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Month: March 2019

Fossil Fair March 23-24

Key things to know about the 23rd Fossil Fair:

For all you school age palaeontologists out there, the Fossil Fair will occur during your Spring Break.

The Fossil Fair will display a rich and diverse variety of ancient fossil animals and plants from the Cambrian (550 million years ago) to the end of the last Ice Age (10,000 years ago). Fossils will be displayed from Vancouver Island, other parts of British Columbia and other areas. The fossils include dinosaur bones, ammonites, trilobites, corals, mollusks, insects, giant palm leaves and microscopic fossils.

Of interest will be a display of 42 million year old fossil snails from the Crescent Terraine which are partially crystalized. Information will also be available on the results of voting for a provincial fossil recently released by the provincial government.

The display cases and story boards from the VicPS Educational Kit which is used by the society in presentations to school groups, youth camps and other organizations will also be displayed. This will be of interest to school teachers and other educators.

The Fossil Fair is an educational experience for all age groups. The public is invited to bring in fossils for identification. Specific activities for children include a fossil scavenger hunt with prizes, fossil colouring, rubbings stampings, and looking through microscopes.

The Victoria Palaeontology Society cooperates with professional palaeontologists undertaking research on fossils collected by Society members. Information will be provided on some of the scientific contributions made by members, including the discovery and naming of new species. All scientifically important fossils are donated to the Royal British Columbia Museum.

The Society is a member of the British Columbia Paleontological Alliance, an umbrella organization representing the interests of a number of paleontological organizations in the province.

Admission is by donation.

VicPS Meeting March 20

The agenda for the Wednesday, March 20 meeting includes our AGM and election of officers and directors.  We plan to move through this quickly, so we may enjoy the presentation from our speaker.

Our speaker is Dr. Gavin Hanke, Curator of Vertebrates, Royal BC Museum and the topic is Thelodonts – the Forgotten Fish.  Thelodonts are a class of extinct Paleozoic jawless fish with distinctive scales instead of large plates of armor.

See you at 7:30 pm in the Cornett Building, Room A120, UVic.

BC Provincial Fossil Voting Results

The provincial government has recently announced the results of the Fall 2018 voting for a provincial fossil.  Of the seven candidates, the Elasmosaur received the most votes at 48%. Legislation must first be passed before the Elasmosaur can officially be designated as the provincial fossil and a provincial symbol of British Columbia.  

The folks at the Courtenay and District Museum and Palaoentology Centre and Vancouver Island Paleontological Society are ecstatic.