Nearly every week at the Field Museum, staff members hold a “Meet a Scientist” event to show visitors what they’ve been working on.
Usually, the scientists display creatures from all over the world.
This week at the Field’s Grainger Science Hub, the scientists are focusing on fossils from closer to home.
Arjan Mann, the Field Museum’s assistant curator of early tetrapods, and his team have studied and collected fossils over the last year at Mazon Creek, about an hour’s drive southwest of Chicago inside the Mazonia-Braidwood State Fish and Wildlife Area in Grundy County.
Until recently, scientists did not realize how much the state park had to offer.
“We used to think Mazon Creek had very little diversity, but we’re seeing that there’s more species than we expected,” said Cal So, a postdoc who works in Mann’s lab.
Many of the new fossils from the park are 309 million years old.
The well-preserved fossils include remains of amphibians from the prehistoric ecosystem. One of the fossils, a temnospondyli, is a tetrapod from which modern-day frogs and salamanders are derived. They have been on display since Tuesday.
Along with the fossils, paleontological art pieces depict what the fossilized creatures could have looked like. Fossils and artwork of other creatures found in other places like Oklahoma are also on display.
Most “Meet a Scientist” events occur only once a week for an hour or two. Because of this new batch of local fossils, the museum is holding the event for a three-day period ending Thursday, Mann said.
Everly Sobin, 11, stumbled upon the display Wednesday. She took the train up from LaSalle County with her aunt and brother to visit the museum.
“It’s interesting to see what stuff looked like from a really long time ago,” Sobin said. “It was really cool to see.”
Tamoghna Gattupalli, 13, said he thought it was interesting to see fossils that were found so close to Chicago.
“It’s a really cool display, especially for kids like my sister,” said Gattupalli, who was visiting the display with his mom and younger sister.
The Grainger Science Hub is open daily from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Some of the fossils from Mazon Creek are available to view through Thursday.