Dinosaurs can not only be found in Jurassic Park, but also in Bavaria.
The paleontologist Raimund Albersdörfer talks about his work with dinosaur eggs, excavations in Lower Bavaria and his most important find.
Altmühltal - "A dinosaur egg has never been found in Germany," Raimund Albersdörfer tells
Merkur.de
during his research work in southern France.
Nevertheless, they are the specialty of the paleontologist and co-founder of the Dinosaur Museum Altmühltal.
He made some of the most important discoveries in paleontology, including a fully preserved hairy dinosaur in Lower Bavaria.
He searches for skeletons and the "extremely rare" dinosaur eggs worldwide.
He then works on these for exhibitions with special tools, but baking powder from the supermarket is also used.
Special find in France: Dino eggs protected by law
In order to get the dinosaur eggs, Albersdörfer needs the help of other researchers and scientists who are spread all over the world.
He has never dug one up himself.
There are two particularly important locations for his research: France and Mongolia.
In Aix-en-Provence in southern France, "the first dinosaur eggs were ever found," says the paleontologist.
Since the first finds in the southern French region, however, the legal situation has changed significantly.
"You can't even pick up a bowl." However, dinosaur eggs are always found there.
"Eggs are often found during construction work on roads."
The law has now also clarified who owns the eggs found.
“In France it is a federal matter.
In a non-protected area, however, the egg belongs to the finder".
In Germany the situation is different.
"From a certain value, it belongs half to the finder and half to the owner of the property." The exact value for a dinosaur egg cannot be given.
At auctions, amounts between 100,000 and several million euros were paid for the eggs.
According to § 971 of the German Civil Code, a finder's fee is stipulated by law.
German dinosaur researcher searches worldwide: fossils come from Asia and South America
Another important site for paleontologists is Outer Mongolia.
This is where his colleagues found “thousands of dinosaur eggs”.
However, research work has also been regulated by new laws for around 15 years.
“Up until 20 years ago it was still legal to export anywhere in the world.
Today, China regulates exports,” explains the paleontologist.
Although Mongolia received political sovereignty from China and the Soviet Union in the early 20th century, according to the paleontologist, a Chinese law regulates local exports of dinosaur fossils.
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Raimund Albersdörfer researches dinosaurs near Regensburg.
© Dinosaur Museum Altmühltal/Imago Images/Zuma Wire
Albersdörfer and his colleagues used to be able to search for dinosaur eggs and other fossils in Argentina.
They kept finding dinosaur eggs and skeletons over an area 20 kilometers long.
That is no longer possible.
With regard to the fossils in the South American country, "the search and export are absolutely illegal," reports the dinosaur researcher.
Cracked egg shells: Prepare dino egg with compressed air and baking soda
As soon as Albersdörfer has received the dinosaur eggs from his colleagues, he gets to work.
"When a dinosaur hatches, it destroys its own shell and hatches upwards." That's why he treats the "nice side" of the egg when it's on display.
As a first step, he uses plaster of paris that sets well and attaches it to the underside of the dinosaur egg.
As the paleontologist points out, a complete dinosaur egg with an undamaged top is a special case.
The rock is removed with vibrating compressed air tools.
To work on the shell, the researcher uses a very fine sandblaster.
The powder is "slightly softer than the shell, but a bit harder than the rock".
It consists partly of very fine iron powder, dolomite and baking powder.
However, the baking powder was not made in a laboratory.
Albersdörfer gets the baking powder as usual in the supermarket.
He stabilizes the shell with various chemicals.
Once the eggs are ready, "they end up in the museum of the country where they were found," the paleontologist describes the fossil's journey.
"There are more eggs than can be displayed in museums."
Dinosaurs next door: Expert finds fossils in Lower Bavaria
In addition to dinosaur eggs, Albersdörfer also examines dinosaur skeletons.
He found quite a few of them in Germany.
He made his most important discovery near Regensburg.
In 2009, he found a 150-million-year-old dinosaur fossil that resembles a squirrel and was named after the researcher.
"Sciurumimus albersdoerferi" was found in Painten in Lower Bavaria.
"Sciurumimus" is Latin for squirrel.
What is special about the find is that it was "completely preserved from tail to snout".
Not only were all the claws, teeth and cervical vertebrae preserved, but also the hair.
As the paleontologist pointed out, the cub, whose mother "was approximately six to seven meters tall," testifies to a transitional stage in evolution from scales to feathers and was an important discovery for science.
The fossil itself belongs to his wife.
She registered it as a cultural asset and gave it to the Mayor-Müller-Museum in Solnhofen in Central Franconia as a permanent loan.
According to Albersdörfer, there are very few and "needle-shaped places" in Europe to dig for dinosaur fossils.
While it is possible in North America to take part in excavations and find real fossils, the paleontologist unfortunately has to disappoint dinosaur enthusiasts in Germany.
There are quarries at Altmühltal for visitors and hobbyists, but the odds of finding a dinosaur fossil there are "one in a million, maybe even less".
New projects near Regensburg and Eastern Europe: Too many dinosaur sites
His research continues in Germany, but also draws him to Eastern Europe.
“We are digging very intensively near Regensburg, but we also want to dig in Kazakhstan.
But that's just not possible because of the war.” Instead, he will start a new project in Romania.
In Transylvania there are "very exciting dinosaur sites that nobody is interested in," said the researcher about his upcoming plans.
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Albersdörfer connects many good stories with his excavations.
He's only found a stegosaurus once in his life and that was "the best thing" for him.
“Actually, we are looking for elongated bones.
But as we dug it up, the find kept getting bigger and bigger until we uncovered the area.
In the end we recognized the stegosaurus with its bony plates.” As he points out, he thinks that the stegosaurus has the most beautiful aesthetics of the dinosaurs.
The herbivore could grow up to nine meters long, was characterized by its distinctive bony plates on its back and lived around 150 million years ago.
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The reconstructions of a Stegosaurus and Allosaurus.
© Imago Images/Michal Adamczyk/Wirestock
His favorite fossil, however, is that of a 10-foot-tall cub Allosaurus.
He has found several allosaurs in the course of his work, but rarely a hatchling.
The Allosaurus was very similar in anatomy to the Tyrannosaurus Rex.
According to paleontologists, the dangerous carnivore lived around 150 million years ago, could grow up to ten meters long and weigh three tons.
"We need more paleontologists" - New researchers to save fossils
Finally, the paleontologist appeals to the next generation of dinosaur fans.
“We need more paleontologists.
There are more sites than paleontologists.” According to Albersdörfer, he and his colleagues are running out of time.
Paleontologists must protect the sites from decay.
"Weathering carries away the skeletons and erodes the fossils." As the researcher explains, weather and nature can destroy exposed fossils.
It is also important to Albersdörfer to show the difference between paleontology and archaeology.
Archeology deals with the objects and fun pieces from human history.
These cover a period of a few thousand years.
Paleontology deals with the remains that are much older, dating back several million years.
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List of rubrics: © Dinosaur Museum Altmühltal/Imago Images/Zuma Wire
