In Search of Fossil FishYouTube↗  IA↗(long shot)
Education  129.5K views 4.2K likes 23 dislikes   16 Jul 2014
thebrainscoop 607K subscribers United States YouTube↗


Please select the problem
You must specify your email and describe the problem in detail
Describe your problem in detail if it's not obvious

Contributed subtitles
Portuguese (Brazil) UCtzJ3poYO_GwpFlui17LRUQ
Spanish (Latin America) KETH
Click to Play Video Click to Play Video
[Music]
Welcome to Fossil Lake!
welcome to fossil Lake the area I'm
The area I'm standing in right now is the largest
standing in right now is the largest and
and most complete representation of early Eocene life in the world,
most complete representation of early Eocene life in the world about 52
about 52 million years old.
million years old this area during the
This area, during the early Eocene, was a lot like what modern Florida is today.
early Eocene is a lot like what modern Florida is today you had crocodilians
You had crocodilians, you had paddlefish, all different kinds of turtles,
you had paddlefish all different kinds
shrimp, crustaceans, and we even had insects, and bats,
of turtles shrimp crustaceans and we even had insects and bats in a tiny 3
and a tiny three-toed horse that was only, like, 2 and a half feet tall at the shoulder.
total horse that was only like two and a
Not only do we have the actual animals preserved, but we have their behaviors, we have their feces, which are coprolites.
half feet tall at the shoulder and not only do we have the actual animals preserved but we have their behaviors we have their feces which is our copper
We can tell what they were eating, we have leaves that have insects next to them and you can see the little insect bites in the leaves.
lights we could tell what they were eating we have leaves that have insects next to them and you can see the little insect
It's an amazing representation of the biodiversity, and there's nothing else like it in the world today.
bites in the leaves it's an amazing representation of the biodiversity and there's nothing else like it in the
So, we're on an expedition with the Field Museum, who's brought along a group of students to learn the trade and to help with the heavy lifting.
world today so we're on an expedition with the Field Museum who's brought along a group of students to learn the trade and to help with the heavy lifting
We're gonna go fishing for some 52 million year old fossils. Woo!
and we're gonna go fishing for some 52 million year old fossils whoo [Music] [Applause]
[Music]
- Hi! - Hi, we got our tools now.
hi hi you got our tools in this yeah
- Yeah, these are your tools. This is your shim.
these are your tools this is shim sham
This is one of the most important tools that we use out here.
this is one of the most important tools
We use this for dividing up the limestone layers.
that we use out here we use this for dividing up the limestone layers hold it
Hold it. - So it's like a wedge.
so it's like a wedge it's like a witch
- It's like a wedge! Exactly. - It's got a sharpened end.
exactly gotta sharpen that one yeah one
- Yeah, one end's sharp and one end's used for hammering. And this is your other tool. - A hammer.
n sharpen one ends use for a hammer and
- And that's all there is. - That seems pretty self-explanatory.
that's all that seems pretty self-explanatory it seems to be for my
- It seems to be, from my impression, that there's kind of a sweet spot in all the sediment.
impression that there's kind of a sweet spot in all the sediment like you're not
Like, you're not consistently finding animals all the way down, like 500 feet.
consistently finding animals all the way down like 500 feet right it's a pretty
- Right, it's a pretty thick member of rock.
thick member of rock yeah but there's a
But there's a very, very thin layer where you have the most fossils.
very very thin layer where you have the
It's called the 18 inch layer.
most opossums it's called the 18 inch
- Is that because it's 18 inches? - Yeah.
layer is it because of 18 inches yeah
Above and below the 18 inch layer are what's called oil capping layers,
above and below the 18 inch layer are less called oil padding layers and this
and this helped to preserve the fossils in-between those two layers.
helps preserve the classes in between
So that's the sweet spot. That's what we're looking for.
those two layers so that's a sweet spot that's what we're looking for
And once we hit the oil capping layer, we know that we're at the 18 inch layer.
yeah and once we hit the oil capping layer we know that we're at the edge
So we peel that away first, and then we get to the fossil bearing beds underneath it.
moonslayer so we feel the other way first and then we get to the fossil fearing badger
- It's like taking a sandwich and picking it apart, essentially.
it's like taking a sandwich and picking
- Yeah, take off the bread, what do you have? Lettuce. Then you got tomatoes, then you have cucumbersโ€” I don't know, I'm not at Subway or anything, but let's see what we got here.
it essentially off the bridge well
