Our Mascot Arrives!

Christmas comes early...or late! What in the world could be delivered in a box like this? It weighs a lot, and it really doesn't fit in our storage room, but hey, a big gift is a big gift, no matter that it is April. A few dozen screws later, and some heavy lifting of plywood slabs, and our treasure is revealed!

It's a full-scale model of a Smilodon californicus from the La Brea Tar Pits in Southern California. We selected this creature to be one of the focal points of our Community Science Center that will "soon" be constructed on our campus (yes, there are the inevitable delays). The building will house the physics, chemistry, biology and earth sciences programs, a planetarium, an observatory, and best of all, the Great Valley Museum (currently 'housed' in a refurbished old house). We picked it for several reasons: it is the state fossil of California, it lived in our immediate vicinity, and it will have a lot of the "Wow!" factor that will make the center a great place for kids to visit. Our building is being built with bond issue funds, but the Smilodon was purchased with donations and fundraisers: we sold barbecued burgers to the modern day carnivores on our campus to purchase this extinct carnivore...

Several months ago I blogged about the Smilodon as part of my "Other California" series. A portion is repeated below:

"Prior to 12,000 years BP, our state would have been an intimidating place. Packs of Dire Wolves and American Lions roamed our prairies, seeking their prey from among the herds of horses, camels, antelope, bison, elk, mastodons, and mammoths. Short-faced bears, larger than grizzlies and polar bears, would have at least considered having you for lunch. In more forested and brushy areas, the large plant-eaters faced a threat from one of the most intimidating predators of all, the saber tooth cat (Smilodon californicus).

The largest cougars today weigh in at 200 lbs or so. The saber-tooths were more like 700 lbs or more! They were heavily built, especially in the front, giving them in advantage in stealthy ambushes. Their dagger-like serrated fangs could be 11 inches long. They didn't waste time chasing their prey, they jumped, bit, and waited for the victim to bleed to death. Evidence suggested they worked in social units, somewhat like wolves (many specimens show evidence of recovery from broken bones that would have led to the death of solitary predators).

The La Brea Tarpits in Los Angeles provide one of the richest records of the Ice Age predators to be found anywhere in the world. Trapped plant-eaters attracted large numbers of predators to the pools of sticky tar, and the hunters were trapped as well (something like 90% of the specimens recovered are predators). Portions of 1,200 saber tooth individuals have been found so far, allowing for all manner of population variability and growth studies to take place.

From about 1.6 million years until just 10,000 years ago, the sabertooths and other large animals dominated the ecosystem of California. Their disappearance is linked to severe climate changes in the aftermath of the most recent ice age, or to overhunting by newly-arrived humans. The issue of the North American megafauna extinction is one of the more intriguing mysteries of the present day.

The Smilodon californicus was selected as the state fossil of California in 1973, beating out the trilobite species Fremontia fremonti for the honor. I understand the desire of many of the paleontologists to have a trilobite named the state fossil, but I must say I get a lot more oohs and ahs from elementary students when they see my Smilodon skull during their visits at the department. They are absolutely fascinated to find that the animal once lived, quite literally, in their backyards. So do I!"

So it's here now! All we need is a building to put it in...

The Other California: Geology and the other State Symbols, Part III

I was walking alone a couple of years ago in Yosemite Valley, on a surprisingly lonely trail between the visitor center complex and Yosemite Falls. Yes, I know all that about not hiking alone, but I thought it was a busy trail and a short distance. Just the same I was enjoying myself, having found a bit of solitude in a very busy park. Until I got spooked. It wasn't that I saw or heard anything. It was that I didn't hear anything. It had been a few weeks since a mountain lion attack somewhere in the state, and I was walking along these huge boulders that had fallen from the cliffs above, and any of them would provide a great hiding place for the big cats.

Nothing happened, of course. My life has not been THAT interesting yet. But it got me thinking. Grizzly Bears have been extinct in the state since the 1920's. The remaining black bears have not caused a single fatality in Yosemite since the park was established (they have been a lot nicer to us than we have been to them). Despite a few newsmaking exceptions, cougars have not been much of a threat to humans. We have a better chance of dying from bee stings and car accidents. This has not always been the case in California.

