Dinosaurs Alive! at Louisville Zoo

The Louisville Zoo will be hosting an animatronic dinosaur exhibit from March to October 2010.  These 16 dinosaur models will roar and move like living animals.  See robotic creatures like the Brachiosaurus (Late Jurassic), Deinonychus (Early Cretaceous), Cryolophosaurus (Early Jurassic), and Tyrannosaurus rex (Late Cretaceous).

The zoo will also have a hands on activity so kids can be a paleontologist and study a fossil site with brushes and sifters to discover dinosaur remains.  The gift show will have a place to buy dinosaur merchandise at the Shopasaurus.

The exhibit was created by Billings Productions of McKinney, Texas.  Visit their website to get an idea of the types of dinosaurs produce.

Regular zoo admission will have a special attraction fee of $4 for Zoo members and $5 for non-members.  Children age 2 and under are free.  Call the zoo at (502) 238-5348 for more info or visit their website at www.louisvillezoo.org

 Real fossils are on display as well like this fish fossil from the Green River Formation of Wyoming probably from the Eocene Period (approximately 55-35 million years ago).

Fossils in Indiana Limestone

Microfossils of the Salem Limestone (aka Indiana Limestone) that existed in the Middle Mississippian Period (340-335 million years ago). Sections of this limestone quarried near Bloomington and Bedford Indiana were used as material for famous buildings around the United States. Buildings such as New York City's Empire State Building & Rockefeller Center and Washington's Pentagon & National Cathedral.  One can learn more about the role of Salem Limestone in the building of the United States in Chapter 6 of the book Stories in Stone: Travels Through Urban Geology by David B. Williams.

This fossil is some sort of bryozoan.  Using its picture it might be a Fenestella or Hemitrypa.

Fossils found in Washington County, Indiana.

 

Thanks to Herb for the Salem Limestone sand material to study.

Endothyra baileyi Foraminifera

Foraminifera fossils from the Salem Limestone of Washington County, Indiana. These creatures are called Endothyra baileyi and existed 360-325 million years ago (Mississippian Period).  Microfossils were studied quite a bit by the oil exploration industry so they could determine the rock layers drills had reached to help find fossil fuels.  I am not sure if they have the same importance today with the proliferation of advanced sensing technology.

Endothyra baileyi foraminifera (Webster's dictionary: "marine protozoans with calcareous shells full of tiny holes through which slender filaments project") described by James Hall in Transactions Albany Institute, volume IV, page 34 published in 1856.  The description is "Shell depressed, orbicular, sub-equally convex above and below, smooth, margin rounded, indented by the septa; spire depressed, involved; last volution slightly oblique, consisting of eight loculi; aperture contracted. The general form of this fossil is depressed, globular, with the involutions deviating slightly from the same plane. Not infrequently, however, the spire ascends in greater or less degree, and one of more loculi become visible beyond the single volution. Sometimes seven loculi only are visible in the volutions. The surface is smooth under the ordinary magnifier, and the outline is indented at the septa."

Listing found in Fauna of the Salem Limestone of Indiana section written by E.R. Cumings, J.W. Beede, E.B. Branson, and Essie A. Smith in the Indiana Department of Geology and Natural Resources Thirtieth Annual Report from 1905 on pages 1201-1202.

Thanks to Herb for the Salem Limestone sand.