Discover - March-April 2022

TOXIC WASTE THREATENS U.S. WATER p.32

SCIENCE THAT MATTERS ®

MARCH/APRIL 2022

EXCLUSIVE!

HIDDEN

DINOSAUR
TREASURES

SEE THE WORLD'S
MOST UNUSUAL

FOSSILS p.42

PLUS

DIY SCIENCE: COOL
PROJECTS FOR ALL AGES p.52
WHY HUMANS
NEED HUGS p.14
JOIN A SCIENTIST’S
UNDERSEA ADVENTURE p.22

BONUS

ONLINE
CONTENT
CODE p.3

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p. 32

COVER IMAGE: MARK PETERMAN. THIS PAGE FROM TOP: THEBIGMK/SHUTTERSTOCK; 26 From Combat to 42 Waiting to Hatch p. 26
WILFREDO RODRIGUEZ/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Conservation Self-taught fossil specialist MAR/APR 2022 . DISCOVER 3
Terry Manning uncovered his
After half a century of first dinosaur embryo from an
armed conflict, Colombia’s ancient egg in 1993. More than
ex-guerillas have no war 30 embryos and nearly three
to fight. Their new mission: decades later, hardly anyone
preserving biodiversity in has laid eyes or hands on his
the jungles they occupied rare specimens.
for decades.
TIMOTHY PRATT
ADDISON NUGENT
52 Science by the People
32 Spilling Over
Darlene Cavalier has boosted
For decades, Canadian some of the biggest citizen
waterways have carried toxic science projects in the nation
mine waste through natural — and wants everyone to
ecosystems, into tribal lands join in.
and across the U.S. border. A
coalition of Indigenous leaders JENNIFER WALTER
and scientists are now calling
for international protection.

STEPHEN ROBERT MILLER

CONTENTS

p. 62

COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS

p. 58 6 58 FROM TOP: NASA/ESA/Z. LEVAY AND R. VAN DER MAREL/STSCI/T. HALLAS/AND A. MELLINGER; RICK FRIEDMAN/GETTY

HOT SCIENCE EDITOR’S NOTE HISTORY LESSONS

p. 9 Science for All An Eye for Ants

Learn about mystery Each of us can participate in vital As the Harvard Museum of
desert markings, research. Comparative Zoology’s ant
cryonically frozen collection rapidly grew in the
bodies, the origins 8 1950s, one woman worked behind
of hugging, space the scenes with extraordinary
weather forecasting, INBOX speed, accuracy and artistry.
and more! Today’s researchers are still
Our readers contemplate memories, reaping the benefits.
music and more.
SHOSHANA AKABAS
18
62
VITAL SIGNS
OUT THERE
Neonatal Nightmare
Milky Way’s Crash-Bang
Seizures in infants can signal Neighborhood
serious trouble, but she looked
perfectly healthy otherwise. The fate of our galaxy — and many
others — is played out in a slow but
JULIA MICHIE BRUCKNER surprisingly dramatic cosmic dance.

22 NOLA TAYLOR TILLMAN

PLANET EARTH 66

In Search of the #SCIENCEIRL
Nudibranch
Freshwater Treasure
Follow one scientist’s journey to
rediscover a mysterious underwater Diving into history in Lake
world — and to find an elusive Michigan’s new marine sanctuary.
sea creature.
TIMOTHY MEINCH
ANDRIA GREENE



