The Maiasaura is the only female-named dinosaur to date. The name means “good mother lizard,” as she exhibited maternal instincts, like making nests and caring for her young. How does Horner know this? From the tiny eggshell fragments found in the FIRST dinosaur nests ever discovered containing fossilized baby dinosaurs, up to a month or two in age, telling us that the hatchlings stayed in the nest, being fed by their mother.
Other dinosaur nests were discovered at the nearby Egg Mountain site. Here, under Montana’s blue sky, with an ice pick and whisk broom in hand, I thrilled at the discovery of a portion of a dinosaur egg, along with numerous eggshell fragments. It was, at times, tedious, tiresome work, but I felt like I was on top of the world with dinosaur delirium.
As I stood on Egg Mountain, looking down over the badlands, I couldn’t help but wonder: how did so many dinosaurs come to die here? This was a great dinosaur mystery. After years of studying not only the black crumbly fossils, but the geology in the area as well, Horner and his crew of scientists finally proposed a theory. Imagine a large volcano in the Rockies suddenly erupts, spewing poisonous gases and hot volcanic ash into the air, turning the grazing grounds of the herd of unsuspecting Maiasaura into a choking, killing field.
Over time, the stench, millions of flies, and beetles would disappear from the rotting corpses, leaving only the sun-bleached bones, some partially fossilized, to be swept away by a muddy flood so catastrophic that it picked up and carried the bones in a slurry of ash fossil soup to a new location, settling, now beneath my feet.
Jack Horner, his dinosaur discoveries, theories, and adventures were a profound influence on my life, inspiring me to become an award-winning teacher. Now, it is my hope to have a similar positive impact on today’s youth, inspiring a love for learning science through adventures in nature.
