Dinosaur Cove Cretaceous 1: Attack of the Lizard King

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In the 1980s and 90s Dinosaur Cove yielded hypsilophodontid-like dinosaurs as Leaellynasaura amicagraphica and Atlascopcosaurus loadsi, and a Coelurosaur, as well as fragments of what may be a caenagnathid (relatives of the Oviraptors). One fossil from this diverse taxa, collectively called the " polar dinosaurs of Australia", has been interpreted as showing possible adaptations to vision in low light conditions and possibly were warm-blooded; this has been suggested as an explanation for how some of these dinosaurs foraged for food during the polar winter months. It is worth noting that although these dinosaurs lived at polar latitudes, the Cretaceous climate was significantly milder than today, so temperatures within the Antarctic and Arctic Circles were vastly different from the climate at these latitudes today, because the lopsided arrangements of the continents made sea currents and monsoon winds blow across the polar areas and not around them, and so stopped cold pools from developing around the poles. This would be no ordinary dig. The Dinosaur Cove deposit was at the base of a steep, slippery, 90m-cliff, subject to huge tides and extreme weather. Tom’s proposal to have amateurs tunnelling into a vertical cliff with hydraulic drills was met with reactions of horror, but with stubborn persistence, he was able to wade through the mountain of red tape needed to appease the authorities and gather the resources required. With the invaluable support of Bill Loads, manager of Victorian operations for Atlas Copco, who provided the drilling equipment, the stage was set for the commencement of a project that would provide a window into the world of polar dinosaurs. Digging begins

Dinosaurs are not like any other animal on Earth. They lived millions of years ago, which means they were here before people, insects, and even flowers. Dinosaurs were big and their bodies were different from any other animal alive today. They had many sharp teeth and long claws on their hands and feet to protect themselves from enemies or to hunt for their next meal.

Dinosaurs are extinct, but they are still popular among children. They can be seen in books, movies, and TV shows. Few people think about the prehistoric reptiles that roam the earth for millions of years ago. They used to live on every continent but now they only exist in museums and zoos.

Long before humans walked the earth, there was another prehistoric animal that dominated it. It was called a dinosaur. With these fossils, we have learned about dinosaur anatomy and behavior and they have captured the public imagination like no other extinct creatures, capturing their interest with many active research areas. As so often happens in life, a chain of random events brought Tom and Pat on a collision course with Dinosaur Cove. The first of these was their migration to Australia from the USA in 1973, so that Pat could complete her post-doctoral Fullbright Fellowship at Monash University in Melbourne. Tom soon found employment as Curator of Palaeontology at the Museum Victoria, where he attracted the attention of a group of dinosaur enthusiasts called ‘Friends of The Museum of Victoria’. The ‘Friends’ were hell-bent on holding a dinosaur dig and eventually convinced Tom to take them to an enticing deposit on the Otway Coast, an hour and a half’s drive west of Melbourne. This article (and photos) is condensed from A Decade of Dedication: the digs of Dinosaur Cove; Issue 6 Australian Age of Dinosaurs Journal, 2008. www.australianageofdinosaurs.com. Further reading The Dinosaur Cove project attracted volunteers from all walks of life. Many were local university students, lured by Tom Rich’s line, “We can’t pay you, but we can feed you”. Michelle Hird (née Colwell), Natalie Schroder and Helen Wilson (née Brown) were among this high-spirited group. They recall that the food was far from edible in those early years, with no refrigeration, a tight budget and few chefs in camp. Michelle remembers ‘recycled’ rice pudding with chunks of tuna floating in it! Therefore, Tom’s promise of a cubic metre of chocolate to the first person to find a mammal bone must have been an irresistible incentive.To walk in the footprints of these ancient Victorians, we must first rewind to the late Early Cretaceous period. 115Ma to 120Ma, Australia was situated over the South Pole, her southeast coast joined to Antarctica to form the supercontinent, Gondwana. If climatic conditions then were even remotely similar to Antarctica today, the Gondwanan dinosaurs must have experienced cold winters and months of near-darkness – a challenge not confronted by any known reptile. The Dinosaur Cove discoveries revealed that Victoria’s polar dinosaurs thrived in such conditions, some foraging all winter long, rather than hibernating as cold climate reptiles do today. Their story makes fascinating reading, as does the larger story of the trials and triumphs involved in their discovery.