Kinkajous, coprolites and geothermal jamborees

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

Stay on boardwalks; he did not pet the buffalo; don’t drive off-road and in any of the heat features – there are too many rules to remember these days. Outsideonline.com reported that “five visitors to Yellowstone National Park found themselves in hot water — literally — when their SUV ran into a geyser” — the Semi-Centennial Geyser, which is within spitting distance or , in this case, at depth distance. , from the popular Grand Loop Road. Fortunately, all five escaped the 105-degree thermal pool without life-threatening injuries, although their vehicle was not as fortunate. The next day, workers closed the road and recovery specialists pulled the SUV out of 9 feet of very hot water. The “Semi-Centennial” got its name from the one and only occasion it is known to have erupted, spewing water 300 feet into the air. That day – August 14, 1922 – happened to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Yellowstone National Park.^thor semicentenary, anniversary. If a Yellowstone geyser is going to blow just once, that’s a pretty good time. Unlike Old Faithful, it’s been quiet ever since.

However, there’s been plenty of other hydrothermal “activity” at Yellowstone this summer—which isn’t surprising, given that the park sits atop a giant volcano. Dailymontanan.com reported that on the morning of July 23, Black Diamond Pool in Biscuit Basin, located about 1.1 miles northwest of Old Faithful, exploded, resulting in flying debris and a damaged boardwalk. Fortunately, no one was injured. Some of the later video footage shows park visitors lingering after the blast, apparently in no rush to leave the freshly blown-up area. Maybe we’re getting a little too used to living on the edge, just waiting for the next epic disaster to blow up in our faces.

WASHINGTON

What’s a cute exotic animal like you doing in a place like this? Koin.com reported that a kinkajou, native to the tropical rainforests of South America, was spotted at Selah Creek Rest Station in Yakima, Washington, which is about as untropical a place as you’re likely to find. The Kinkajou is a funny-looking creature that is related to raccoons, although it actually resembles Nosferatu the vampire, which is slightly unsettling. But what are they doing in the middle of Washington state? Well, the people from the Department of Fish and Wildlife who rescued him said they’re not sure if he escaped from somewhere else or was abandoned there. For now, it is cared for by the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma. The zoo said that “despite their cuteness,” kinkajous do not make good pets. Everyone said that about Nosferatu too.

ARIZONA

If you’re traveling to the Grand Canyon this summer and looking for an uncrowded kinkajous stop, you might enjoy the Poozeum, an unusual roadside attraction in Williams, Arizona, that’s a museum dedicated to doo-doo—or, more precisely, to coprolites, that is, fossilized feces, especially ancient dinosaur poop. Poozeum’s founder and driving force, George Frandsen, told Azcentral.com that when he was 18, he first saw a coprolite in a rock shop in Moab, Utah, and it “piqued his curiosity.” Frandsen believed that “specific time capsules” offered an incredible way to study the diets, behavior and environment of prehistoric creatures. Poozeum and Frandsen hold two Guinness World Records, one for the world’s largest coprolite collection and the second for the largest sample from a carnivore. A review posted on Poozeum’s Facebook page by a 9-year-old visitor named William summed it up: “It combines my two favorite things – dinosaurs and inappropriate jokes.”

UTAH/CALIFORNIA

If fossilized dino dung doesn’t float your boat, and you’d rather not have to find out if it does, then maybe a green-boned dinosaur called “Gnatalie” is more your thing. ABC7.com reported that a new species of sauropod similar to Diplodocuswas excavated in the Utah Badlands in 2007. It is older than Tyrannosaurus rexbut what delighted paleontologists was that Gnatalie’s bones are green. What is Gnatalia – named after the mosses that swarmed throughout the excavation – supposed to be green, anyway? The skeleton acquired its olive green color from the mineral celadonite during the fossilization process. Most celadonite forms in volatile conditions, such as volcanic or hydrothermal environments, which tend to destroy bone. In Gnatalie’s case, celadonite entered her remains when conditions were optimal, and now reigns at the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History in all its green, glamorous glory.

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This article appeared in the September 2024 print edition of the magazine under the title Heard in the West.