Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
region around Auca Mahuida, as well as prospecting for fossils in rock
layers around the city of Neuquen. The rocks throughout the area were
spectacularly beautiful, although soaring vultures and condors often
kept an ominous eye on our activities. During one of these prospect-
ing side trips about twenty miles from camp, our pickup truck broke
down, and the circling vultures seemed to bode ill. Fortunately,
Rodolfo had come along with us in his truck, so all ten of us crammed
in the cab and the back of his pickup for the rough ride back to camp.
It took several days to recover the abandoned truck from the rocky
ravines and get it back to Plaza Huincul, where it could be fixed, which
left us short on vehicles during the final push to finish our work.
Finally, on November 27, with our contingent of vehicles back at
full strength, we broke camp and began the two-day drive back to
Buenos Aires. The thrill of discovery still filled our thoughts during
the drive, although these thoughts were occasionally interrupted by
the buzz of large black bees flying around the interior of the van. The
bees belonged to Osvaldo Di Iorio. Osvaldo is an accomplished ento-
mologist, currently working for Argentina's National Council of Sci-
ence. Throughout his passionate life devoted to the study of insects,
Osvaldo had amassed an enormous collection of insects from sites all
over Argentina. He has accumulated more than 1 million specimens
to date—a collection that rivals that of many museums. Osvaldo had
exhibited a willing enthusiasm for quarrying and collecting fossils;
however, he had joined us primarily to add to his collection of insects
from the dry desert landscapes of this remote area of Patagonia.
Accordingly, he would often momentarily suspend his work in the
quarry to chase down a bug with the cyanide jar that he always carried
in his pocket. Near our camp, Osvaldo had found a large log that con-
tained dozens of holes bored by bees for their larvae. Unbeknownst to
the rest of us, he had packed the log in the van to get the larvae back
home for his collection. But he hadn't realized that they would hatch
the next day on our way home, sending us scurrying to open the win-
dows and shoo them out across the Pampas.
When we safely made it back to Buenos Aires, we were exhausted.
All the scientific research required to figure out exactly what we had
found still lay before us, and we were eager to get all our fossils back
to the lab, where we could prepare the eggs and look for clues to
determine what kind of dinosaur had laid them.
