Name:
Location:
Date of Fossil Sediments:
Dinosaurs Found:
About Dinosaur Cove:
It's very rare that the name of a single paleontologist becomes inextricably linked with a specific fossil site: once the initial find has been made, other researchers tend to flock to the scene. However, that hasn't prevented Patricia Vickers-Rich (and her husband, Tom Rich) from being closely identified with Dinosaur Cove, which they've been painstakingly excavating for the last 30 years.
Apart from the dinosaur discoveries made here--including the small ornithopod Leaeallynasaura (named after the couples’ small daughter) and the small ornithomimid Timimus (named after their son)--what makes Dinosaur Cove important is its unusual location. Back in the middle Cretaceous period, this part of Australia would have endured sub-freezing temperatures for long stretches of the year, as well as three months of total darkness. Until the Riches began making their finds in the late 1970's, no one imagined that dinosaurs could live in such extreme conditions.
The sub-arctic habitat of Leaellynasaura and Qantassaurus resulted in some unusual adaptations--most notably, larger eyes that enabled these dinosaurs to hunt their prey in near-total darkness. The freezing conditions may also shed some light on dinosaur metabolism, since some experts believe cold-blooded dinosaurs should have been unable to prosper in cold climates, and may have been warm-blooded instead.