Well that's pretty cool, and then you can see, like, stuff that's on the bottom of this 18 inch layer, which doesn't seem like significant enough.
that's pretty cool and then you can see like stuff that's on the bottom of this 18 inch layer which doesn't seem like
You know, it doesn't seem like that would cover thousands of years of time.
significant enough you know it doesn't seem like that would cover thousands of
- It's amazing. Yeah, it's pretty compact, fairly compact limestone.
years of amazing yeah it's pretty compact the compact limestone Wow but
But this 18 inch layer only represents several hundred or severl thousand years
this 18 inch layer only represents several hundred or several thousand
of this lake system's 15 million year lifespan. - That's crazy!
years of this lake system now your life
- This was a very long-lived lake system. And this is only a tiny slice of that ecosystem.
is crazy this is a very long live Lake system and this is only a tiny slice of that
- Because the conditions typically aren't ideal for fossilization. - Typically aren't ideal for fossilization, yeah.
ecosystem because the conditions typically aren't ideal for typically ideal of fossilization yeah this time
In this time period, the conditions were ideal, so everything and anything that fell into this lake and sank to the bottom and got buried, was fossilized.
period the conditions are ideal so everything and anything that fell into this lake and sank the bottom got buried was fossilized everything but like some
Everything from microscopic bacteria, all the way to mammals, birds, reptiles. - That's crazy. So we don't even know what we're going to find here today.
bacteria all the way to man tiles that's crazy so we don't even know
- We don't know. Typically we find fish, but every so often we get surprised by something else.
what we're gonna tip eclis we find fish but every so often we get surprised
That's what keeps us coming out here, year after year, for these unusual, rare fossils that you don't find every day.
there's something else that's what keeps us coming out here year after year irony are the pretties unusual rare fossils that you don't find every day yeah but
But it's still fun finding a fish, 'cause it's like a fishing trip.
it's still fun finding a fish it's like
- It's like a 52 million year old fish. - Unbelievable.
a 52 million year old fish unbelievable
So shall we get in our boat and go fishing? - Yeah, let's go fishing.
yeah so shall we get in our boating or
- Ready? - Yeah.
fishing yeah let's go fishing
- Canoe. - Here we go. Woo, woo, woo, woo! - So if you want to tap away some of that. And the trick is to tap and pull back. Tap and pull back. Get a nice rhythm going.
ready yeah here we go [Laughter] [Music]
Oh, look! We found a fish already! - Really? - Yeah. - Where? Oh there it is! - Can you see him? - Yeah! - It's a Cockerellites. - How can you tell so quickly?
really yeah Piper ladies can you tell so
- Okay, we call these things football fishes. - Okay.
quickly okay we call these things football fishes okay
- Because their bodies are shaped like footballs. - Well that would kind of make sense. - I know. Not a soccer ball though, American football. - American football, okay.
and because not a soccer ball American - American football okay so there's a
- So there's a backbone. - Yeah.
backbone yeah and there's a football
- And there's a football shape, right there. - Gotcha.
shoes right here that's someone here
- The tail's somewhere here. So the skull is still underneath that rock. - Oh, okay.
skull is still underneath that rock okay
- Alright, do you have your shim ready? - Yep, I do.
yeah you do
- Do you have your hammer ready? - Yup.
leather handle ready yep we have a name
- Do you have a name for your shim? - No. - You should name your shim. - It's Jim the Shim.
for your ship no it's Jim the shin Jim
- Jimbo.
though so we will Creek started on this
- So we have a crack started on this side already. - Yeah.
side yeah and I want to start it up get
- And I'm gonna start it, get a little bit thicker, then you can put your shim next to it. - Okay.
a little bit thicker then you can put your shim next okay you seal one sides
- You see how one side's flat? - Yeah.
flat yeah
- One side's beveled? - Yup.
one size bevel yep always hit the flat
- Always have the flat side down because that'll help push the slab up. - Oh, okay. - Wow. - So there's the crack. - Sure.
side down because it'll help push this way off so there's a crack sure put
- And you're gonna put yours in right about there.
yours in the ball so hold it with one
So hold it with one hand, hammer with the other hand. - Like there? - Just like that.
hand with the other hand nice and flat
- Nice and flat.
and next thing you do we go to the
- And next thing we do, we go up to the larger tools. - Oh.
larger tools house is basically a shovel
- This is basically a shovel that has a sharpened end on it.
that has a sharpened end of it so it's a
So it's a giant shim. - I see.
giant ship these two shovels okay
