Rare Discoveries at the Booth Museum

Edmontonia Dinosaur, a related species of the Ankylosaurus. Artist impression © Mariana Ruiz Villarreal (wikimedia commons)

Following the visit of a noted academic, a number of the fossils in Brighton Museum’s collections have been found to be preserved parts of armoured dinosaurs (nodosaurids) commonly known as anklyosaurs. Any examples of nodosaurid fossils are rare in the United Kingdom, so to have so many ‘discovered’ at one time is quite exciting.

The discovery started last year when Andy Ottaway, an occasional volunteer at the Booth Museum, came across a fossil he suspected to be part of an Ankylosaur. He contacted his colleague Dr William Blows, an expert on the nodosaurids (armoured dinosaurs) who was interested, but unable to visit at that time.

Dr William Blows

Jumping forward to April 2012, Dr Blows was invited to speak at the Brighton Geological Society meeting at Blatchington Mill. He took the opportunity to visit the Booth Museum collections and look at the possible ankylosaur bone, as well as looking through the other fossils associated with it. The fossil was a part of the collection of Arthur Foster Griffith, an alderman of Brighton, who donated large collections to Brighton Museum, and was involved with the Booth Museum. This particular collection was a large number of specimens from the Cambridge Green Sand formation. The specimens are all identified as belonging to the Upper Albian of the Cretaceous period dating them to between 99.6 and 112 million years old. Although the fossils have no record of when they were collected, it seems reasonable that Griffith, a lifelong Brightonian, may have collected or purchased them whilst at university at Cambridge in the 1870s.

Presacral

The bone initially thought to be part of an ankylosaur was formally identified as the anterior end of a pre-sacral rod. This was explained as a ‘series of fused dorsal vertebrae which is fused to the anterior end of the sacrum’. This pre-sacral rod is combined with the sacrum to form the synsacrum, a characteristic unique to nodosaurid dinosaurs.

Through Dr Blow’s further exploration of the collection, he was also able to identify a number of nodosaurid dermal scutes, which are hard plate scales on the animal’s skin (hence armoured dinosaurs).

Collar

His final discovery was a particularly rare series of fossils making up part of the cervical armour ring that was found around the dorsal surface of an nodosaurid neck. These had all been labelled simply as ‘deinosaurian’.

Dr Blows now hopes to publish our specimens as part of a scientific paper, giving our collections wider exposure in the scientific community. His talk to the Geological Society was also a great success and the nodosaurid skull casts he brought along as props were fascinating.

Lee Ismail, Curator of Natural Sciences

Practising Taxidermy at the Booth

I’ve been interested in Taxidermy since I was around 9 years old, when I went to visit a family friend’s home in Norfolk. This particular family friend is Emily Mayer; a very talented and successful Taxidermist. I was overwhelmed with the realisation that the animals I admired so much could have their beauty preserved after death, and I was completely in awe.

Georgia practising taxidermy

I started collecting taxidermy a couple of years ago, when I was finally in a position where I could afford to save up for the odd piece! This ‘collection’ only consists of a Pine Martin, a Japanese Courli bird (both bought at markets in Brighton) and a magpie so far, but it can only grow!

Back in September 2011, I was put in touch with Lee Ismail, Curator of Natural Sciences at the Booth Museum, because I decided that I wanted to learn how to do Taxidermy myself, so that I could appreciate and understand the art of it, and be able to put the skills to good use.

Lee has a collection of headless seagulls in the workshop freezer, so on my first day he started by letting me practice on its body whilst he supervised and worked on a woodpecker.

The level of detail and precision required was more than I could have imagined… Making sure you pull all the innards out without cutting through the skin is a job that requires patience and a strong stomach!

Despite the smell of the seagull’s guts, it was a really interesting experience.

Seagull Wing

Since then, I have done a seagull wing and a seagull foot, which is a bit simpler than the body as it’s just a case of pulling out some tendons. On my second or third session, I really enjoyed sewing up a seagull foot, which I then took home. I’m planning on mounting it in a frame and putting on my wall!

Last week, Lee got out an old buzzard which had been skinned a while back, but that still needed stuffing for use as a study piece for the Booth Museum. I really enjoyed making its body mould, as it involves measuring the exact size of the bird and making a shape out of wood wool, with cotton reel wrapped tightly around it to make it sturdy.

Once the shape was right, it was placed inside the bird and I sewed it up. With the wire now stuck through its legs, and up its neck and through the forehead, it was no longer the limp corpse of a bird. It was beginning to take form and look lifelike.

This made me very happy and excited; I can’t wait to carry on with it next time I’m at the Booth Museum again.

Georgia Flowers, Volunteer

Look what we found in some amber!

Shortly before Christmas last year, a trained geologist in our team was cleaning up a piece of old amber in the school loan collections. To his surprise, he discovered several invertebrates trapped inside the amber, including a spider and a fly. We have taken several photos which you can find on Flickr.

A fly and a spider trapped in amber

Amber is fossilised tree resin, which has been used since prehistoric times to make jewellery and other decorative items. The Bronze Age amber cup on display at Hove Museum is a famous example of its use. In its original sticky state, insects and other invertebrates can step on the amber. Once trapped, they are quickly engulfed by the resin. The amber hardens over time, and the creature can remain preserved for millions of years.

An invertebrate's eyes, captured in amber

Fossils have an odd habit of being discovered unexpectedly. This story published yesterday about the discovery of a collection of Charles Darwin’s fossil specimens in the vault of the British Geological Survey is another example.