A Whoopee Kind of Thing

The Washington Post reports on the discovery of a mid-Cretaceous nodosaur footprint discovered on the grounds of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. It was found this summer by fossil hunter Ray Stanford, who spends his days searching for ichnofossils in Maryland. In the story, Stanford nicely captures one of the most poignant aspects of studying the animals of distant ages.

“I love the paradox,” said Stanford, 74. “Space scientists walk along here, and they’re walking where this big, bungling, heavy-armored dinosaur walked maybe 110, 112 million years ago. It’s just so poetic.”

Included with the story is short video about Stanford's love of paleontology. Bear with the ad; after that the feature is quite charming.