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

Favourites from the Royal Pavilion Gardens — Ulex europeus, Gorse

Ulex europeus, Gorse

Give yourself 5 minutes of pure pleasure and swing through the Royal Pavilion Gardens. The spring / early summer garden is looking marvellous this year, about a month ahead of itself due to recent hot, sunny weather.

The tapestry of the many shades of green, the seemingly ‘accidental’ contrasts of structure, form and leaf shape, highlighted by patches of luminous yellows – much as we see in our Downland countryside – are both tranquil and pleasing. Plants are arranged in a supposedly ‘haphazard’ fashion in order to appear more natural, and importantly, more attractive to the many garden birds and are punctuated by clumps of gorse (Ulex europaeus) spilling over like pools of sunlight.

Pause downwind for a moment, especially if the sun is shining, to catch a whiff of the rich, coconut perfume and listen to the humming of the bees.

Ulex europeus, Gorse

Gorse, also known as Furze, is native to much of Western Europe. It is a thorny evergreen which flowers throughout the winter but most strongly in the spring when a carpet of yellow blossom covers each bush. There are two forms, the common single flowered gorse and the double flowered form – Ulex europaus ‘Flore Plena’. Both can be seen in many locations throughout the Royal Pavilion Gardens.

The photographs are of the double flowers. Gorse brings to the Gardens that touch of natural influence so admired by gardeners in Regency times.

Finally, a tip for gardeners: when pruning your gorse into shape, save the clippings to strew around your choice new plants. The spiny prickles are a strong deterrent for slugs and snails with their supersoft bodies.

Veronica, Volunteer Gardener, Royal Pavilion Gardens

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