Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Giganotosaurus,
which rivaled
Tyrannosaurus rex
in size. Through
Rodolfo's tireless efforts, the Carmen Funes Museum now occupies a
prominent position on the international map for vertebrate paleon-
tology.
In the earlv decades of fossil collecting, permits were not required,
and foreign crews simply went into other countries and took title to
whatever they found. Today, however, most countries have under-
standably passed laws to protect their paleontological heritage from
foreign exploitation. Thus, before one travels to another country to
collect, one must get permission in written agreements or permits that
stipulate how the fieldwork and research will be conducted. Our
agreement with Rodolfo and the Argentine authorities allowed us to
prospect and collect in all the areas that we were interested in. If we
were fortunate enough to find fossils, the agreement allowed us to
bring the fossils to the United States to clean, cast, and study them.
After the research for scientific articles was completed, the specimens
would be returned to Argentina and housed at the Carmen Funes
Museum. Such arrangements are now commonly struck between
museums and universities in different countries.
To fund the expedition, Luis wrote a grant proposal to the
National Geographic Society, describing how we wanted to prospect
for fossils around Auca Mahuida. Such proposals must document the
goals of the project and the potential for finding new specimens
that could improve our scientific knowledge. Based on the exploratory
trip taken in 1996 and the wealth of new material being discovered in
the region, we believed that a grant to explore the area in more detail
could be justified. As part of the proposal, Luis had to itemize a
budget for our equipment and travel, and after reviewing the pro-
posal, the Society approved it. In addition, Lowell raised money
from the InfoQuest Foundation in California. In all, we raised almost
$20,000 for the expedition. Rodolfo and his colleagues from the Car-
men Funes Museum provided additional vehicles and equipment.
After many months of homework and planning, we were at last
ready to search for ancient fossil birds and other animals in the
remote badlands of Patagonia.