- And we're gonna use two shovels. - Okay. - This will help separate it now, even more. - Alright.
this'll help separated now even more all
- And we're gonna slide the shovels into the crack that we made. So take your shovel.
right now we're gonna slide the shovels into the correctly that we made so take
- Got it. Like right in here? - Right in there.
your shovel got it like right in here
Ready? Count it out: up, down.
right in there
- Okay. Up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down. - Kay, now stop. Put your shovel in deeper. Kay, count it out. - Kay. Up, down, up, down.
ready count it up up down okay now you
- Now, you see the crack at the end? - Yeah. - We've broken free. So now we can actually life it up and see if there's any fossils in there.
said freeze so now we can actually lift it up Wow and see if there's any falsifier oh
- Oh, nice! Okay. So take this? - So, you do it by yourself,
nice okay so you do it by yourself I'm
- What? - I'm gonna be on the other side, and we're going to lift it up and point it to the sun so we can see the fossil. - Alright. - So lift. - Well, there's some trace thing. What is that?
side okay and we're going to lift it up and point it to the Sun so to the fossil somebody well there's some tracing what
- That's a branch, actually. - Oh, alright.
is that that's a that's a branch actually how matter in here that's a
- So we have plant matter in here. That's a part and counterpart of that.
part and counterpart of that alright so
Alright, so we just removed the plate and cleaned up around it,
we just removed the plate and cleaned up
so we have a nice, fresh surface here. And now we're going to move to the left.
around it so never we have a nice fresh surface here and now we're gonna move to
The whole goal of all this is to remove all the rock from around this plate.
the left the whole goal of all this is to remove all the rack from around this
And you see these mystery feet here?
plate and you see these mystery feet
- Yes, it's hard to ignore the mystery feet.
here those are very important mystery
- Those are very important mystery feet. - Okay.
feet so as a removing material around
- So as we're removing material around this plate that contains fish,
this plate that contains fish if we
if we remove a layer that's underneath that plate,
remove a layer that's underneath that
it'll pull the plate up and break the fish. - Oh, okay.
plate it'll pull the plate up and break
- So he's there to hold it down. - Alright.
the fish so he's there to hold it down
- So keep your foot down. - Yeah, don't move.
alright so keep it foot that good so
So, there's one last piece to get around this fish.
there's one last piece of get around
Go parallel with the crack. - So here? Or...
this fish go parallel with the crack so
- These cracks. - These cracks.
here these cracks sees cracks yeah just
- Just like that. - Okay. - So now start tapping in. - Well, woah! Alright.
like it okay it's not tapping in wow
- Wow, that was easy. - Well. And then I just lift it up? - Just lift it up. - That was uncommonly easy. - That was uncommonly easy.
that was easy well and I just lifted up just lifted up commonly I wasn't commonly easy so we
So we worked all the rock away from around this plate,
worked all the rock away from around
so your job now is to go underneath the plate to remove the fossils.
this plate so your job now is to go underneath the plate to remove the
- And just right here?
fossils and just right here right there
- Right here for now, but you're always watching for a crack.
for now what you're always watching for
Hit it one more time.
a crack hitting more time
Oh, you're there. You see how it's moving? The whole thing is moving? - Yeah.
oh you there see how it's moving the
- It's free. - It's free?
whole thing is moving it's free it's
- It's free. - It's already done?
free it's free it's all you need to do
- So all you need to do is grab one end at a time and just lift it up.
is grab one at a time has lift it up see
- Let's see. Oh, man, pressure's on. - Pressure is on.
pressure pressure is that here that's it
- And here. That's it!
hold it up something like so we can see
- Hold it up to the sunlight so we can see 'em really well.
them really well now you can see them
- Oh you can see 'em, yeah! There's one here.
yeah mm-hmm there's one here there's one
There's one right here.
right here
There they are! What kind of fish are they?
there they are what kind of fish are
- Those are both Knightia's. Those are the most common types of fish that we find out here.
they those are both Nydia so those are the most common types of fish that we
And so now we're gonna put it into The Field Museum pile and take it back for our collection.
find out here and so now we're gonna put it into the Field Museum pile and take
- Coooool!
it back for our collection cool we did
- We did it! There you go. Fishes.
it there you go
- We're gonna put it on the pile with all the other fishes. - Let's set it right there.
fish's gonna put it on the pile it's all the other fishes set it right there
Yeah!
yeah [Music] it still has brains on it
Similar videos:

