Dinosaurs in Plagne

The heavy rains stayed away this weekend, but it was still moist enough to be pretty chilly here in the Juras. In spite of the weather, R and I decided to explore Plagne, a small village in the direction of Nantua, where dinosaur tracks were discovered in 2009. The Dinoplagne trail is open year round, but during the winter months the site itself is covered with plastic sheeting, in an effort to protect the tracks from the harsh effects of winter. Despite the limited access, it was still a great experience, and I was in total awe of the natural beauty of the forests, and of space and time.

In April 2009, Plagne was put on the dino map when two local archeologists discovered les empreintes of a group of sauropods, classified as such by their giant size, long-tails, long-necks, and plant-eating nature. During the Late Jurassic period, sauropods, or "lizard foots", roamed the conifer forests of the Jura mountain range. These dinosaurs whose imprints are found in Plagne have been nicknamed "Odysseus" by the Dinoplagne team. The Dinoplagne website claims that these enormous creatures measured over 30 meters long (98.4 ft) and weighed around 50 tonnes (110, 231lbs). What about the size of the imprints? They are greater than 1.5 meters long (almost 5 feet), but I'll have to return in the spring to see them for myself.

Today I think I found out what Jura means. Apparently Jura comes from the Celtic "jor" which later become the Latin "juria" meaning forest. A quick Google search turns up "silva" for "forest" however. The mountain range gives its name to the geologic timescale of the Jurassic period, which was between 200 to 146 million years ago (give or take a few million years)!! And every year, the Massif du Jura are increasing in height while decreasing in length. The peaks in our backyard, Le Grand Crêt d'Eau, measure up to 1621m, while other summits measure up to 1720m high.

Several fossil sites can be found in the Jura mountain range which runs from France's Rhône-Alpes, Franche-Comté, and Alsace régions to Bavaria, Germany and Basel, Switzerland. A member of the Oyonnax nature club who helped me find the delicious bolets last fall is himself an amateur fossil hunter. Besides dinosaur relics, do you know what else can be found between the Juras and the Alps? Cern's Large Hydron Collider.

Dinosaur bones aren't just in the country, the next time you're in NYC, visit the American Museum of Natural History. In the lobby, there is a pretty impressive cast of a Barosaurus, belonging to the sauropod order, in rearing posture about to defend its young. To see more dinosaurs, head to the 4th floor whose halls are entirely devoted to these giants of the earth. I haven't been to the halls since I was a kid, so I'm eager to check it out the next time I'm in NYC.

Other interesting facts about the AMNH: 
The AMNH is a complex of 25 interconnected buildings, and one of these, the 10-story Childs Frick building, is where most of the museum's dinosaur bones are being stored and studied. Including the original bones of the Barosaurus on display in the lobby.

At the Columbus Ave entrance, a time capsule sealed in 2000 is on display. I wonder what's inside it. And I wonder what the world will be like in the year 3000, when the time capsule is to be opened. Will we have gotten smart and done something about global warming. I hope so.