16 Members Attend the MAPS EXPO in Macomb                                                                                                 

by Craig Tipton

The annual MAPS (Mid-American Paleontology Society)

annual Exposition was held March 30th through April 1st

in Western Hall on the campus of Western Illinois University

in Macomb, Illinois.  About 16 people associated with the

NCFC made the approximately 550 mile trek this year.  We

also saw many of our friends and fossil acquaintances. 

Members attending the show this year were Jim & Linda Supp,

Gary Rudolph, Brian Bade, Craig Tipton, Paul Regel, Dan Vento,

Chuck Piovarchy, Brian Bade, Mike Scaglione, Mark Springowski,

Gary & Steven Sladek, Glen Kuban, and, of course, Tony Verdi. 

Again, it was a great show with the arena floor being filled with displays and dealer        tables.  The theme of this years show was dinosaurs and the keynote speaker on Friday night was Pete Larson from the Black Hills Institute.   He gave an excellent talk on the known tyrannosaur skeletons.  He gave a very interesting discussion of the many defects in the skeletons caused by injury and disease.  From this he tried to infer their behavior.  For example, punctures in the jaw bones of almost every specimen in existence suggests fighting amongst each other, perhaps for dominance reasons. Ossification of the bones in the thorax suggests bruising and subsequent bone formation resulting from falls or collisions while running at 30 mile per hour speeds.  The discovery of partially healed tyrannosaur bite marks on prey animal skeletons strongly infers that tyrannosaurs were predators as well as possible scavengers.

One also should not forget the "satellite" show at the Holiday Inn at Macomb in which many fossil, mineral, and mounted insect dealers open up their rooms for displays and sales.

Friday's show was followed by the group NCFC dinner at the Sunrise Family Restaurant nearby.  We had about 15 people at one table and lots of lively conversation well into the evening.

This show is a great way to start the summer collecting season.  Why not put it on your calendar to attend next year?  Some of us stop to collect at road cuts along the way or stop at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.