EDITOR’S NOTE

BY STEPHEN C. GEORGE

Science for All ®

I’m excited for you to meet some MAGAZINE

special people in this issue. For starters, our STEPHEN C. GEORGE Editorial Director
cover story introduces you to a self-taught ELIZABETH M. WEBER Design Director
fossil specialist who has amassed one of
the most amazing fossil collections that most people EDITORIAL
— including more than a few envious scientists — have
never seen. But you can, starting on page 42. TIMOTHY MEINCH Features Editor
From there, we travel to the Colombian Amazon ELISA R. NECKAR Production Editor
rainforest, where former combatants in a decades-long ALEX ORLANDO Associate Editor
guerilla war have forsaken armed conflict in favor of a MOLLY GLICK Assistant Editor
new objective: protecting endangered plant and animal species in the jungle that once MARISA SLOAN Assistant Editor
sheltered them. Flip to page 26 to learn more about their efforts.
Meanwhile, in western Canada, Indigenous leaders are fighting for protection of a Contributing Editors
different kind, as lax mining operations threaten the ecosystems of Native lands in both
British Columbia and some U.S. states. Find out more about their struggle on page 32. BRIDGET ALEX, TIM FOLGER,
Lastly, we spend some time talking with Darlene Cavalier, starting on page 52. She JONATHON KEATS, LINDA MARSA,
didn’t want to be a scientist when she grew up. Instead, Cavalier became an advocate, KENNETH MILLER, STEVE NADIS,
promoting citizen science opportunities for every age and background. Her efforts JULIE REHMEYER,
have culminated in the launch of a new website, www.ScienceNearMe.org. Discover has DARLENE CAVALIER (special projects)
proudly signed on as a partner in this new initiative.
Science Near Me is a free resource to help anyone quickly find opportunities to DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
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citizen science projects, museum events, science festivals, after-school programs, maker MONICA CULL Assistant Digital Editor
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and barriers to participating in STEM. Their primary goal is to help anyone, anywhere ERIK KLEMETTI, JOSHUA RAPP LEARN,
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INBOX

THE SCIENCE OF NDES

(“Can Science Explain Near-Death Experiences?”, Sept/Oct 2021)

Your recent article opened with an Two professionals selected [in sell millions of copies. Fischer’s book
insightful interview of Dr. Bruce the article] to comment on my case summarizing his $5M John-Templeton-
Greyson, who has spent more than offered no comparable scientific funded project studying NDEs made
four decades seeking a deeper scientific opinion. Kevin Nelson’s REM intru- erroneous conclusions based on
understanding of consciousness through sion hypothesis explaining NDEs as a misquoting the Dalai Lama about my
the lens of near-death experiences dream phenomenon has been broadly case, all errors sourced from the Esquire
(NDEs). Dr. Greyson and two medical criticized. Given the extensive dam- article. True scientific study of NDEs
colleagues spent two years extensively age to my neocortex, my medically offers tremendous potential for more
reviewing the 600-page medical record documented case is a direct refutation deeply understanding the fundamental
of my 2008 illness. They concluded that of Nelson’s arguments. nature of reality.
my memories during a seven-day coma
could not be construed as hallucina- Philosopher John Martin Fischer was Eben Alexander III, M.D.
tion, dream or delirium because of the misguided by the same Esquire journal-
extensive damage to my neocortex. ist’s attempt to discredit a sincere
book that I never expected would

MEMORIES AT socks for Mom when Music Come From?” it, and who is a hazard to KELLIE JAEGER/DISCOVER
YOUR FINGERTIPS we watched that.” It’s an reminded me of something everyone else on a dance
unconventional way to I tell people, whether they floor, I take great umbrage
(“Cinema Amnesia,” build neural pathways, but want to hear it or not: A at being excluded from the
July/Aug 2021) a great argument in favor of highly intelligent and class of “ordinary mortals.”
learning to knit. advanced race of extrater-
The “Cinema Amnesia” restrials, after observing Edwin J. Bailen
article made me think of my Gabrielle Hastings Earth for many decades,
own experience with knit- would decide they would IN DEFENSE
ting while watching a movie MUSICAL ORIGINS: never understand music, OF INTROVERTS
or sitting in a meeting. SOUND OFF laughter and baseball.
Several years ago, I started (“Not Set in Stone,”
knitting during church (“Where Did Music Come Alan Dyer
services, and have noticed From?”, July/Aug 2021) Sept/Oct 2021)
that I remember the sermon In “Where Did Music
better [when knitting] than In response to “Where Come From?”, there is a Author Marta Zaraska
Did Music Come From?”, paragraph which states (in describes a “general pattern
when I don’t knit. I will also I was thinking about this part): “These days music of change [that is] not for the
sometimes remember what topic recently when a song is a profession, but even better” in the personalities
project was on my needles I hadn’t heard in years ‘ordinary mortals who never of older adults. Specifically,
the next time I read that (actually, at least a couple of had a music lesson have she identifies declines in
scripture passage. It works decades) played on the radio implicit knowledge of the extroversion, agreeableness,
for movies, too; I will hear and I immediately remem- structure of the music of and conscientiousness.
an actor’s voice, and think, bered the words to the their culture,’ says Sandra
“Oh, she was in such-and- song. To my non-scientific Trehub, a psychologist at the A decline in agreeable-
such; I was making cabled mind, this seems to imply University of Toronto. They ness? Not for the better. A
that there’s a biological may not know an arpeggio decline in conscientious-
adaptation to music, or even from an interval, but they ness? Also not for the better.
that music/vibrations are can keep a beat, copy a But extroversion? The old
an essential part of who we pitch and move their bodies trope that extroversion is
are. I would enjoy hearing to sound.” good and introversion is
the “auditory cheesecake” bad has been thoroughly
followers’ response to this As someone with abso- debunked, notably by
particular phenomenon. lutely no sense of rhythm, Susan Cain in her excellent
who cannot sing a note on book Quiet: The Power
Nancy Dietrich key if my life depended on of Introverts in a World
That Can’t Stop Talking —
The article “Where Did suggested reading.

