On the subject, has anyone seen the documentry about the dinosaur dealers? its all about the smuggeling of these fossils (and the australian stegosaur footprints that were stolen some years back).
If so, did you know there are two versions? The one hour show on disc or nat geo...and the two hour version that was aired once on the australian tv channel that produced it called sbs.
This version has a lot of hidden camera footage of dealers, museums and collectors showing their featherd chinese fossils that they had bought, collected or for sale.
All of this footage was mysteriously missing from the short version. One has to wonder why? Sure it could have been done to fit the show into scheduling, but this was by far the most interesting stuff. They show one oz collector with his own bird, and Ive been there and seen it..its awesome...but what they didnt show was the cretaceous feather the guy also got. It was around a metre long (memory is tricky but Im positive it was that big...the thing nearly gave me a heart attack) and was a true feather, not some dodgy old, scraggly peacock feather which are the only ones I can think of the same size. This was a true feather....and I bet no one out side of the guys friends or family have ever seen it!
Phil Hore
National Dinosaur Museum
Canberra, Australia
ph (02) 62302655
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>From: "Tim Williams" <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com> >Reply-To: twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com >To: dinosaur@usc.edu >Subject: Nature News: Feathered fossils cause a flap in museums >Date: Wed, 05 May 2004 16:07:09 -0500 > > >Dalton, R. (2004) Feathered fossils cause a flap in museums. >Nature 429: 5. > >This brief article reports on the shenanigans surrounding the >(*ahem*) travel arrangements of certain exquisite Chinese fossils. >It's a 'he-said/she-said' about how feathered dinosaur fossils from >Liaoning came to be in the hands of Mr and Mrs Czerkas of the >Dinosaur Museum. The Czerkases, if you recall, were at the >epicentre of the "Archaeoraptor"/National Geographic debacle five >years ago. Ji Qiang (Institute of Geology in Beijing) maintains >certain specimens were smuggled out of China, but the Czerkases >protest their innocenc! ! e. Anyway, the fossils will be repatriated to >China in 2007. > >One line in the article made me smile.... > >"Stephen Czerkas is an artist who is self-taught in >palaeontology..." > >After reading Mr Czerkas' articles in the "Dinosaur Museum Journal", >he should have fired his teacher, IMHO. > > > >Tim > >_________________________________________________________________ >Express yourself with the new version of MSN Messenger! Download >today - it's FREE! >http://messenger.msn.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/ >
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