Earliest Creatures To Walk On Land To Make An Impression At UA

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama Museum of Natural History on The University of Alabama campus will host a meeting Saturday, Aug.19 to examine footprints of some of the earliest vertebrates to walk on land, about 300 million years ago.

Most of the estimated 200 reptile and amphibian tracks, which pre-date dinosaurs, were collected this year and were the last to be gathered from the Union Chapel Mine in Walker County, a surface coal mine soon to be reclaimed.

“This probably represents the largest collection of trackways from this time period in southeastern North America and possibly the largest in all of North America or even the world,” said Dr. Ed Hooks of the Alabama Museum of Natural History.

Members of the Birmingham Paleontological Society (BPS) and the Geological Survey of Alabama will also participate in Saturday’s displaying and photographing of the specimens. The tracks, made during the Early Pennsylvanian Period, will be photographed for a potential BPS catalog.

This photographic record can provide professional paleontologists an opportunity to examine the vertebrate and invertebrate trackway sets to determine what kinds of creatures made them. A study of these new specimens could lead scientists to discoveries about our earth’s past.

Speakers during Saturday’s event will address such topics as ethics in collecting, trading, or selling important fossils, the importance of amateur paleontologists, and identifying and photographing specimens.

The public will later have opportunity to view a sample of the collection at the museum, possibly before September’s end.

Note: Saturday’s event is scheduled from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. with best media opportunities, including speakers’ remarks, beginning at 11 a.m.