Co-authors (from left) Dr Daniel Thomas, Dr Jeffrey Robinson and Emeritus Professor Daphne Lee hold a printed version of the eBook Fossil Treasures of the Geology Museum.
Fancy decorating your home or workplace with the skull of a plesiosaur, an ancient penguin or the tooth of a mega shark that preyed the oceans as an apex predator 26 million years ago?
An eBook Fossil Treasures of the Geology Museum has been released that brings to life the stories of fossils held in the Department of Geology and includes downloadable scans for 3D printing.
Highlighting 50 fossils in the collection, the open access online eBook provides a window into the vast collection of more than 60,000 catalogued fossil vertebrate, invertebrate, and plant specimens in the Geology Museum.
Collected over 150 years of paleontology research at Otago, the fossils that are used for research, teaching and outreach, collectively represent millions of years of Earth’s evolutionary history.
Paleontology researcher Emeritus Professor Daphne Lee has curated the content with co-authors Dr Daniel Thomas and Dr Jeffrey Robinson.
“The eBook highlights 50 of our best and most interesting specimens,” Daphne says.
“We love the public visiting the Geology Museum and this book now means we can take the fantastic collections to people around the world.
“Our goal is for it to be a useful resource for researchers, hobbyists, schools, and provide an appreciation of New Zealand’s wonderful fossil history.”
A 3D print of a 26 million-year-old fossil mega shark tooth from the Geology Museum collection.
Covering a broad selection of vertebrates and invertebrates, Daphne describes the publication as accessible to a wide audience and scientifically accurate.
“We have brought our own expertise to each fossil description and provided links to the scientific papers and other background information about these fossils, so the eBook can be used for research and teaching.
“The fossils in the Geology Museum collections have revealed so much about the origins of our biodiversity and our local geological history.”
Co-author Dr Daniel Thomas, who also created the scans for 3D printing of a selection of the fossils, says the eBook and its future updates, is a new way for people to discover these stories.
“Many of these discoveries have changed what we know about the world,” Daniel says.
“Like ancient shellfish that reveal the ages of rocks, which in turn provided early support for the theory of continental drift. Or fossil plants that highlight the power of climate change to quickly and radically change landscapes.
“We hope the eBook also inspires readers to contribute their own stories by becoming the Geology Museum’s next generation of researchers and kaitiaki.”
Many of the fossils from the eBook are currently on display in the Geology Museum, with others on loan to Tūhura Otago Museum and the Vanished World Centre in Duntroon. Each physical specimen that is included in the eBook has a QR code displayed alongside it that links to the publication for further information.
The eBook is associated with a project underway in the Department of Geology to digitise the massive collection, including developing a web-accessible interface. As more information is collated and curated for the digitisation project the eBook will also benefit.
“We have so many fossils in the collection with great stories to tell and some of the plant specimens will be added to the next edition of the eBook,” Daphne says.
“These projects are fantastic opportunities to share our internationally recognised fossil collections globally, and by doing so, will help raise awareness of the important role that fossils have in generating knowledge of our world.”
Kōrero by Guy Frederick (Sciences Communications Adviser)
The Manager of Copyright & Open Access at Otago Richard White says it was a chance conversation with Daphne that sparked the idea for the book’s format.
"It struck me that an open book could bridge the gap to teachers, researchers, citizen scientists and the community as an ideal solution. The Geology team has produced an outstanding piece of work that is academically rigorous and accessible, attractive and interactive. My thirteen-year-old son loves it!" Richard says.
The book is the fourth published as part of a library project supporting staff to create open books. Please contact Richard, or Kate Thompson from the Library, for more information on open books.
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