in the city of Birmingham.”
Bell says some other policy issues affecting Birmingham that he’s been working on include measures to restore property value and improve quality of life in city centers.
A twenty year tradition is continuing this week at The Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo in Gulf Shores. The zoo is hosting its own summer camp this week. Kids from 3 to 11 years old will get to see the animals up close, and learn from zookeepers.
One experiment demonstrates how other animals interact with antelope in the wild. General manager Kim Dahlgren says kids build fake antelope out of cardboard boxes. She says the so-called boxelopes are put into the cages with real animals.
“When the animals come in, it’s all different and they have to go re-scent their markers to now. So we’ll actually spray some of the boxelopes with the cheap perfume and it attracts them, or they might put some treats on the inside of those boxelope so when they do attack and kill it it does have something for them.”
Dahlgren hopes the kids leave zoo camp with a greater respect for the animals and a sense of responsibility for them.