Sid's the new kid on the dino block

ABC WESTERN QUEENSLAND ^ | 28 July, 2011 | By Julia Harris

[Fred Nerks]

The Outback Gondwana Foundation (OGF) has recently completed another two week dinosaur dig near Eromanga and they've made some exciting new discoveries. Mackenzie is the Foundation's chair and said exciting discoveries were unearthed in the lab and at the dig site.

In the lab it was 'Sid', a new plant-eating dinosaur that was identified.

"While we were working on some of the Cooper material we actually discovered there was another dinosaur there as well," said Mr Mackenzie.

The new dinosaur has been tagged 'Sid' after Sir Sidney Kidman and that's because Plevna Downs is in the Cooper Creek area and next-door to Durham Downs, a famous Sidney Kidman property.

At this stage 'Sid' is thought to be a smaller plant -eating dinosaur, but Mr Mackenzie said it's too early for details.

Whereas the 'exciting new discovery' at the dig site is still under wraps and will stay that way until more analysis is done.

"We made a major discovery but sadly I can't actually announce it to everyone yet, but it's very exciting."

Mr Mackenzie explained this year's dig was different to previous years as they wanted to focus on processing the large amount of material that was excavated in previous digs.

"We made the decision to change the format a bit this year; from being camped at the dig site and having anywhere from 15 to 30 people involved in purely digging and bringing material out of the ground.

"Because of the success of last year's dig we had such a build up of material in the lab that we split it up."

"We stayed up at the quarters on the property and we had six working down at the dig and six to nine people working in the prep lab.

"Most of those were volunteers from the Queensland Museum along with some locals.

"You get a lot of prepping done when you have that many people working away for a couple of weeks," he explained.

Palaeontologists don't always know what they have pulled out of the ground when they're recovering material from a dig site, because the fossils are often in rock.

"So we weren't sure which animal's bones we were actually prepping," said Mr Mackenzie.

The recent dig has given the OGF team a clearer view of where they are up to with the material they've had in storage.

"We've got most of the 'Cooper' material prepped," he said.

"So most of the bones are from 'Zac'; we found so much of Zac that the predominant material in our storage belongs to him."

The OGF also hosted over 100 people at an open day in conjunction with the 2011 dig.

"The state school from Quilpie came out, so something like 40 to 50 kids, plus parents, teachers and other locals from the area that hadn't been previously.

"We had the prep lab in full swing; so they got the opportunity to go through the lab while it was working and actually seeing material being prepped," said Mr Mackenzie.

There was also a display of some of the amazing material they've prepped over the past year.

The students from the Quilpie School got a real buzz out of the visit.

"Some [kids] are just so knowledgeable and will tell you what the bone is and where it's probably come from.

"That's what's really exciting for them.

"I think the fact that these fossils are being found in their own local area is just a real buzz."

Mr Mackenzie said now the 2011 dig is finished, the focus of the OGF is to establish the natural history museum in Eromanga.

A project they've had in the planning stage for a number of years.

He explained they are well set up with a prep lab on Plevna Downs, but they need the facility in Eromanga so the public can see the exhibits and the work in progress.

"We've been trying to build the museum for a number of years and that's still the biggest issue.

"From the dig this year we've also established where to go in the future.

"Where the material we're still trying to find will be, so that's great, we know that's all there to be done in the future.

"But right now it's very hard to move forward unless we have the facility set up in Eromanga, so that's the major priority," explained Mr Mackenzie

[Fred Nerks]

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[Fred Nerks]

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[Fred Nerks]

Kronosaurus queenslandicus

Kronosaurus, named after the Greek God of time "Kronos: belongs to a group of short-necked plesiosaurs called pliosaurs. It was the largest marine reptile living in the Eromanga Sea and may have been the largest marine reptile in the world. With teeth up to 30 cm long (most of which was embedded in the jaw) Kronosaurus was clearly a carnivore. Large fish, squid, ichthyosaurs, turtles, ammonoids, elasmosaurs and even smaller kronosaurs would have fallen prey to the top predator of the time. Skeletal pieces from some marine reptiles have been found in the gut region of kronosaur skeletons. The teeth had evolved for tearing huge chunks of flesh off prey rather than chewing.

FOSSIL CAPITAL OF AUSTRALIA