Ann Birner

8 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM

HOT SCIENCE

THE L ATEST NEWS AND NOTES

CRYONICS 101 • SELF-DRIVING DRONE • ORIGINS OF HUGGING • WEATHER FORECASTS IN SPACE

POLKA-DOTTED DESERT

The origins of this desert grassland phenomenon — equally spaced 10- to-50-foot barren patches called fairy circles —
have long confounded scientists. Millions of these circular spots stretch across the fringes of certain deserts in western
Australia, as well as Namibia (pictured above) and other parts of southern Africa. In 1979, South African botanist G.K.
Theron suggested that dying shrubs may poison the sandy soil and curb grass growth, leaving the circles behind. But
this theory doesn’t hold water, according to researchers from Germany’s University of Göttingen. The team visited
four decomposed shrub locations once observed by Theron and failed to find fairy circles there. A more likely cause?
Certain desert grasses build a perfect circle to maximize their water consumption and stave off competition, the
scientists suggest, in a clever feat of natural engineering. — MOLLY GLICK; IMAGE BY S. GETZIN/UNIVERSITY OF GÖTTINGEN

MAR/APR 2022 . DISCOVER 9

HOT SCIENCE

WILL CRYONICALLY FROZEN BODIES
EVER BE BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE?

CRYONICISTS HOPE THAT MODERN TECHNOLOGY WILL ONE DAY
BRING THEM BACK FROM THE DEAD. BUT HOW REALISTIC IS A
SECOND LIFE AFTER A DEEP FREEZE?

One of the things that in a stable, preserved state until the

makes us human is our necessary medical technology arrives.

awareness of our own Even to its staunchest adherents, cryon-

mortality. Yet for nearly as ics isn’t a guarantee; Kowalski describes

long as we’ve known that we’ll one day it as “an ambulance ride to a future

die, we’ve wondered about the possibil- hospital that may or may not exist.”

ity of waking back up. Stories about When someone who’s made arrange-

resurrection and immortality are found ments to have their remains cryonically

in countless religions and myths, and preserved is declared dead, a medical

in recent years, many of these stories team cools the body with ice water and

have hinged on the idea of cryonic keeps the body’s tissues oxygenated

preservation: freezing a body and then using CPR and oxygen masks. The ice-

reanimating it in the future. If it worked cold body is put in a hermetically sealed

for Han Solo, Captain America, and container and flown to the cryonics

Fry from Futurama, why can’t it work facility.

for us? There, the team puts the body on a

“[For] most cryonicists, there’s two machine similar to a heart-lung bypass,

things you’ll find: We are sci-fi lovers, circulating the blood and maintaining

obviously. We’re also optimists,” says oxygenation. They pump in a vitrifica-

Dennis Kowalski, the president of the tion solution that works like antifreeze

Cryonics Institute, a non-profit based to keep the body’s tissues from turning

in Michigan and one of a handful of to ice crystals, in hopes of minimizing

companies worldwide offering its line structural damage. Then, they slowly CRYONICS FACILITIES use
tanks of liquid nitrogen to
of services. cool the body to minus 320 degrees F keep bodies in a stable,
preserved state.
That optimism is important, because in a liquid nitrogen vapor chamber.
their second go-round. No one knows
cryonic preservation and reanimation Once it’s cold enough, the body is what that technology might look like;
Kowalski’s best guess is tissue engineer-
is “100 percent not possible today,” transferred to a Thermos-like tank of ing and molecular nanotechnology
that will be able to repair and replace
according to Kowalski. But, he says, liquid nitrogen, where it’ll stay for the damaged tissues.

