Badlanders MCC Website

 

The search for dinosaurs! ( or big monsters)

 

Now this is a story about my search for dinosaurs in Patagonia. It’s a special story for  Euan, Em and Al, because I know they have a keen interest in dinosaurs or in Al’s case, monsters, though it’s also a story for all the big kids who have always wanted to see a dinosaur ; that includes Tom and Sam. Jay and Rikki can’t deny it either....remember midnight back in the summer of 93 and the drive all the way to Eastbourne to sit until 3 am to see Jurassic Park!!

 

Now we all know that dinosaurs are extinct, don’t we?...........DONT WE?

 

Indeed. But, before I came to South America I was reading about a man called Bruce Chatwin who came to Patagonia in search of dinosaur skin, bones or fossils. This was because his grandmother used to have a piece of dinosaur skin in her cabinet! She said it was a piece of skin from a brontosaurus, but it wasn’t really, I think it came from a mylodon or a glyptodon! Now can anyone tell me what mylodon looks like and even better still, what living animal of today is it most closely related to?) if so put it in the comment section on the BLOG. If you’re not sure how to do this, get your Mum, Dad or Sam to help you.

 

Well, as I’d been waiting for what seemed like years for bicycle parts coming from Scotland. I thought I’d take a trip out to the Torres del Paine National Park to see the really impressive mountains and the Grey Glaciar. This would be my first ever sighting of a Glacier, so I was looking forward to it.

 

After settling into my room, I felt hungry and decided to go to a local restaurant for something to eat. I ordered a steak and chips and whilst I was waiting for my food to arrive, I heard these two men talking about “Las Cueva de Mylodon”, which is Spanish for the cave of the Mylodon.  Anyway, I started to listen carefully to the two men, because I wanted to know a bit more about this cave. Unfortunately, as they were speaking in Spanish, I could only understand some of the words. But there was no doubt about it; they were definitely talking about a Mylodon!

 

I was interested to hear about this Mylodon and decided to ask them if they could tell me a bit about it. Fortunately, one of the men understood English and started to explain about the Mylodon’s cave which he said was a few miles from Puerto Natales. He said that all the Mylodons are extinct and any remnants of these creatures, things like skin, bones and fossils were taken from the cave many years ago by scientists and also by pirates. But after a while, he started to talk about how, if you go deep inside the cave, you won’t just see fossils, but if you are lucky you might even see a Mylodon! He explained that to do so, I’d have to get up really, really early.  Of course I didn’t believe him, because we all know that those creatures disappeared thousands of years ago. Don’t we? But he explained that many people are too frightened to go deep inside the cave, which is understandable really. I don’t like caves very much- they’re dark and the air doesn’t smell so good. Also, you never know what is lurking about inside caves, do you?  But, he said, “for those that are careful, but brave enough to go into the darkest spots of the cave, deep inside, you might, you just might see a real live Mylodon. But to do so, you’ve got to search for the half moon!” “The half moon” I said. “What do you mean, the half moon? “He said “that’s all I can say. I said, “surely you can explain a bit more about this half moon.” He said, “no, I’ve said as much as I can- You will have to find out for yourself.”

 

However, I went on to the computer as soon as I got back to the Hostel to see if I could find any more information about the Mylodon. After all, its not often that you get the chance to go to place which is the home; no, the origin of the dinosaur!

 

Anyway, when I looked into all the information about the Mylodon, it was clear that this was a prehistoric creature that lived about ten thousand years ago.  Back then, it roamed freely in the plains of Patagonia in South America. It was a vegetarian, which I was pleased to hear about, and lived off the pampas in Patagonia. The Mylodon weighed about  450 lb ( i know, about the same weight as me!) and stood up to 3 metres tall when raised up on its hind legs, ( but much taller than me).

I spoke to the man at the reception when I went down to buy some water. He said, he knew about the cave, however, there was definitely no living dinosaurs. “Surely, you know that?” he said. I said, yes, of course, but I also knew that they unearthed a mummified dinosaur as recently as 2007 in Dakota, so I also thought, well..... anything’s possible!

 

Anyway I couldn’t sleep all night for thinking about the Mylodon! So I decided at about 4 o’clock in the morning, that I’d get up and get ready to walk to the Mylodon’s cave. I got ready, and I knew it would be cold as it had been snowing all night. So I wrapped up, took a flask, a whistle, which is important, just in case you get lost. I also knew that I would need both hands, so a head- torch was an essential piece of equipment. Oh; I also took my cycling helmet, just incase there might be some falling rocks.

 

I was very lucky, because as I made out for the long walk to the cave, this bus drove past me and stopped a few metres ahead. I ran to the bus, and the driver said, donde va?, (which means where are you going in Spanish). I said “las cuevos de Mylodon”. I was lucky, he agreed to drop me off close to where the cave was. That meant I would be there really, really early.

 

Anyway, about 30 minutes later, the bus driver slowed down, and said “Cuevo de Mylodon”. I got off the bus and wandered up this steep hill and under the bright moonlight. (You can see the picture on my photo’s page- the climb to the Mylodon’s cave) It was a full moon and so I could see the opening to the cave very clearly. I was a bit nervous at this point, because I was on my own.....and even with the light of the full moon, it was still dark. Whilst the bus driver knew I was there, nobody else did.

