We had no idea that Australia has such a rich dinosaur history, apart from the obviously named Dinosaur Cove down in Victoria, that is. We were so surprised to find Kronosaurus Korner and further fuel the fascination that Amelia has for fossils. (And her mother some would say! ;)
Kronosaurus Korner, located in Richmond, Queensland (despite the off-putting spelling) was simply brilliant. The town Richmond is about 400 kms east of Mt Isa which was where we had to stay for a few days. I haven't taken any photos in Mount Isa, the mining town as we weren't able to do much touristy activities given Amelia was too young. But I made up for the in Richmond with numerous photos of the spectacular fossils and dinosaur remains, some dating back 100 million years. Amelia was in her element, racing around the museum excitedly, only slowing down to listen to the audio guide every now and then. She was particularly impressed with the children's corner where she was able to play at palentology and uncover her own dinosaur skeleton. The musuem is well placed in the middle of an impressive area for fossils and is still a working laboratory, with regular digs and archeological work being undertaken to restore items discovered.
The best part of all is the way the general public has been involved in the entire musuem, with regular station owners finding fossils on their land in the course of their daily farming life. People are invited to partake in fossicking and share their finds with the "experts". In this post I'll endeavour to explain some of the more important finds...
At the entry is a giant lifesize model of the kronosaurus, a short necked pliosaur (a marine reptile) which was discovered nearby. A fascinating fact relating to the size of this monster is that it's teeth were 30 cms long- or about the size of a big banana.
This pliosaur fossil was discovered by a team from Harvard University from a site near Richmond in 1932. The tip of it's skull which was found is 54 cms in length, shown here against a crocodile skull indicating it's true size to be much larger. The complete skull is guessed to be 2 metres in length- he was huge! Twice the size of the skull of a Tyrannasaurus Rex.
The pliosaur was a marine reptile having lived during the time when much of western Queensland was a shallow Cretaceous inland sea, approx. 120 million years ago. Only a few of these have been found, with many in the same area of Queensland. It was named Kronosaurus after the Greek God of the time, Kronos who ate his own children. The Australian kronosaurus lived for a long period of time, estimated at 16 million years so scientists believe there were probably many different species. Kronosaurus were also found in northern Columbia, South America. The contents of the stomach of the fossils recovered indicated their diet consisted of fish, large sharks, turtles and other marine creatures.
The map showing where the inland sea was and the altered coastline.
The fossilised skeleton below is of an Ichthyosaur- or "fish lizard". The ichthyosaur was a dolphin like reptile that ruled the ocean during the age of the dinosaurs. They had large flippers and a tail like a shark and were very powerful swimmers. Their excellent eyesight enabled them to see clearly in the ocean depths and they fed on large squid like creatures and other fish. They lived in the sea 100 million years ago and grew to be 7 metres in length. This one was found nearby on the Sutherland cattle station, 100 kms north west of Richmond.
Also found in the area was an Elasmosaur- a long necked reptile with a smaller head than the kronosaurus. This animal would have been 8 metres long, with more than half that being the length of his neck. Many of the fossils found have been minus the head- which would easily have broken off over the years under the ground.
Ammonities were another common find in the area- very similar to today's Nautilus. They are also related to the octopus and cuttlefish. They are easily recognised by their coiled shape and chambers within. The interesting thing is that only the chamber right next to the opening was occupied by the animal. As it grew, new chambers were created and the older ones filled with liquid and gas which enabled the animal to move up and down in the water.
They were named after the ancient Egyptian God Ammon who was depicted as having horns on his head. The largest ammonite found was a big as a tractor tyre. They had eyes, jaws and tentacles, and could propel themselves through the water using a type of jet propulsion.
Turtles were also found in the Richmond area. The most common; Notochelone, is similar in size to today's green turtle.
Here's our little palaeontologist hard at work near the incredible laboratory.
Various fish fossils have been found in remarkably good condition...
Cooyoo Australis, which grew up to 3 metres long was a giant high speed predator
The next dinosaur we saw was called Minmi, who was land based and it lived about 100 million years ago.
What Minmi would have looked like.
I just found a little photobomber in the background of this shot!
What Minmi would have looked like.
And the most well preserved giant pliosaur (not really a dinosaur- a marine reptile) was present.. It's on loan from QLD Museum and is considered an excellent specimen, having been relatively quickly buried in marine sediment and limestone. This one had been injured before death possibly by a kronosaurus, and has an injured flipper. It was most likely killed by a blow to the head
As you can imagine we loved learning more about Australia's exciting dinosaur history and the day was a great success with Amelia. (We're also planning to visit the site of the largest known dinosaur stampede in the world- in Winton, just down the road)
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