Geoscience Reference
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than 2.5 times the density of water. This yielded an estimated weight of about 700
kg (1,500 lbs) for the slab in front of us.
Nearly a year later, in early June 2011, Tom—with the help of Pat Vickers-
Rich, their daughter Leaellyn (yes, the namesake for the dinosaur
Leaellynasaura
),
Greg Denney, David Pickering from Museum Victoria, and personnel from Parks
Victoria—succeeded in carrying out his quixotic goal. With the help of a front-end
loader and heaps of cooperation, this block of rock with dinosaur tracks was trans-
portedsafelyoffthebeach.Itandtheotherslabofrockwithdinosaurtracksnextto
it was then put on the back of a flatbed truck and deposited in Museum Victoria in
Melbourne, where both are now stored for future reference and further study.
Oh yeah, there was another rock, also with dinosaur tracks. Greg discovered
that one, handily providing yet another reason why academic paleontologists are so
dependent on non-academic folks to make significant contributions to our science.
Greg's discovery was also a lesson in hubris for me. I was so giddy (and more than
a little fulsome) about finding the first block, I hadn't even bothered to look around
to see if any more like it were nearby.
Fortunately, he did. So while I was writing field notes about the tracks on the
first block and imagining future fame—perhaps an appearance on Comedy Central,
which represents the pinnacle of public acclaim for scientists in the U.S.—he was
looking at every nearby boulder. Suddenly, at some point he started acting like a
larrikin, running around the beach and looking for a piece of driftwood. In less than
a minute, he found a 2”
3
4” board (you'd be surprised at what washes up on these
beaches) and quickly placed one end under a boulder only a few feet away from
whereIsat.ClearlychannelingthespiritofArchimedes,hebeganflippingtherock,
using the board as a lever.
“Greg, what are you doing?” I asked, as Tom and I watched him.
“This rock is the same as that one!” he shouted.
Tom and I swiveled our heads back and forth between the slab with the di-
nosaur tracks and the one Greg was attempting to turn over. He was right. They
