No Vacation! Starring Snark W. Griswold

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Some mo'....

Shark and ray teeth, dolphin teeth, dolphin ear bones...
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I like serrated teeth...
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Fused neck vertebrae of a large dolphin
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Galeocerdoshark said:
Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit a new fossil funting ground. They're building a new wing for a hospital. Last week, already 4 partial skeletons of whales had been found there. Yesterday nobody from the museum was present but I decided to take a day off from work and explore the site with a buddy of mine, mainly for hunting sharkteerh.

The day went very well. We were able to collect a bunch of stuff and brought home a lot of residue that we still need to go through. When the day was slowly coming to an end, my buddy and me started finding some broken pieces of bone. He jokingly stated we might be on to another whale. I laughed it off and he said 'imagine we'd find a skull'.

A minute later I heard a hollow thwack when I put my shovel in the dirt... Yep, part of the skull of an intermediate sized whale. They call this part the basicranium.
So we rang up our contact at the museum, the guy came along and was extatic. You can't really identify marine vertabrates based on ribs or vertebrae (which are the most commonly found pieces) but the skull is crucial. Hence, he was super psyched. Of course we donated the piece to the museum for future research.
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I'm confused. And please don't take this wrong. How did you manage to get into the site? If they had started finding major fossil piecesthere, it seems it would be a restricted area? Or is it just not done that way? Plus, here in the states, constructions sites a restricted areas anyway, so any trespassers can be prosecuted. (I think the construction companies just do that so they are covered if anyone goes into the construction area and then gets hurt; they can't sue the construction company if they were there against posted signs -- well, not easily, anyway.)

Not trying to start trouble. Just interested how that all works in your country.
 
I'm a volunteer at the main natural history museum in our country. They often call up a bunch of their volunteers when stuff needs to be dug up quickly on temporary sites like this one. They're mainly interested in the large marine mammals, so all the whale and major dolphin stuff is donated to their collection for research. We get to keep the rest (shells, loose bones, shark teeth,...). Win win.

10 years ago when another wing of the hospital was constructed, the guys working at the construction site notified the museum they found bones. That's the first whale on that site that was found. An agreement was made back then that when the hospital was about to add additional wings, they would contact the museum again to oversee the dig site once the right depth was met. They kept their word on that agreement and we were allowed permission.
 
dogboye said:
That. Is. AWESOME!

Thanks for explaining, and your patience with an ignorant American.
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Sure no problem! It usually comes down to some basic decency tbh. Quite often me or one of my buddies just go talk to the construction overseer when we see a new pit being dug. We always have some kind of credentials with us, scientific papers where we're mentioned in the acknowledgements or some we've helped write ourselves so our names are among the author list. That helps a lot. Depending on the person the reactions usually range from 'sure go ahead, just stay out of the way of the dumpsters and excavators' to 'ok but only on weekends when we're not working'. We've rarely been turned down. Not trying to sound political - because on the topic of weaponry, the US and most European countries are like two different worlds apart- but a plus is that we don't have to worry about possibly getting some slugs or a 9mm bullet in our ass :D

Things are different for quarries that are still being operated though. They're rather permanent instead of the temporary nature of a construction site and in some quarries people have been killed (long story short: people that disregarded most if not all safety requirements like do not dig in quarry walls cuz your helmet won't help you if a few tons of sand or rock start sliding). Hence, they're wary for insurance claims and such, and don't often allow people in.

Edit: maybe to clarify a bit further on your first post regarding the topic: we don't really have a culture of sueing people or corporations here at all. It seems very American to me, maybe because of TV, not sure. Maybe I'm just too small town and it's more regular in cities or between corporations, I dunno.
 
Did you take them to see the scene of the sea to let it be seen that you threw them back in the sea to swim free once again like they did Willie!
 
Galeocerdoshark said:
Edit: maybe to clarify a bit further on your first post regarding the topic: we don't really have a culture of sueing people or corporations here at all. It seems very American to me, maybe because of TV, not sure. Maybe I'm just too small town and it's more regular in cities or between corporations, I dunno.
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Suing individuals or corporations DOES seem to be very American.
 
dogboye said:
Suing individuals or corporations DOES seem to be very American.
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Seems to be the case in the last 30-40 years. Its a generational thing i think and definitely not going anywhere. Its a shame. Im not sure if citizens in other countries have the liberty to be able to do it the way people can here, ya know, without reprecussions. Or if its the firms here that only collect on a percentage of the “winnings” that make it more risk free.
 
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