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Agate Fossil Beds Continues To Reveal Its Secrets Of Ancient Life

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By Compiled From N... - February 8th, 2023

A National Museum of Natural History mural depicts the fauna thought to exist on the landscape of Agate Fossil Beds National Monument during the Miocene epoch.

Faunal life from 5 million years ago, or older, will come to life Saturday when a paleontologist reveals what she has learned from fossils excavated from Agate Fossil Beds National Monument in Nebraska.

Kristin Watmore and park rangers will appear on a live video premiere and online Q&A Saturday at 1 p.m. MST on YouTube. Watmore will be discussing her ongoing research into the Miocene epoch mammals for which Agate Fossil Beds is world-famous. 

“A question we get a lot from visitors to Agate Fossil Beds is ‘what excavations are happening,” said Tera Lynn Gray, the park's lead interpretive ranger. “While there may not be active dig sites for people to see, there is still a lot of important science coming out of the Fossil Hills.” 

Watmore, a graduate student at California Polytechnic University, Pomona, is preparing to publish her newest research on the camel-like animals that lived in Agate in the Miocene. She will be presenting the findings of the work she completed under professor and prolific science author Dr. Donald Prothero of CalPoly Pomona and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. 

Her research was based on materials that had been excavated from Agate Fossil Beds in the past.

"Several of the museums that collected specimens from our Fossil Hills in the early 1900s still have them in carts waiting to be studied," explained Gray. "That tells you how many fossils there were! Plus, paleontologists estimate there are still 70 percent of those fossils left in those hills."

Margaret & Dorothy Cook watch while Winifred Cook reaches into a hole of a dig site with men from Harvard University. NPS Photo

Margaret & Dorothy Cook watch while Winifred Cook reaches into a hole of a dig site with men from Harvard University/NPS file

This Saturday's special online event falls on International Women and Girls in Science Day. Established in 2015, this day supports full participation and equal access for females in all Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields. 

“Paleontology is a field that was dominated by males when James H. Cook happened upon those fossils on his ranch here in Sioux County [in the 1880s],” Gray said. “But now in 2023, Ms. Watmore is pleased to point out all her cohorts in the Cal Poly Pomona graduate program are females.” 

Listen to Ms. Kristin Watmore speak at the YouTube Premiere at https://www.youtube.com/@agatefossilbedsNPS. The video is pre-recorded with captions, audio-description, and interpreted into ASL. During the premiere at 1pm, Ms. Watmore will be present on the chat to answer your questions about her work.

From Traveler's archives:

Revealing The 20-Million-Year-Old Secrets Of Agate Springs

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