“we certainly have more to learn and to foreseeable future. Kowalski and his fellow proponents
of cryonics recognize that it’s a tall
discover in the future.” The bodies will wait in order. But if you ask most cryobiologists
— scientists who study the effects of
Kowalski, a former these tanks until medical freezing temperatures on living tissues
for procedures like organ transplanta-
paramedic, cites modern technology (hopefully) tion — about cryonics, they’ll just shake
their heads.
life-saving interventions “[For] most is able to revive them.
“There is absolutely no current way,
like cardiac defibrillation cryonicists, Kowalski says there are

and CPR as examples of there’s two three challenges for this DAN/CC BY-SA 4.0/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
how science can drasti- things you’ll future tech to overcome:
cally advance. find: We are It’ll need to repair the
sci-fi lovers, damage done by freezing,
Based on that premise cure whatever ailment
— that someday, science

will find solutions to obviously. originally killed the

biological damage that’s We’re also subject, and reverse the

irreparable by today’s optimists.” aging process so that
standards — the aim of the subject has a young,

cryonics is to keep bodies healthy body to enjoy in

10 DISCOVERMAG A ZINE .COM

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When scientists attempt to freeze a “You have nothing to lose, everything discovered human
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slice of liver, “the tissue is completely money,” says Kowalski, who is signed
obliterated, the cell membrane is up for cryonic preservation along with (Time 12/1/86; and
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HOT SCIENCE

FLYING SOLO

Human drone pilots have always been more efficient than their robotic counterparts — until now. Researchers at
the University of Zurich created an algorithm that finds the quickest path for a drone navigating a 3D racecourse
in an indoor flight arena. The algorithm beat two professional drone pilots’ times, according to a study published in
Science Robotics this past July. And it can replicate that ideal route exactly, which is something humans can’t do.
There’s still one way that we have the upper hand over machines, though: Humans can think on the fly, while the
algorithm currently needs about an hour to calculate its trajectory. But if that problem can be solved, we may one
day see algorithm-controlled drones delivering our packages. — BRIANNA BARBU; IMAGE BY LEONARD BAUERSFELD/

ROBOTICS AND PERCEPTION GROUP, UNIVERSITY OF ZURICH

12 DISCOVERMAG A ZINE .COM

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HOT SCIENCE

Hugging’s Evolutionary Origins hugging has a “stress
buffering” effect that may
THERE ARE BIOLOGICAL REASONS WE HUG IT OUT. even protect us from chronic
illness and infections.
To hug or not need for a hug goes all the repercussions. “When we FROM TOP: ARTEVER/SHUTTERSTOCK;; BESTICONPARK/SHUTTERSTOCK
way back to the survival of can’t hug, we don’t get that Of course, some people
to hug? That’s our species. When we’re jolt of good hormones,” says grow up in more formal
the question born, we can’t care for Degges-White. households where hugging
right now. ourselves and we need to isn’t common. Others may
We’re in a precarious place be comfortable with being We may not know what experience abuse that makes
in the world of greetings held in order to survive. we’re getting from greeting hugging traumatic. In
etiquette. Depending on We’re rewarded with a rush our friends and family with both cases, when children
where you live, many of us of feel-good hormones that a hug; we just enjoy it. It isn’t don’t experience healthy
are vaccinated. But it’s hard come from a cozy embrace. until those experiences are touch, it can impact their
to know for sure before you “When we hug, our brains taken away that we feel pain development. Kids who
embrace whether or not the release oxytocin, the and sadness. An elbow bump didn’t grow up being held,
person you’re leaning into bonding hormone, as well as or air greeting does not says Degges-White, miss out
has gotten the jab. At the serotonin and endorphins,” suffice. Research published on that sense of safety and
same time, many of us are says Degges-White. in the journal Psychological protection. They may act out
yearning for the warmth of Science has shown that or isolate from those around
a hug after long stretches of This bond and sense of them. In some cases, the
social isolation. Humans, community has an important SIX SECONDS: opposite may also be true.
according to experts, evolutionary role because Some children may show too
biologically need touch, and for humans, the security of HOW LONG YOU much affection, craving any
a good long hug is one of the our small groups and later SHOULD HOLD A form of positive attention
best ways to get it. communities was crucial HUG TO OPTIMIZE that they didn’t get at home.
Suzanne Degges-White, to survival. Close contact THE RELEASE OF
a professor and researcher helped build civilization. As MOOD-BOOSTING Still, for the past two
focused on social relation- a result, our brains need each HORMONES. years, we’ve been missing
ships at Northern Illinois other — and when we miss out — and many of us
University, says that our out, it can have psychological are in a gray area when it
comes to whether to reach
in for that much-coveted
embrace. But according
to Rajeev Fernando, director
of the Division of Infectious
Diseases at Stony Brook
Southampton Hospital, if
you’re both vaccinated, go
for it; research has shown
that the risk of transmission
is extremely low. And if
you’re vaccinated but you
don’t know for sure whether
the person you’re hugging
has also been vaccinated, it’s
still most likely safe. “The
virus can in theory colonize
the nose without causing
clinical disease, but the risk
is low and the chance of a
vaccinated person getting
serious clinical disease
and hospitalized is exceed-
ingly low,” says Fernando.

