Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER
FOURTEEN
The Y2K Expedition
With two successful expeditions to Auca Mahuevo, we had learned a
lot about the reproductive behavior of sauropod dinosaurs, but many
questions still remained open: What kinds of sauropods were respon-
sible for these amazing nesting seasons? Could we find evidence to
fine-tune our identification of them? Was the egg-clutch distribution
of the extensive egg layer 4 comparable to the highly concentrated
and randomly distributed clutches from egg layer 3? Were the
sauropods laying their eggs in natural depressions, on flat surfaces, or
in holes they purposely dug? These important questions and the
many possibilities for finding exciting new dinosaurs in the fossil-rich
rocks of Auca Mahuevo prompted another large-scale expedition in
March 2000.
Luis and Lowell procured additional funding from the National
Geographic Society and the InfoQuest Foundation, as well as the
Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation in San Francisco and the Phillip
McKenna Foundation in Pennsylvania. The Fundacion Antorchas in
Argentina awarded the project a generous grant, which allowed us to
both expand the expedition and conduct cooperative post-field
research between Argentine and American paleontologists.
Our Y2K expedition started like the others. A large component of
our crew flew to Buenos Aires at the beginning of March, and soon
after, they embarked on the daylong ride to Auca Mahuevo. Others
flew directly to Neuquen to buy supplies, later meeting those leaving
from Buenos Aires at the main camp. Rodolfo Coria and his team of
fossil hunters would meet us at Auca Mahuevo. Minor issues such as
losing bags and missing flight connections aside, this regrouping
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