The University of Wyoming (UW) Geological Museum is home to fossils, replicas of dinosaur skeletons and many records of Wyoming’s rich past, but while its displays are long-dead, the museum is alive with activity.
The geological museum, in partnership with the Wyoming State Geological Survey, hosted its annual Fossil Fish Festival Saturday, April 20, to highlight the paleontological and geological opportunities Wyoming provides.
“You go to any rock shop in the world they’ll have these [fossilized] fish from Wyoming, but so few Wyomingites know about them,” said Laura Vietti, UW geological museum and collections manager. “The goal of this festival is to celebrate and show off Wyoming’s amazing resources.”
The university geological museum highlights the abundance of fossil resources specific to Wyoming.
“The state of Wyoming has the best fossil fish quarries in the entire world,” Vietti said. “Almost anything in here would’ve walked, swam or flown right here in Wyoming. It’s one of the only places in the world you can go and see just Wyoming-based fossils.”
Over 300 people stopped by the event to learn about fossils and participate in hands-on activities. These included a bracelet-making activity, which used different colored beads to represent different layers of rock and fossils in lake beds, and an activity to ‘fossilize’ Swedish Fish candy by stacking and squishing them between pieces of bread, used to represent sedimentary rock.
Adrin Bisha, who is 10-years-old, is a returning visitor to the museum.
“I like coming here because I like seeing new fossils and things,” he said. “My favorite thing I learned is [that] Gastornis—a huge bird—it doesn’t actually eat meat, it eats plants.”
While many of the day’s activities were aimed at children and younger learners, the event also drew a number of adults eager to learn and relax.
Attendees Mara Gans and Solana Burbel spent their time admiring the Apatosaurus exhibit.
“We’re practicing our curiosity muscles,” Gans said. She and Solana Burbel visited the museum to take a break from UW undergraduate research and inquiry days.
Burbel said it was a fun opportunity.
“I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen fossils in person before, despite my childhood obsession,” she said.
Vietti said she hopes attendees leave with a better understanding of the scientific processes behind how fossils are preserved, and why that makes Wyoming special.
According to Vietti, Wyoming was once a seabed. When fish and other creatures died, layers of sediment would cover them and build up over time, slowly compressing the lower layers into rock and preserving traces of prehistoric life. Uplift from when the Rocky Mountains formed brought those fossils closer to the surface. Today, Wyoming’s dry climate makes looking for fossils easier than in many other places.
“Have some pride in our state in that we have such an amazing fossil resource,” Vietti said. “I want [visitors] to have a piece of that resource.”
