A casual outing at Badlands National Park in South Dakota became a great scientific discovery for a whole family, when a little girl found a valuable fossil in the rocks. The object, which initially seemed very unusual, after its careful study by specialists, turned out to be the skull of an ancient saber-toothed predator – nimravid.
It all happened during the visit in May 2010 within the framework of the Junior Paleontologist program at the national park. According to the report of the US National Park Service, 7-year-old Kylie Ferguson noticed the fossil and informed the park staff about her find without trying to remove it herself. Scientists stated that the fossilized skull belonged to an extremely rare predator of the past. The news aroused interest due to the fact that the discovery involved not just a happy chance of children but also real scientific work.
The fossil was discovered near a highly visited portion of the park
A unique aspect of this discovery is just how close the fossil was located to one of the most heavily trafficked areas of the park. According to the National Park Service, Kylie located the fossil less than a few hundred feet away from the visitor center. This aspect underscores the fact that active fossil sites such as the Badlands can continue to yield significant discoveries in locations where thousands of people walk every day.
Officials at the park stated that Kylie did not dig up the fossil herself but rather informed authorities immediately, allowing the experts to retrieve the specimen. According to specialists, this type of report is essential since fossils could be destroyed or lose their scientific importance without proper extraction techniques.
Vertebrate paleontologist Dr. David Polly of Indiana University during educational sessions about fossil retrieval stated that context is absolutely everything in paleontology, sometimes the setting or condition of a fossil teaches researchers more than the bones themselves.
Fossilized skull found belonged to saber-toothed predator
This fossil was classified as belonging to a nimravid - a member of an extinct family of carnivores sometimes referred to as saber-toothed cat-like mammals. Scientific publications included in the PubMed database classify Nimravidae as ancient groups of predators existing in North America and Europe millions of years ago.
It is particularly significant that carnivore fossils were discovered in the region since predators are rather rare compared to herbivores. The area is known for its mammalian fossils. However, their predators are significantly less common. According to information provided by the National Park Service, geology & paleontology data on nimravids fossils are very rare and significant.
