4.5 billion years in the making, this past Sunday's event at the Headwaters Outdoor Education Center was one for the history books. With a table covered in a variety of fossils and dinosaur figures Mr. Wayne Fowler held up a peculiar looking fossil. Quite small and lobe shaped, the fossil was passed around the 50-person audience.
"This is coprolite," explained Fowler, "Coprolite is a trace fossil, meaning that rather than being the body, or part of the body, of a creature, it is fossilized evidence that the creature left behind."
Much like foot-prints, claw marks or
nesting sites, paleontologists can study these trace fossils to learn about the organisms that left them. So what is coprolite?
"Fossilized dino poop," Fowler admitted to a crowd of mixed reactions.
Wayne is a resident of Marion County and gained an interest in paleontology while working as a docent volunteer for the Columbus Zoo. Previously, Mr. Fowler worked for the Boy Scouts of America. His passion for eras passed is electric.
"The only consistency in Paleontology is that it changes over time," Wayne describes, "As we study ancient life, we learn. Learning leads to changing course of thought and corrects assumptions made before, prior to new evidences being discovered. The study of dinosaurs didn't really take off until the mid-1800's. The field is young."
Several examples of continued learning in the field were shared by Mr. Fowler, including the function of the horns on a triceratops' head. While it might seem obvious as to while an herbivore might have spears protruding from it's face in the time of the dinosaurs, the triceratops' skull could not withstand the impact of a head-on collision. Current conjecture suggests the horns of this giant to have been all for show as a breeding display.
A difficulty in the study of ancient is understanding the changing landscape of the Earth. As organisms are fossilized they are embedded in the strata of sediment layers that make up the continents. Nothing on Earth is permanent, including the location of land masses. Tectonic plates, giant slabs of rock making up the Earth's surface, are continuously shifting and moving the continents, in turn, the fossils within them.
"Where we find fossils may not be where the creature actually lived on Earth." Wayne continued, "If fact, even the ecosystems you are finding creatures in may not match their needs. Things change drastically over time. Ohio is home to many fossils that contain ancient sea life. That's because millions of years ago, when these fossils were being formed, Ohio was under water and teeming with shelled-marine animals."
Ohio's State Fossil illustrates this fact. Isotelus is a giant trilobite (ocean dwelling invertebrate) from the Late Ordovician. The fossil, that was discovered in the Cincinnati area, was given the title of State Fossil in 1985.
Ohio is also home to larger fauna that once roamed the landscape. Mastodons, Mammoths and bear-sized beaver body fossils have been excavated from farmland in the north-central part of the state.
At the conclusion of Mr. Fowler's presentation the guests were invited to try there own luck finding dinosaurs in a mock dig-site, try their hand at building wooden dinosaurs and learning the ways in which you can tell a lot about an animal based on its skull.
If you are interested in legal seeking fossils in the Buckeye State, visit the Ohio Department of Natural Resources page identifying collection sites.
Later this summer, Mr. Fowler will be holding his annual Paleontology at the Park event with the Marion County Park District. Visit the Marion Tallgrass Trailhead on Saturday, September 21st to walk the Path to the Past. There will be opportunities to learn about Marion's woolly mammoth, dinosaur themed games, crafts and activities, meet-and-greets with real paleontologists, displays detailing Ohio's ancient history. Volunteers are needed for this event, please contact Wayne Fowler at wjfrog64@yahoo.com with your interest.
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