— SARA NOVAK

14 D ISCOVERMAG A Z I N E .CO M

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HOT SCIENCE

CORONAL MASS “The number of
EJECTIONS occur systems that
when energized can be affected
particles blow out by space
from the side of weather just
the Sun. keeps growing.”

STORMS FROM geomagnetic storms induce
THE SUN currents along power lines
that can damage transform-
THE NATURE OF SPACE WEATHER HASN’T CHANGED MUCH. BUT SOCIETY ers and cause power outages.
HAS, AND UNDERSTANDING AND PREDICTING THE PHENOMENON IS The most serious event hap-
MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER. pened on March 13, 1989,
and left 6 million people
Space These explosions, known of a CME on a magnetized without power in Québec, NASA/SDO
weather is not as coronal mass ejections body like the Earth can be Canada, for nine hours.
(CMEs), lift off from the very catastrophic depending
something that Sun’s outer atmosphere on its size and speed.” The potential impact
most of us typi- — the corona — and can on society is far greater
cally think about on a daily cause intense geomagnetic One of the most intense today due to the vast extent
basis. But the Sun’s charged storms and negatively affect CMEs, known as the to which we depend on
particles and magnetic field astronauts, satellites, and Carrington Event, is believed technology, says Howard
are constantly sweeping spacecraft. to have taken place on Singer, chief scientist at
through space and collid- Sept. 1, 1859, reaching Earth the NOAA Space Weather
ing with the Earth’s own SPACE ODDITIES 17.5 hours later and setting Prediction Center. “The
magnetic field. Occasionally, Geomagnetic storms happen off a large geomagnetic number of technological
the auroras fill the sky with when the Earth’s magnetic storm. Auroras, more systems that can be affected
light dancing along these field is disturbed. The most commonly a northern by space weather just keeps
field lines. The most extreme extreme geomagnetic storms phenomenon, were seen as growing.”
space weather, however, are driven by CMEs, which far south as the Caribbean
happens when the Sun blasts can actually energize the and telegraph lines caught CMEs can also pose a risk
billions of tons of energized Earth’s magnetic field, says fire as communications were to satellites and spacecraft
particles directly towards James Spann, a space weather disrupted across the world. as charges build up on the
the Earth at speeds up to lead at NASA. “The impact surface and inside electron-
1,800 miles per second. More recently, changes ics. But space weather
in magnetic fields during forecasters that monitor
the sun for CMEs can help
reduce astronaut exposure
to the radiation that solar
storms can cause. “When
we are thinking of human
exploration of space, we
want to know what we are
getting into,” says Alexa
Halford, a space physics
researcher at NASA. “Just
like if you were packing
for a vacation somewhere.”