Mummy Brains
thebrainscoop
887.3K views 12.5K likes 535 dislikes 18 Feb 201570% match

How to Taxidermy a Squirrel
thebrainscoop
273.5K views 5.6K likes 159 dislikes 25 Mar 201570% match

Dissecting Ants
thebrainscoop
263.8K views 4.5K likes 438 dislikes 20 May 201570% match

The Taxonomy of Candy
thebrainscoop
220.2K views 5.7K likes 157 dislikes 24 Mar 201667% match

Dimetrodon is Not A Dinosaur
thebrainscoop
188.5K views 6.3K likes 88 dislikes 21 May 201465% match

Welcome to The Field Museum
thebrainscoop
264.1K views 7.7K likes 40 dislikes 21 Aug 201362% match


What the Function? with Smarter Every Day!
thebrainscoop
386.9K views 12K likes 84 dislikes 02 Jul 201462% match

Zebra Bits
thebrainscoop
288.8K views 6.4K likes 262 dislikes 23 Oct 201358% match

๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ป The Beautiful Hard Working Women of La Pirraya, Bahรญa de Jiquilisco, EL SALVADOR
Jay Cee Max
90.1K views 2.6K likes 46 dislikes 21 Dec 202027% match




MEXICO BEACH LIFE! RELEASING TURTLES IN PUERTO ESCONDIDO ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฝ
Jumping Places
20.3K views 1.3K likes 2 dislikes 24 Mar 202127% match

RAMESWARAM ๐Ÿ˜ | A Beautiful Town in Tamil Nadu | South India ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ
Edges Of Earth
861 views 59 likes 1 dislikes 26 Sep 202027% match



THE COLORFUL BRAZILIAN CITY OF OLINDA ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ท RECIFE, BRAZIL | COVID 19 TRAVEL
Alexander Travelbum
36.8K views 3.9K likes 23 dislikes 14 Feb 202127% match

LENร‡ร“IS MARANHENSES IS HEAVEN ON EARTH ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ท SWIMMING IN BRAZIL'S DESERT LAGOONS
Alexander Travelbum
80.5K views 8.5K likes 33 dislikes 01 Mar 202126% match

I SLAV AND LOST
PewDiePie
5.5M views 349.3K likes 4.1K dislikes 24 Aug 201826% match

DIY - Replacing the rear emblem / logo and door seals on a 2010 Skoda Yeti
4 Wheel Builds
2.1K views 28 likes 0 dislikes 23 Jan 202026% match


Bush Planes Gone Wild! Backcountry Airplane Games! Part 2/2
Cory Robin
8.8K views 856 likes 5 dislikes 10 Nov 202026% match

Scott Sterling Volleyball | BTS
Ryan Sellers
4.5M views 23.5K likes 3.3K dislikes 15 Nov 201526% match















OUR FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF RIO ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ท TRAVELING TO BRAZIL DURING COVID 19 PANDEMIC | RIO DE JANEIRO
Alexander Travelbum
209.9K views 9.4K likes 194 dislikes 01 Dec 202026% match

EATING WORMS IN THE AMAZON ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ท FINDING TURU WITH THE LOCALS OF MARAJร“, BRAZIL
Alexander Travelbum
29.7K views 3.8K likes 26 dislikes 19 Mar 202126% match

VISITING BELร‰M, BRAZIL ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ท THE GATEWAY TO THE AMAZON IN PARร STATE | TRAVEL BRAZIL
Alexander Travelbum
28.1K views 3.4K likes 26 dislikes 09 Mar 202126% match

CANKER in My GOOD PIGEONS
Maney Pigeons
35.6K views 720 likes 27 dislikes 27 Aug 202026% match

Swedish Lapland by Helicopter ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ช ๐Ÿš [S3 - Eps. 25]
Itchy Boots
283.7K views 33.1K likes 99 dislikes 09 Oct 202026% match

A FASCINATING FISHING VILLAGE IN NORTH BRAZIL ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ท TRAVELING PARA STATE
Alexander Travelbum
27.1K views 3.2K likes 15 dislikes 27 Mar 202126% match

MEXICO'S MAGICAL CENOTES! ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฝ VALLADOLID YUCATAN
Jumping Places
66.6K views 2.2K likes -1 dislikes 27 Feb 202126% match

CHEWY GET'S A BIG SURPRISE! | We Are The Davises
We Are The Davises
535.3K views 4K likes 162 dislikes 06 Jun 201626% match


TRAVELING BRAZIL IN A CAR ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ท ARRIVING TO PENINSULA DE MARAรš | BRAZIL ROADTRIP
Alexander Travelbum
58.5K views 4.6K likes 34 dislikes 31 Dec 202026% match

NORTHEAST BRAZIL LOOKS LIKE THIS?! ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ท JERICOACOARA IS A BRAZILIAN GEM YOU MUST SEE
Alexander Travelbum
35.9K views 4.6K likes 23 dislikes 27 Feb 202126% match

All Alpha Boss Artifacts | Ark:Crystal Isles #47
Bemo Guinness
2.7K views 56 likes 4 dislikes 25 Sep 202026% match








Solving the ANTIQUE RADIO Puzzle!!
Chris Ramsay
1.3M views 23.2K likes 528 dislikes 23 May 201826% match

Dutch Flattrack: the race is ON! [S4 - Eps. 6]
Itchy Boots
176.1K views 18K likes 180 dislikes 14 Dec 202025% match
๏ปฟ

Settings Privacy About Contact Donate