BOWRON BEAUTY

Yellow Lily line pathways and float in the cold, clear lake water. Somewhere I read a suggestion to bring a bathing suit to the park, but at the moment, I cannot imagine lowering anything more than my paddle into these icy waters.

To reach the west side of the paddling route, we must first face several kilometres portaging muddy trails to meet up with the Isaac River and then paddle rapids to grade two.

BONOBO BEBE: PAN PANISCUS

DIPLOGRAPTUS: GRAPTOLITES

Diplograptus floating in Cambrian seas. These colonial animals are known from Middle Cambrian to Lower Carboniferous fossils. The name graptolite comes from the Greek graptos for written and lithos for rock — written on the rock.  And they do look a bit like scratches or calligraphy, but more so like primitive plants. I confess that when I found my first graptolite fossil, I had assumed this was a plant group, then looked them up and low and behold... aquatic sea animals!

TURTLE ISLAND: NORTH AMERICA

Turtle Island 

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/turtle-island

MEGATHERIUM AMERICANUM

In 1788, this magnificent specimen of a Megatherium sloth was sent to the Royal Cabinet of Natural History from the Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata.

The megaterios were large terrestrial sloths belonging to the group, Xenarthra. These herbivores inhabited large ares of land on the American continent. Their powerful skeleton enabled them to stand on their hind legs to reach leaves high in the trees, a huge advantage given the calories needed to be consumed each day to maintain their large size.

Avocados were one of the food preferences of our dear Giant ground sloths. They ate then pooped them out, spreading the pits far and wide. The next time you enjoy avocado toast, thank this large beastie. One of his ancestors may have had a hand (or butt) in your meal.

In 1788, Bru assembled the skeleton as you see it here. It is exhibited at the Museo Nacional De Ciencias Naturales in Madrid, Spain, in its original configuration for historic value. If you look closely, you'll see it is not anatomically correct. But all good paleontology is teamwork. Based upon the drawings of Juan Bautista Bru, George Cuvier used this specimen to describe the species for the very first time.