Australian Age of Dinosaurs had great pleasure in showing the Irwin Family around our Preparation Laboratory earlier this month.
Robert decided to take his mum on a well deserved holiday around Winton for Mothers Day. While this is a great gift for Terri, Robert also loves Dinosaurs. Australovenator,  (aka 'Banjo') Australia's largest predatory animal, is his favorite dinosaur (along with Micropachycephalosaurus apparently), so needless to say he was in his element.



David Elliott took the Irw...
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Working in the lab gives people the opportunity to discover brand new Australian Dinosaur bones. Most would say the most wonderful experience is removing the matrix (clay) and seeing the bone being exposed for the first time in 100 million years. However some would say the most rewarding and exhilarating part is witnessing bones that have been apart for millions of years and seeing them be reunited like they've never been apart.

In the photo above is the right humerus and ulna from Banjo, t...
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I must relate an amazing discovery. It fascinates me no end how the earth can preserve something so delicate and precious for nearly a hundred million years, keeping it safe and secure until someone stumbles across it in a paddock. The bone I'm talking about is one belonging to the world's first specimen of Australoventor wintonensis aka 'Banjo'.

So my humerus story begins...

On the 5th of September 2009, Ali Calvey, a 'Dugger' (meaning someone who has been on dinosaur dig before with us)...

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'Finding Wade' is a project we've been running since 2006. Wade is an as yet unidentified sauropod dinosaur and what a weird and wonderful chaotic array she is! We've got bones that are fused together, some that are smashed up, and some that are near perfect. Much of Wade is encased in solid rock that's harder than her bones. She's a challenge to work on that's for sure!

The photo above shows the new vertebra just after we completed it. It's a back (dorsal) vertebrae ~45 cm high and ~45 cm...

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