This is Throwback Thursday #162. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc ...), please sent them to [email protected] Thanks!
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Back in Throwback Thursday #137, we looked at the traveling Archaeopteryx exhibit back in 1997. Althiough it was only at the Field Museum from October 4th to the 19th, actual Archaeopteryx fossils were on display for the first time in the United States, ESCONI was there for a field trip on the last day, October 19th, 1997.
About 10 years earlier on April 9th, 1987, Jerry Sullivan, who wrote the Field & Street column in the Chicago Reader, wrote an article about Archaeopteryx. You might remember Jerry and Field & Street from Throwback Thursday #87, where we posted about his field trip to collect Mazon Creek fossils in Pit 11 in 1991. Jerry was an urban naturalist. His columns covered many topics touching on the delicate urban ecosystems that exist in Chicago and other cities. The University of Chicago Press has a book that contains a collection of his columns. It's an interesting read.
A selection of savvy observations on urban ecology from one of the Midwest’s foremost authorities on the subject, Hunting for Frogs on Elston collects the best of naturalist Jerry Sullivan’s weekly Field & Street columns, originally published in the Chicago Reader. Engaging, opinionated, inspiring, and occasionally irreverent, Hunting for Frogs on Elston pays tribute to Chicago’s natural history while celebrating one of its greatest champions.
Published in association with the Chicago Wilderness coalition, Hunting for Frogs on Elston comprehensively chronicles Chicagoland’s unique urban ecology, from its indigenous prairie and oft-delayed seasons to its urban coyotes and passenger pigeons. In witty, informed prose, Sullivan evokes his adventures netting dog-faced butterflies, hunting rattlesnakes, and watching fireflies mate. Inspired by regional flora and fauna, Sullivan ventures throughout the metropolis and its environs in search of sludge worms, gyrfalcons, and wild onions. In reporting his findings to otherwise oblivious urbanites, Sullivan endeavors to make “alienated, atomized, postmodern people feel at home, connected to something beyond ourselves.“
In the sprawling Chicagoland region, where an urban ecosystem teeming with remarkable life evolves between skyscrapers and train tracks, no writer chronicled the delicate balance of nature and industry more vividly than Jerry Sullivan. An homage to the urban ecology Sullivan loved so dearly, Hunting for Frogs on Elston is his fitting legacy as well as a lasting gift to the urban naturalist in us all.
The Berlin Archaeopteryx specimen (A. siemensii).
His Archaeopteryx article is very good and still very relevant. He researched his topics well.
The oldest known bird fossil was dug out of a limestone quarry in Bavaria in 1861. It was given the genus name Archaeopteryx, ancient winged, and since the quarry was the source of the fine-grained limestone used for lithographic printing, the species name became lithographica.
We know from the age of the rocks where it was found that Archaeopteryx lived about 150 million years ago during the Jurassic period of the Mesozoic era. Its contemporaries included a variety of dinosaurs, among them the first pterosaurs, the flying reptiles, as well as primitive mammals and the first frogs.
Archaeopteryx was about the size of a crow. It was beautifully preserved in the stone. You can see every bone in its body, and if that was all you could see, you would suspect th at you were looking at the remains of a reptile. The ancient winged one had large, heavy jawbones armed with teeth set in sockets. Its wing bones end in large, heavy claws, and its long, sinuous tail contains no less than 20 vertebrae.
Modern birds have lightweight beaks rather than big jawbones, and no living bird has any teeth. There is a South American bird called the hoatzin that retains a wing claw, which it uses mainly for climbing, but all other birds have clawless wings. And of course the tails of modern birds have been reduced to a tiny stump that scientists call the pygostyle and the rest of us refer to as the pope’s nose.
He reported correctly that Archaeopteryx was a bird. However, it wasn't yet accepted that it was also a dinosaur. All birds are dinosaurs. That is one of the most exciting developments in dinosaur paleontology since Jerry wrote this piece. It's nice to know that not all the dinosaurs went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous Period about 65 million years ago. Technically, we are still in the Age of Dinosaurs as there are more than twice as many bird species as mammals. So, next time you see a robin at your bird feeder, remember his distant cousin Tyrannosaurus rex and appreciate the incredible journey of evolution that has taken place over millions of years. From the colossal and fearsome dinosaurs that once roamed the Earth to the delicate and agile birds that grace our skies today, these remarkable creatures are a testament to the resilience and adaptability of life. Take a moment to marvel at the extraordinary diversity of life forms and the interconnectedness of our natural world, and let it inspire a sense of awe and wonder in your heart.
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