Prior to 12,000 years BP, our state would have been an intimidating place. Packs of Dire Wolves and American Lions roamed our prairies, seeking their prey from among the herds of horses, camels, antelope, bison, elk, mastodons, and mammoths. Short-faced bears, larger than grizzlies and polar bears, would have at least considered having you for lunch. In more forested and brushy areas, the large plant-eaters faced a threat from one of the most intimidating predators of all, the saber tooth cat (Smilodon californicus).

The largest cougars today weigh in at 200 lbs or so. The saber-tooths were more like 700 lbs or more! They were heavily built, especially in the front, giving them in advantage in stealthy ambushes. Their dagger-like serrated fangs could be 11 inches long. They didn't waste time chasing their prey, they jumped, bit, and waited for the victim to bleed to death. Evidence suggested they worked in social units, somewhat like wolves (many specimens show evidence of recovery from broken bones that would have led to the death of solitary predators).

The La Brea Tarpits in Los Angeles provide one of the richest records of the Ice Age predators to be found anywhere in the world. Trapped plant-eaters attracted large numbers of predators to the pools of sticky tar, and the hunters were trapped as well (something like 90% of the specimens recovered are predators). Portions of 1,200 saber tooth individuals have been found so far, allowing for all manner of population variability and growth studies to take place.

From about 1.6 million years until just 10,000 years ago, the sabertooths and other large animals dominated the ecosystem of California. Their disappearance is linked to severe climate changes in the aftermath of the most recent ice age, or to overhunting by newly-arrived humans. The issue of the North American megafauna extinction is one of the more intriguing mysteries of the present day.

The Smilodon californicus was selected as the state fossil of California in 1973, beating out the trilobite species Fremontia fremonti for the honor. I understand the desire of many of the paleontologists to have a trilobite named the state fossil, but I must say I get a lot more oohs and ahs from elementary students when they see my Smilodon skull during their visits at the department. They are absolutely fascinated to find that the animal once lived, quite literally, in their backyards. So do I!

For more info:

http://www.conservation.ca.gov/cgs/information/publications/cgs_notes/note_13/Pages/Index.aspx

http://www.netstate.com/states/symb/fossils/ca_fossil.htm

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/mammal/carnivora/sabretooth.html

http://www.tarpits.org/education/guide/flora/sabert.html

Searching for the "Wow Factor" - Part 1

I have a once-in-a-career opportunity coming up soon. Our community college, for better or worse, is the highest-level public academic institution in our town (we fought for and lost the chance to host the newest UC campus, which ended up at Merced instead). A while back, the public passed a huge bond issue, and we now are designing a community science center, which will include the physical sciences labs, classrooms and instructor offices, but will also include a planetarium, observatory, and best of all, a public museum. We have a local natural history museum (the Great Valley Museum), which has been struggling for years in a couple of ancient buildings next to our campus, but now we will have one beautiful integrated structure that will be a centerpiece of science education for our county.

The conundrum? What do we do for the "wow factor"? The building will have three stories, and there will be a main entrance atrium that will be the gateway to the museum and to the classrooms as well. What do we put in this atrium area that will capture the attention of people, and especially children who are visiting the museum? What can we put there that will capture the essense of what is special about the natural history of the Great Valley of California?

Well, I have some ideas. It will take a couple of posts, so my apologies to Chris at Highly Allochthonous for filling up his Geoblogosphere feed.

As geologically boring as our valley might seem at first glance, with endless flatness, and agricultural fields, it does have some striking geology, admittedly mostly beneath the surface. The sediments of the Great Valley are thousands of feet thick, dating back to Jurassic and Cretaceous time, but they have been curled up at the edges to form a homocline in the eastern Coast Ranges, so we know what these layers contain, and there is some good stuff here, mostly having to do with the history of life in Mesozoic and Cenozoic time.

Which brings us to idea #1: The Pleistocene Megafauna and Smilodon

Noting the picture above, I figure this is the most bang for the buck. A full-sized replica of a Smilodon californicus (the saber-tooth cat) can apparently be had for around $6,000-7,000. It was a denizen of the plains of the Great Valley, has been found nearby in the Fairmead Sanitary Landfill, and has the added benefit of being the California State Fossil. I imagine the squeals of kids as they see one of these things greeting them as they enter the museum. This would lead in turn to some possible displays in the museum, some discussions of the kinds of animals that Smilodon hunted.

What do you think? I have a few more ideas to be presented in the next couple of posts, and I am hoping to catch the attention and imagination of some of my committee members. Thanks for your ideas!