TREASURE:
Shale Slab Fossil from Triassic Period with Dinosaur Footprints

In 1996, the Museum received a very significant donation of a shale slab containing numerous animal tracks. The Museum accepted this specimen, along with others found in the same location and added them to its collections.

The slab, found in Exeter Township south of Jacksonwald, PA.,
dates from the late Triassic Period (approximately 200 million years ago). The slab contains two distinct types of fossil footprints: three-toed tracks known as Grallator and five-toed tracks known as Brachychirotherium. The Grallator tracks were made by small to medium-sized carnivorous dinosaurs, walking on two feet. The length of the tracks tells researchers they were made by dinosaurs three to fifteen feet in length.

Since many species had similar footprints, it is impossible to be certain which dinosaurs made these prints. Most researchers, however, believe dinosaurs known as Coelurosaurs probably made the tracks, including the Coelophysis in the exhibit.

The Brachychirotherium were made by animals walking on four feet. Paleontologists think these prints were made by plant eating reptiles known as Aetosaurs, not by dinosaurs. The meat-eating group known as Rawsuchids, could also have made these tracks.

The slab is unique for several reasons. First, it was found within 20,000 years of the Triassic-Jurassic boundary in the very Latest Triassic. It is important because this time interval is very poorly exposed all over the world. Before these tracks were discovered, scientists knew virtually nothing about what was happening during this important time period in continental strata.

The slab documents the last appearance of the Triassic fossil
footprint Brachychirotherium. This is important because the track is thought to represent two reptile families known from the Late Triassic, Rauisuchids and Stagonolepids.

Both have a very similar foot structure which matches Brachychirotherium. (There are four Brachychirotherium trackways of various sizes on the slab). Rauisuchids, Stagonolepids and the footprint from Brachychirotherium don’t occur above the Triassic-Jurassic boundary anywhere in the world. This has been taken as evidence suggesting an abrupt or catastrophic mass extinction at the Triassic-Jurassic boundary.(The mass extinction is already well-documented at the boundary in marine strata and with skeletal fossils from other sites in the world, but the determination of whether it was abrupt or gradual has not been determined) It has
been hypothesized that an asteroid impact may have been the
cause.

The discovery of at least nine distinct layers of slate with Brachychirotherium tracks were found at the site in Exeter Township, which are housed at the Reading Public Museum, documents that the trackmakers of Brachychirotherium were not waning gradually near the Triassic-Jurassic boundary but were thriving. Again, evidence suggestive of a catastrophic extinction.

The slab also contains many bipedal theropod dinosaur tracks
usually known as Grallator and Anchisauropus. It displays almost completely the range of sizes for these tracks known in the Triassic period. This is significant also because the size of bipedal theropod tracks become much larger abruptly after the Triassic-Jurassic boundary. The slab also nicely illustrates the continuum in the sizes of bipedal theropod tracks in the Late Triassic.

For these reasons and more, Paul Olsen of Columbia University, who many think is the world's authority on fossil tracks, believes this slab is one of the most important footprint slabs ever discovered.

TREASURE:
Carolina Parakeet
Conuropsis carolinensis
EXTINCT

The Carolina Parakeet was a medium sized brightly colored bird related to parrots. They were also North America’s only native parakeet. They ranged throughout the southeastern United States from Ohio to the Gulf of Mexico. The Carolina Parakeet roosted in hollowed out trees near swamp forests. John James Audubon wrote, "the richness of their plumage, their beautiful mode of flight, and even their screams lend charm to our darkest forests and most sequestered swamps."

Carolina Parakeets liked to flock together in large groups, especially while feeding. Their diets consisted of cockleburs, grapes and the fruits from several species of trees. The females frequently nested and laid eggs together. It is believed they laid from one to three eggs a year but the time of the year and the length of incubation for the young is unknown.

During the early 1700s, the Carolina Parakeet could be found in large flocks wherever it ranged. As the country was settled and farmlands sprang up, the Carolina Parakeet found it particularly easy to forage for food in plowed fields. They developed a fondness for cultivated crops. Because of this behavior, the Carolina Parakeet was considered to be a pest species by farmers which resulted in a mass slaughter of the birds.

In addition to being killed, Carolina Parakeets were also collected for sale as pets and were slaughtered for their colorful plumage, which was used to decorate women’s hats. These factors, coupled with the loss of their forested habitat contributed toward a rapid decline of their populations.