— THEO NICITOPOULOS

16 DISCOVERMAG A ZINE .COM

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VITAL SIGNS

BY JULIA MICHIE BRUCKNER

Neonatal Nightmare As we prepared more like seizures than anything we KELLIE JAEGER/DISCOVER
to draw some pediatricians expect with normal baby
SEIZURES IN INFANTS CAN SIGNAL SERIOUS TROUBLE, blood to check wriggling.
BUT SHE LOOKED PERFECTLY HEALTHY OTHERWISE. for potential
causes, Seizures in infants are often the sign
The tiny and rosy 6-day-old girl moved strangely Sophie’s left of something worrisome, including
on the bed, like an awkward teen at her first arm began infection, trauma to the brain, and
school dance. Her arms jerked rhythmically, to twitch. abnormalities in salt or sugar levels.
twisting the soft bunny-and-flower-print blanket Generally, infants with these problems
surrounding her. look quite ill. They’re often hot with
fever, limp, lethargic, pale and jittery.
“Sophie has been making these funny movements for a few Yet baby Sophie looked practically
days,” her mother told me. Newborns commonly make odd, perfect; she was cooing happily and
sudden movements; they usually turn out to be normal startle breastfeeding vigorously. She had been
reflexes or benign sleep behaviors. But this mother had four born on time without any complica-
other children, and she was sure none of her other babies had tions after a normal pregnancy, and
ever moved like this. She shared several videos of her daughter didn’t have any of the risk factors we
she had recorded at home. All concerned me — they looked usually see in seizing newborns.

As we prepared to draw some blood
to check for potential causes, Sophie’s
left arm began to twitch. Soon, her
entire body was racked with convul-
sions, her arms and legs shaking, her
eyes rolled back. Her mother stood by
tearfully as we drew up a dose of medi-
cine to stop the seizure. Yet before we
could administer it, Sophie calmed, her
arms and legs relaxing as she regained
consciousness. Her mother scooped
Sophie up to snuggle her.

Sophie’s seizure had thankfully
stopped on its own after less than a
minute. But the search for its cause was
now more urgent than ever.

A STURDY FOUNDATION
Our initial tests revealed Sophie’s brain
showed no indications of trauma or
altered structure. She had no signs of
infection in her urine, blood or spinal
fluid. The levels of salt and sugar in her
blood were also normal, but another
key electrolyte was off: Sophie had a
critically low level of calcium. Calcium
is integral to the functioning of nerve,
muscle and cardiac cells. Deficiencies
can cause abnormal muscle movements,
problems with bone growth, abnormal
heart rhythm and pumping and, yes,
seizures. We quickly gave Sophie an IV
infusion of calcium before transferring
her to the neonatal intensive care unit
for more treatment — and to find out
why this otherwise healthy baby’s
calcium was so low.

18 DISCOVERMAG A ZINE .COM



VITAL SIGNS

The majority of calcium in the human body is A proper supply interacts with a precursor molecule KELLIE JAEGER/DISCOVER
stored in the bones. The amount released into of vitamin D in our skin to convert it to the
the bloodstream is tightly regulated by an is essential to vitamin. A proper supply of vitamin
intricate dance with other important hor- maintaining D is essential to maintaining normal
mones, such as the parathyroid hormone, normal levels levels of calcium.
and nutrients like phosphate, magnesium of calcium.
and vitamin D. Hypocalcemia, or Studies in a variety of countries
low levels of calcium, is often due show that vitamin D insufficiency
to altered levels of these other is common in women of childbear-
hormones and nutrients. ing age, yet Sophie’s mother’s was
unusually severe; her vitamin D
Most of an infant’s calcium level was barely above zero. At that
stock is provided by the amount, it would’ve been impossible for
mother through the her body to pass along enough calcium to
placenta in the last Sophie during pregnancy or breastfeeding.
trimester of pregnancy. More discussion with Sophie’s mother
After birth, infants have revealed her strained finances, which made
a natural drop in their it hard for her to eat enough fortified milk,
calcium levels within two fish and egg yolks. She chose to give those
days of age. Their levels foods to her growing children, leaving little
then rise as they begin to of the key sources of vitamin D for herself.
get calcium through their She also had little time or opportunity to be
diet, and their calcium- outside in the sunshine, living in an apartment
regulating hormones begin in a neighborhood without many parks or safe
to function better. Yet Sophie’s outdoor spaces. Plus, while she was pregnant
calcium wasn’t rising as expected. with Sophie, an unusually cold winter had kept
her inside even more than usual. Sophie’s mother
Causes of newborn hypocalcemia can was left without the proper nutrition and sunlight
have their source in either the mother or the needed for adequate vitamin D for both herself and
baby. If the mother has diabetes during pregnancy, her in-utero baby.
or problems with her own calcium-regulating After Sophie’s birth, her mother was committed
hormones, she may not pass along enough calcium to breastfeeding, not realizing that breast milk
to her fetus. If infants are born prematurely, are provides ideal nutrition — except for vitamin D.
starved of oxygen during the birth process, have That’s why pediatricians recommend exclusively
inherited kidney problems, or have DiGeorge breastfed infants take a vitamin D supplement, but
syndrome — a rare genetic illness in which they Sophie was too young to have had her first visit
cannot make normal levels of parathyroid hor- for this reminder. Thus, Sophie started life with
mone — their bodies can be deficient in calcium. minimal calcium and was unable to get more from
When this happens, seizures can occur. her diet in those critical first days.
After extensive and complex testing, it turned
D FOR “DEFICIENCY” out all Sophie and her mother needed were a few
While keeping Sophie seizure-free with regular simple vitamins. The hospital’s doctors, nurses
doses of calcium and vitamin D, neonatologists and social workers helped ensure Sophie’s mother
did a barrage of tests to check her kidney function, had support to provide food and vitamins for
bone structure, calcium-regulating hormones and herself and her daughter. They encouraged mom
genes; no culprits were found. They then turned to to take Sophie on sunny walks as the weather
her mother for answers. warmed. Sophie no longer moved strangely,
now seizure-free thanks to enough calcium and
Sophie’s mother did not have any known vitamin D. She was able to safely return home to
medical problems. Her own kidney and hormone her siblings, who were eager to get to know their
functions were normal, and she hadn’t had high sweet new sister. D
blood sugar during pregnancy. Yet the answer did
lie within her blood — Sophie’s mother was found Julia Michie Bruckner is a pediatrician at Children’s
to have extremely low levels of vitamin D.
Hospital Colorado. The cases described in Vital Signs are
We get vitamin D from two main sources: in
the food we eat or supplements we take, as well as real, but names and certain details have been changed.
through sun exposure. With the latter, the UV light