 

Anyway, I walked inside the cave. This was the biggest cave I have ever seen in my life. It was a million times bigger than the caves at East Wemyss!! So I went inside and switched my torch on. I was a bit nervous, so I wandered around at the front of the cave for a while and looked at the stalactites. You know what these are, don’t you? They are little spikes that hang from the roof of the cave, which are formed from the calcium in the limestone rocks and carbon dioxide in the cave. Do you know it takes over 1000 years for a stalactite to grow 1- 3cm in this cave! 1000 years!  That’s not the same with all stalactites, some can grow quite quickly.

 

Anyway, I shouted so that I could hear my echo in the cave and to check that no-one was in. It sounded as if there were another ten people in there saying the same thing as me, but it was only my echo, of course!

 

I decided to go a little deeper into the cave to see if I could find any fossils or bones, or skin from dinosaurs! I searched for ages and ages, but couldn’t see a thing, just dust and stalactites. Suddenly, as it started to get light outside, I heard this huge roar from the front of the cave. I turned around and I thought I could see a huge monster, but it wasn’t really, it was just this big man saying that I hadn’t paid any money to come into the cave. But as I walked towards the man, I could see this huge creature standing at the front of the cave. I went up to have a look and there it was, a mylodon! Have a look at the photos particularly mylo 1.

 

 Now I know what you are thinking!......You’re thinking, that’s not a real Mylodon, that’s a fake. I know how good you all are at spotting fakes. Remember when I dressed up as Santa Claus at Christmas. You knew right away that it was me, not the real one!

 

However, I gave the man the money and he agreed to take a picture of me alongside the fake mylodon. It might have been fake, but it was an exact replica, with the same colour and texture of skin that they had recovered from the cave many years ago when they found a mylodon’s remains there. And it was the correct size, if you read everything that the scientists and palaeontologists discovered about this creature!

 

I still couldn’t see this half moon, so I was less than happy about my adventure so far. I asked the man that took my money about the half moon. He said something like, “si, el luna en el cielo” ( the moon’s in the sky). I said “That’s not a half moon, that’s a full moon, I’m looking for a half moon”.

 

“Si” he said, “en dos semana” ... (in two weeks)! 

I thought, of course, this is probably the wrong time in the lunar calendar. How stupid? But then I thought, wait a minute, the man in the restaurant must have known it was a full moon. Plus, he said I would only see it deep inside the cave! I thought, I had no choice, I just had to go back inside the cave.

 

So off I went again. This time I felt a bit safer, because I knew that someone else knew I was in the cave. I walked for ages and as the cave got narrower and narrower, all of a sudden, I thought I could see a glimpse of light. I was now on my hands and knees, and it was pretty mucky, I can tell you. Anyway, I wasn’t sure if the light was my head torch reflecting off the stalactites, so I switched it off and I couldn’t believe my eyes. Suddenly I could see this blast of light in the shape of a half moon ( see the picture- the half moon). The cave was really narrow, so it was difficult to get close to the light, but I crawled, and crawled, being careful not to hit any stalagtites with my head or unsettle any rocks.

 

Suddenly, I reached the half moon and there was a spectacular burst of light. In fact, it was so strong that it blinded me for a second or two. Then I opened my eyes, and this time I really couldn’t believe my eyes.  It was like the Lost World. You know, the one that Arthur Conan Doyle wrote about. (Euan, you must know Arthur Conan Doyle. He used to live in Crowborough. In fact, I think that your Dad used to deliver newspapers to his old house.) Anyway, all I could see were hundreds of mylodons. It really did look as if I’d found the Lost World. Now I struggled to get my camera out of my pocket, because it was really cramped in this bit of the cave. However, if you open the picture called the “valley of the Mylodons”, in my photos page, I hope you will also see the Mylodons. I know it’s difficult, but you need to look carefully.

 

Can you see them? Aren’t they amazing? I sat looking at them for quite a while.  So this was what the man meant by the “half moon”. Later today, I would be going to see my first glaciar and this morning was my first ever glimpse of a live dinosaur, well.... ok , a mylodon! Had I really found the Lost World?

 

Anyway, after sitting for a while, I decided I needed to go back. It was very cramped, and it can be quite dangerous, because your body can swell up in cramped spaces....and if I got stuck, I might have been there forever!

 

 I was still dumbstruck. In fact, I was absolutely mesmerised by what I saw. As I walked past the man who looks after the cave, he looked at me and winked....... “la luna media” he said. I knew that he knew I’d just found the Lost World.  Just then, this pterodactyl went flying above my head. I looked more closely, and it wasn’t a Pterodactyl at all. It was a condor, but a condor has a wing span of over 3 metres, so it’s easy to see why I was confused!

 

Then as I walked down the hill, I saw these velociraptors, running over the fields. But, again, when I looked more closely, they weren’t velociraptors, they were guanacos! Though they ran just like the velociraptors of Jurassic Park really fast, and they could leap, boy could they leap!

 

So I thought to myself, perhaps the half moon was just my mind playing tricks with me. Maybe all I saw were some red squirrels! What do you think? Look at the picture again and let me know what you think.