Out of the oil emerges Venezuela's 'Jurassic Park'
Out of the oil emerges Venezuela's 'Jurassic Park'
2 hours ago by María Isabel Sánchez
Under the rich Venezuelan soil, paleontologists have found treasures rivaling the bountiful oil: a giant armadillo the size of a Volkswagen, a crocodile bigger than a bus and a saber-toothed tiger.
Oil companies' surveys of the soil have uncovered a trove of fossils dating from 14,000 to 370 million years ago.
Many of the 12,000 recorded specimens from different eras are now kept in a tiny office of the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research.
A strong smell of oil fills the room as Ascania Rincon opens the drawer of a filing cabinet to reveal the tar-stained femur of a giant, six-ton mastodon from 25,000 years ago at the end of the Ice Age.
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http://phys.org/news/2013-09-oil-emerges-venezuela-jurassic.html#jCp