20 DISCOVERMAG A ZINE .COM



PLANET EARTH

BY ANDRIA GREENE

TO FIND THE colorful
nudibranch, our intrepid
scientist (in diving gear)
began her search along
the Monterey Bay coast.

In Search of the I’ve always Nudibranchs are invertebrates — CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: DEEANN CRANSTON/SHUTTERSTOCK; DANAE ABREU/SHUTTERSTOCK; COURTESY OF AUTHOR
Nudibranch been drawn to backboneless organisms in the kingdom
scuba diving, Animalia — that include 2,000 different
FOLLOW ONE SCIENTIST’S JOURNEY TO REDISCOVER especially species, many of which are best known
A MYSTERIOUS UNDERWATER WORLD — AND TO since my for their wildly diverse and colorful
FIND AN ELUSIVE SEA CREATURE. grandfather appearance. But what’s beautiful to
worked humans is to other animals an apose-
Slowly and deliberately, I searched shallow, underwater alongside matic signal — a warning not to eat this
outcrops covered in colors. Weightless amidst the Jacques creature. Nudibranchs’ bright coloration
invisible push and pull of the current, pink coralline Cousteau. is intended to indicate unpalatability,
algae hung closely to rock surfaces or branched sky- and comes from a diet rich in animals
ward against sporadic patches of neon green and glimmering armed with cnidocytes, the stinging
iridescence. Shades of yellow, brown, white and orange flora cells common to sponges, anemone, and
began to appear as I drifted past micro-environments dictated coral. Not all nudibranchs parade color-
by sunlight and structure. I allowed my scientific brain to go to ful displays; some rely on near-perfect
work underwater, relying on one of my first developed senses: camouflage to avoid being eaten. But
observation. coloration and camouflage can’t protect
these and other underwater creatures
I had come to this underwater world to seek out a nudi- from every threat.
branch. I had heard of this elusive marine organism, but until
recently, knew almost nothing about it. My goal at the moment As a scientist focused on water-based
was just to find one, to examine it with my own eyes. ecosystems, I’ve sorted thousands of
invertebrates under the microscope and
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PLANET EARTH

