By Laura Linn December 7 , 2009
It turns out that fourth-grader
Gabrielle Block has an eye for fossils. The nine-year-old found a dinosaur bone at Dinosaur Park in Maryland. She is the first person to find a fossil there since the park opened to the public. "Usually it takes a well-trained and practiced eye to be able to pick out the fossils" from the rocks and dirt, park manager Donald Creveling told The Washington Post.
On November 21, Gabrielle found a half-inch fossil. Experts at the park believed it to be a bone from a dinosaur’s tail. The dinosaur was probably a small meat-eater. It most likely lived more than 100 million years ago.
The fossil is now at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. There, paleontologists, or scientists who study ancient life from fossils, will examine it more closely.
Gabrielle found the fossil after sifting through dirt and rocks for some time. She was visiting the park with her parents and 7-year-old sister, Rachael. Even though Rachael is the true dinosaur lover in the family, Gabrielle was thrilled with her discovery.
“I was really excited and happy,” Gabrielle told The Washington Post.
Dinosaur Park
A dinosaur park is an area of land where dinosaur fossils have been found. It is not just for scientists. Anyone who has interest can go there to hunt for fossils. Dinosaur Park in Prince George’s County, Maryland, invites visitors the first and third Saturday of each month. Gabrielle
made her big find on just the second weekend the park was open to the public. People have been finding fossils in this area for more than 150 years. Dinosaur Park was created so that no one could destroy the fossil area by building offices or houses there. Paleontologists believe Dinosaur Park has many more fossils yet to be found. And Gabrielle’s little sister, Rachael, hopes to find one of them. “I promised [Rachael] we’d go back next time [Dinosaur Park] is open,” her mom told The Washington Post.
Imagine you found a fossil. What would you do with this part of the past? Donate it to a museum, keep it, start your own museum? Remember to tell why.
If I found a fossil I would donate it to a mueseam. There I would see my name.
ReplyDeleteIf I found a fossil I would keep it in my room because I would like to look at it all by my self. It will be awesome. I will donate the fossil to a museum. I would like to find a backbone.
ReplyDeleteBy Lance Perlow
the sark was under the for the holl time they have sharp teeth and long fins too they are looking for bate and food
ReplyDeleteBy Shane Elliott
I think she is lucky for finding one, but I would give it to an Museum.
ReplyDeleteI would give it to an Museum because when anybody visited the Museum they would see that I found the fossil. I would like that
everyone knows that I found a fossil because when ever they saw
me they would say oh you are the one who found the fossil.
Those are three reasons what I would do if I found a fossil.
- Mallika Ravi