Daniel B Thomas, Jeffrey H Robinson, Daphne E Lee, The University of Otago
The Geology Museum at Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka—University of Otago smells of old wood and older rocks. The walls are lined with geological maps and paintings of extinct creatures—giant penguins, strange whales. We only know these animals existed at all because of the objects in the glass cabinets beneath: thousands and thousands of fossils.
In this book, university geologists showcase 51 of the most special.
Among them is the fossil that geologist and emeritus professor Daphne Lee considers her “best fossil find ever”. The 23-million-year-old galaxiid is the oldest whitebait ever found, every vertebra and fin perfectly preserved. Fossicking at Otago’s Foulden Maar one day, Lee split a chunk of diatomite in half with her pocket-knife—and the fish appeared on either side as though it had just been filleted.
Other finds charming and small have a place here: there are fossilised bacteria and scale insects, a hermit crab still tucked inside its turreted home, a carrier shell (below right) complete with the DIY camo it was lugging around eons ago. A standout is the perfect, opal-white juvenile pāua shell pictured above. In patches, it is still iridescent, gleaming purple and teal in the light.
Moving up the scale, there is a mosasaur, long-beaked Kairuku penguins, uncanny dolphins and whales, and a set of 150 lovely and terrifying teeth from the mouth of a mega shark.
A giant turtle found at St Bathans was named Psephophorus terrypratchetti after the late British fantasy author Terry Pratchett, who set his books in a “discworld” carried on the back of a turtle. (Pratchett was thrilled; he visited the museum, and his namesake fossil, on a book tour.)
Palaeontologist Daniel Thomas has 3D-scanned many of the fossils, including the turtle, a plesiosaur skull (below left), a penguin bone, and a coiling ammonite. You can click on a link in the ebook to view different sides of the fossils, and if you have a 3D printer—or access to one at your local library—you can even produce a model of these taonga to treasure at home.