By the early 1800s, the Carolina Parakeet was becoming scarce. In 1831, ornithologist John James Audubon stated that numbers in Cincinnati had "markedly decreased” and in 1844 he wrote, “there are one half the number that existed 15 years ago.” Between 1835 and 1840 the populations in Ohio were gone.

The last wild parakeet was killed in Florida in 1913 and the last captive bird died at the Cincinnati Zoo in 1918.

TREASURE:
Heath Hen
Tympanuchus cupido cupido
EXTINCT

The Heath Hen, a subspecies of the Greater Prairie Chicken (Tympanuchus cupido pinnatus), was a medium size bird related to turkeys, grouse, and pheasants. They were ground dwelling birds that lived and nested in the grasslands near scrub oak forests and were found throughout much of the eastern United States from Maine to Virginia.

Prior to America’s colonial period, large populations of Heath Hens were common. However, early settlers found heath hens easy to hunt and quite tasty. In fact, many Heath Hens were fed to the servants of these early settlers.

As the colonial population expanded, hunting pressure increased and the habitat for the Heath Hen was seriously depleted. By the late 1790s, Heath Hen populations had dropped so sharply on Long Island, New York that residents tried, in vain, to establish laws to protect them.

In 1830, John James Audubon tried to bring the plight of the Heath Hen to the attention of the America public but his efforts went unnoticed. By 1870, Heath Hens could only be found on Martha's Vineyard, a small island off the coast of Massachusetts.

In an effort to save the last remaining 50 Heath Hens, a sanctuary was created on Martha’s Vineyard in 1907. For several years, the population of the Heath Hen increased and by 1916, there were over 800 Heath Hens on the island. However, a fire that year destroyed a large portion of their breeding ground. This, coupled with heavy predation from hawks and a harsh winter caused the population to drop to 100 birds.

The Heath Hen was never able to recover from these catastrophic events and by 1932 they were extinct. The last living Heath Hen was seen on March 11, 1932 on Martha’s Vineyard.

TREASURE:
Passenger Pigeon
Exposits moratoriums
EXTINCT

The Passenger Pigeon was a medium size bird slightly larger than the Mourning Dove. They could be found near mixed hardwood forests throughout much of North America east of the Rocky Mountains and from central Ontario, Quebec to Nova Scotia. Their diet included a variety of seeds, berries, acorns and insects.

Passenger Pigeons bred in large colonies, sometimes with up to 100 nests in a single tree. The female would lay only one egg per year in a nest made from loosely assembled twigs. The nesting colonies were often concentrated near the Great Lakes but some nesting sites were reported as far east as New York. They wintered from North Carolina south to the Gulf States.

Passenger Pigeons were once considered the most plentiful species of bird on the planet. Some estimates indicate that during the early 19th century, there were over five billion Passenger Pigeons. Their flocks could be a mile wide and up to 300 miles long. They would cover the sky for days. In 1813, John James Audubon observed a flock of Passenger Pigeons in Kentucky for three days. He stated the sky was “black with birds” and estimated that more than 300 million pigeons flew by him each hour. He had no idea that in less than 100 years they would all be gone.

The beginning of the end for the Passenger Pigeon started during the colonization of America. As Europeans began to settle the land, they cleared forests that were essential for nesting Passenger Pigeons. In addition, people found the Passenger Pigeon a delicacy that was easy to kill. Passenger Pigeons liked to flock in large groups, making them easy targets. They were shot, netted, and smoked out of trees.
New devices like rapid firing guns, cannons that shot nets, and bait piles were all employed to kill Passenger Pigeons. Even telegraphs were used to kill them. Hunters would be informed of a moving flock well in advance of there arrival and then blast the pigeons out of the sky when they passed over. With the development of the locomotive, dead Passenger Pigeons could be quickly sent to eastern markets in Philadelphia and New York, where the demand for squab was high.

Sport killing also took its toll on the Passenger Pigeon. During the mid 1800’s it became quite popular to have “pigeon shoots”. It was once documented that during one “sport” shoot, over 30,000 pigeons were killed just to win a prize.
In less than a century, the Passenger Pigeon was gone and over hunting was clearly the cause for its extinction. The last surviving Passenger Pigeon, named Martha, died in the Cincinnati Zoological Gardens September 1, 1914.

In the waning years of the passenger pigeon John James Audubon wrote "When an individual is seen gliding through the woods and close to the observer, it passes like a thought, and on trying to see it again, the eye searches in vain; the bird is gone."