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UWI TODAY
– SUNDAY 2 JUNE 2019
SCIENCE & SOCIETY
We are in the Zoology Museum
at UWI St Augustine’s
Department of Life Sciences (DLS), and curator Ryan
Mohammed is explaining just how “giant” was the now
extinct giant armadillo known as glyptodont.
Mohammed says, “we are talking about an animal the
size of a Mini Cooper.”
Yes, once upon a time giant animals roamed Trinidad:
armadillos the size of cars, ground sloths 20 feet tall. How
long ago? Estimates range from hundreds of thousands to
millions of years, long enough for time and weather to erase
them from history. But Trinidad is blessed with a powerful
preserving agent - tar.
“The value of tar pit or asphaltic fossils in the
Neotropics is immense because fossils do not preserve in
this environment typically,” says Aisling Farrell, Collections
Manager at the La Brea Tar Pits Museum in Los Angeles,
California. “So having them beautifully preserved in asphalt
is exquisite.”
Aisling and her colleague, Dr Alexis Mychajliw
(postdoctoral fellow at the Tar Pits Museum) know a
great deal about tar pits, fossils, and the natural world of
the prehistoric past. And, thanks to their efforts, UWI St
Augustine now knows a great deal more about Trinidad
and Tobago’s. They have used their international network
of paleontologists to recover fossils unearthed in Trinidad
and taken abroad from as far back as the 1920s, returning
fragments of a historic legacy that may go as far back as the
Ice Age.
They also came to teach.
FROM LA BREA TO LA BREA
“In the scientific literature, when they talk about tar pits
they focus on Los Angeles, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela, but
there is always at least one sentence in the paper on Trinidad.
There’s always been this general awareness that Trinidad
had material but nobody went out and investigated,” says
Mychajliw.
Her moment came in July 2018 when the Latin
America and Caribbean Congress for Conservation Biology
(LACCCB) was held in Trinidad at the St Augustine Campus.
They met with then DLS Head Dr Adesh Ramsubhag
to discuss Trinidad’s asphaltic fossils and visited local
sites. After their return to the US they reached out to their
community of paleontologists and museums and found a
host of materials that were unearthed through oil exploration
work in the 1920s, 30s, 50s, 80s and 2001. The initial plan
was to have them shipped directly to UWI.
“Then it changed to ‘why just send it?’,” saysMohammed.
“We asked them to come and help us build capacity here to
do research.”
So in April 2019 they returned to Trinidad, bringing
crates of asphaltic materials taken from sites such as the
Forest Reserve and Pitch Lake.
Mohammed says, “they have really done yeoman service
for the University and the country by being able to track
these things down and bringing them home.”
On our visit to the Zoology Museum we saw a number
of fossils separated into three different boxes based on how
much information was known about them. Apart from the
glyptodont remains there was a massive tip from the claw
of a ground sloth. The size of a tablet computer, its owner
must have been truly gigantic. There was also a row of near-
perfectly preserved teeth and part of a jaw that is believed to
have belonged to a Ilama. Yes, llamas in Trinidad. Mychajliw
says: “The thing about Trinidad is its biodiversity. It used to
be part of South America until recently so it is this really
interesting experiment of when you turn a continent into an
island. And on top of that Trinidad is that gateway between
South America and the Caribbean.”
Asphalt
Giants
Paleontologists bring home
Trinidad’s tar pit fossil legacy
B Y J O E L H E N R Y
She describes the very different world of the prehistoric
past: “People moved through here and animals moved
through here. This is a great window to understand how the
Caribbean came to be. You have giant armadillo specimens
that evolved in South America in isolation for millions of
years. Then if we had something like a llama or carnivore,
this would have had to come from North America with the
land bridge.”
MORE MUSEUM, MORE PALEONTOLOGY
The tar pit fossils are an exciting discovery at an exciting
time for the University. And the DLS understands the
significance.
“We’ve gone into the deep sea,” says DLS Head of
Department Dr Judith Gobin, referencing her work in
underwater exploration. “Through Dr (Shirin) Haque’s
(Senior Lecturer inAstronomy in theDepartment of Physics)
work we’ve gone to the stars. And now this extraordinary
find takes us deep into the core of ecological time.”
Gobin sees the tar pit fossils as a “gold mine” that UWI
must recognise. Her vision is an expansion of the Zoology
Museum to better showcase its extraordinary collection of
animals and insects.
“My approach, which I voiced to the Deputy Principal
(Professor Indar Ramnarine), is that I would like him to
consider locating space for us. Or if we could, extend our
existing space. If they will allow me to extend the museum I
will seek out external funding to enhance it,” she says.
Gobin adds, “We want to let the general public know
this exists and that it is an incredibly valuable part of our
heritage.”
But housing and displaying the items are only part of
the agenda. During their visit to Trinidad the team from La
Brea Los Angeles also taught a three-day short course to a
group of over 40 that included students and members of
the public. It involved class work, a field trip and excavation
exercise, and finally laboratory work.
“Almost 50 people came on a Saturday at 9am,” says
Mychajliw of the field trip. “People volunteering their time
was really amazing.”
Mychajliw and Farrell volunteered their time as
well. Apart from everything else they did during the trip,
Mychajliw also gave a public lecture at the campus, titled
“Tar Pit Time Capsule: Unearthing Trinidad’s Ice Age Giants”.
“I really want to see a community of paleontologists
develop here,” she says. “I think Trinidad could be a place on
the cutting edge of this type of research. The museumhere is
absolutely wonderful. It has the right facilities to do that type
of work. It has the right people here to support the students.
So my ultimate goal is to see students take ownership of the
material and run with it.”
It’s a sentiment shared by DLS, not just to establish
a teaching and research agenda for these near-magical
creatures from the distant past, but to create a national
understanding of their significance to our society.
“Now the work begins,” says Dr Gobin.
Aisling Farrell
indicating the level of
detail on the teeth and
jaw of what is believed
to have been a Ilama.
PHOTOS: ANEEL KARIM
Dr Alexis Mychajliw
