Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER 10
Tracking the Dinosaurs Among Us
My Mesozoic Moment
The large theropod tracks were fresh, and so was its scat. I looked around me, but
thetropicalrainforestwastoothicktoseeveryfar,effectivelyhidinganythingasbig
as what I knew had to be out there. Given such limited vision, I took advantage of
the eyes and ears in the trees above me, listening to the songbirds for alarm calls,
scolding, abrupt silencing, or other signs of unease. Satisfied that nothing was out of
the ordinary, I squatted to take a closer look at the tracks and scat and began talking
about both of these with my students, who gathered around to learn.
We were together on a short loop trail in a patch of rainforest in northern
Queensland, Australia, and the theropod that made the traces in front of us was the
southern cassowary (
Casuarius casuarius
). The students, all Americans and from
my university, had enrolled in a study-abroad program to Queensland in June-July,
2007. Part of the program was a week-long field trip through the Wet Tropics region
of northern Queensland, and on that day we were near the coastal town of Mission
Beach. Before taking the students onto the trail that day, my colleague Chris Beck
and I told them that the rainforest was an ideal habitat for cassowaries, which meant
wemightseeone.However,wealsowarnedthemthatweneededtobeverycautious
if we did, considering that they were, as my Australian friends might say, bloody
dangerous.
When compared to modern concepts of theropod dinosaurs, cassowaries come
straight out of the Cretaceous Period. They can be 2 m (6.6 ft) tall and weigh as
much as 80 kg (175 lbs), making them among the heaviest birds alive. Unlike most
mammals, female cassowaries are larger than the males, and would look down on
most human supermodels. An adult cassowary's torso is covered with coarse black
feathers, but its most eye-catching features are onits head. The head is topped with a
