Arctic Oil & Gas Directory: Lynden donates shipping costs for Plesiosaur fossil

As reported in the Fairbanks Daily News Miner Jan. 11, the University of Alaska Museum of the North received a big gift just in time for Christmas.

Four crates containing about a thousand pounds of rocks and bones, the remains of a plesiosaur, arrived at the museum on Dec. 23. UPS carried the four crates from Montana to Anchorage, and Lynden Transport donated the shipping costs to carry the crates the rest of the way to Fairbanks.

Plesiosaurs were carnivorous marine reptiles. Dr. Patrick Druckenmiller, the museum’s earth science curator, said they were one of the main groups of big reptiles ruling the sea. They had long necks, about half the length of their bodies, and paddles as limbs. Their fossils are found throughout the central U.S., where there used to be a shallow sea about 74 million years ago.

The Museum of the Rockies, where Druckenmiller used to work, offered him the chance to excavate the fossil. He jumped at the opportunity and headed down with his family in July 2011.

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