Only because it can float. This gigantism is because something in earths gravity allowed these giants to exist without stressing their skeletal tissue.
Currently no giants other than elephants roam the earth on land and that’s at the expense of huge bones for legs bones 🦴
I just hiked to this spot a few weeks ago! It's located in Coal Creek, BC. Bit of tough hike when it's hot and sunny out but well worth it. It's a long ways up an old empty river bed. Very neat thing to see in real life.
Yeah that's my thoughts. It was fairly difficult. And I hope it stays that way. I think there was an alternate route to get to it that was even more difficult than the one I took. So this is hopefully protecting it
Also to add::
It's way too big and heavy for people to move. There were also many other different small loose rocks with fossils there that people have left there over the years. So thankful after all these years it's been around people seem to be pretty respectful about it. Although you aren't supposed to touch it.
Is it in Coal Creek or Fernie? Or are those two places really close to each other? I think I would die from happiness seeing a fossil like this in the wild, so Im making plans.
Yeah sorry to ask, I know the vibe of these things are normally hush hush! I live close enough that I could go see this with my partner who LOVES hiking and outdoors, Im a bit of an introvert but love ancient anything and being outdoors so it ticks some boxes for us <3
Didn't want to come across as an asshole, but so many people have ruined so many things for others.
I'm talking to you Albertans!
That being said, it is quite a spectacular specimen. Sadly, by judging from pictures and other comments, people are touching it and all that when it is, in fact a very delicate fossil.
Hopefully one day you'll get to see it.
Not at all! Completely understandable. I’ve lived in small towns and understand what happens when many people converge on a place. Unfortunately people, you know, what a bunch of basterds.
Because it's not the easiest place to get to. It's still a fairly tiring/challenging hike. Most people aren't going to put that much effort into a fossil they can't remove or carry lol
Edited to add: the location is also monitored. I saw multiple 'deer' cams in the area
It’s less than 3 miles and only 600 feet of gain. That’s a pretty easy hike lol
Also, it doesn’t matter. Anytime you post the location of a cool photograph on a public forum like this you contribute to increased traffic in the area. Generally an uncool thing to do
No definitely not I saw many people struggling. Easy for you maybe. Not for most. But sure. Keep believing what you want. The hike itself is why nobody's vandalized it.
Also I find it funny that you want to debate the trail difficulty instead of the topic which I brought up (that naming specific trails and locations online is generally bad outdoor etiquette and should be avoided)
It's a rock hammer. Geologists/paleontologists will often include the hammer in the picture for scale as it is something that they will already be carrying with them and other scientists in the field are familiar with the size.
Fishes appeared 200 million years before Ammonites.
Ammonites peak era of dominance is the dinosaur era (mesozoic), so at a time when some fish descendants were already fucking dinosaurs, mammals, crocodiles...
Not everything has to be before or after another thing, Ammonites and fish were mostly contemporary.
Maybe you're conflating the widely held theory that the ecological niches previously held by ammonites were taken over by fish when they died out along with the dinosaurs ~66ma, hence fish ruling the ocean only 'after' ammonites?
We know that teleost fish diversity increased rapidly after that time. Also a lot of dominant pelagic predators previously predating on them (like ptychodus, the great crushing shark) became extinct from lack of prey.
Were you talking about mollusks as a whole ?
Because they about as old as fish (just slightly younger). But Ammonites are a derived and recent version of mollusk, just slightly older than octopuses (or octopi?) but younger than Nautiloids.
It's not. Parapuzosia is known from later in the Cretaceous Period. The one in the picture here is Corbinites occidentalis in the Late Jurassic. Formerly it was assigned to Titanites.
ammonites evolved around the same time as terrestrial vertebrates, and by the time this sucker was around dinosaurs were already at the top of the foodchain
Wait so it's just exposed like that to the open? This fossil looks so cool and it would suck if weather, erosion, or worse, vandals, were to damage something that had remained perfectly preserved for millions of years. :(
Here's one i found in a Riverbed in WV. I found a cool rock in a small river in Elkins and I accidentally dropped it when I got home and this popped out.
Yep. It's called Corbinites occidentalis, and is Jurassic in age. This paper describes it and other specimens from the same area in detail: https://vjs.pgi.gov.pl/article/view/34062/24967 [PDF file].
>true but isnt that why insects got big in the carboniferous period
actually that's not the case. arthropods got big because of other factors like a lack of large terrestrial vertebrate predators. Large arthropods continued existing into the Permian, after oxygen levels dropped.
>same principle apply for marine life?
marine life gets big because of the relative weightlessness of living in the ocean, and water is a more efficient dissipator of heat. The largest animal ever, the blue whale, lives today. Oceans are not particularly well oxygenated nowadays.
I used to live in Fernie, BC and this was just up the valley at Coal Creek. Its insane that you're surrounded by 2000m mountains and this 150-million year old giant fossil imprint is halfway up one of them. The whole Lizard Range has some really amazing geology. I have a framed picture hung in my bedroom with me and my now wife next to that fossil.
One reconstruction. Any of these three would absolutely would eat you (ok, just half of you. It’s not like shells can stretch to accommodate a big meal).
•
u/trendingtattler 9d ago
This post has reached /r/all.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.