know that soft-bodied organisms are among those TO OVERCOME maneuver used to get underwater headfirst. Most
most susceptible to chemical and thermal water parasites, of our time was spent getting comfortable in our
pollution. While these stressors can occur natu- nudibranchs 20-plus pounds of gear: a thick neoprene wetsuit,
rally, my studies across the river-estuary-ocean evolved the boots, hood, and gloves, plus a weighted dive belt,
continuum have highlighted a clear relationship strategy of self- knife, mask, snorkel and fins.
between water pollution and humans, among the decapitation ...
most pressing issues of our time. Despite the scant THE AUTHOR Winter brought on larger ocean swells and poor
nature of nudibranch surveys (in comparison to (bottom left) gets visibility, not ideal for diving, so I spent the season
other charismatic creatures such as whales and used to 20 pounds connecting with an online niche of local artists,
sea turtles), studies have found these small, fragile of gear. photographers, conservationists, and scientists
organisms migrating to cooler waters or, in some advocating for Monterey Bay and its inhabitants.
cases, disappearing altogether. This troubling Dynamic and Among the stories and images this group shared,
knowledge lent a certain urgency to my journey cascading nudibranch sightings stood out most — like the
into the water. events radiant purple body lined with a mohawk of grace-
along the ful but toxic orange horns, or cerata, belonging to
IMMERSIVE RESEARCH Pacific coast the Spanish shawl (Flabellinopsis iodinea).
I have always been drawn to scuba diving, include sea
especially since my grandfather worked alongside star wasting I read about the dynamic and cascading effects of
Jacques Cousteau. Graduate school had imposed syndrome. events being studied in real time along the Pacific
a two-year hiatus on diving and forced me into coast. For instance, sea star wasting syndrome
the category of “drop-out diver” — those certified has been killing these predators of sea urchins.
but not actively putting that certification to use. The cause of the syndrome isn’t fully understood,
So, I decided against relearning scuba, and instead
focused on shallow water freediving.

The Monterey Bay coastline became a frequent
hour-long drive for me and my husband (my dive
buddy by default) as we logged hours in the Pacific
during the warm months of late summer and early
fall. Between rounds of snorkeling at the surface,
we performed free dives at depths of up to 15 feet
to improve our duck dive, a swift 180-degree

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: SAYAKA MITOH; DEE BROWNING/SHUTTERSTOCK; COURTESY OF AUTHOR

24 D ISCOVERMAG A Z I N E .CO M

although some evidence points to a full-body MEETING A SEA
GODDESS: Tufts
bacterial infection that disturbs the star’s microbi- at the back are
gills; at the front
ome and results in suffocation. Without sea stars to are rhinophores —
sensory horns.
prey on sea urchins, urchins have proliferated and
I really wanted
overgrazed, contributing to the collapse of historic to meet this
creature now
kelp forests that leave behind devoid urchin barrens. and couldn’t
wait for spring.
Another source of concern is more frequent

extreme El Niño events, bringing in warm,

nutrient-poor seawater. Such events can amplify

devastation to marine life in the Pacific and have

even been associated with the permanent reloca-

tion of an entire species of nudibranch, the Hilton’s

aeolid (Phidiana hiltoni), which sought shelter in

cooler waters of northern California.

I also studied up on the latest research on

nudibranchs. In the Indo-Pacific in 2021, Sayaka

Mitoh was the first scientist to observe and record patch of giant kelp. Thirteen feet below, I inspected
all that one breath in my lungs would allow:
a surprising feat of evolution in nudibranchs: self- orange and purple ochre sea stars; a spent abalone
shell lined with mother of pearl; purple, spiny sea
decapitation. To overcome parasites that may infect urchins; and black perch hidden behind rusty-
colored blades of kelp anchored to the seafloor. I
the nudibranch’s body, the animal uses autotomy, was in a state of blissful sensory overload.

or self-amputation, to rid itself of infection. Only Nothing compared, however, to the moment that
followed as I spotted a bright colored patch while
the head, with two sensing horns, combing through the shallows. “I found a nudi-
branch! A nudibranch!” I screamed loudly through
remains. Researchers reported my snorkel. Circling with the current, I let go of my
need to know precisely what species I was gazing
... growing a that the Elysia marginata at and just mused over what I saw: white feathery
new body in reincarnated its full tufts and a pair of horns at opposite ends. A bright
three weeks. body in three short yellow, jellylike living thing roughly textured in
white round spots. A nudibranch, no doubt.
weeks. I really wanted
Through the online community of Monterey Bay
to meet this creature enthusiasts, I learned more about my new acquain-
tance, the white-spotted sea goddess (Doriopsilla
now and couldn’t wait albopunctata), which occupies the waters connect-
ing California and Mexico. The tufts at their rear
for spring. are gills, and the horns at their front are known as
rhinophores. These sensory horns make up for a
FROM TOP: RON WOLF; SAYAKA MITOH FINDING THE nudi’s inherent blindness, and explained its response
GODDESS — a quick retraction of its exposed gills — to the
At the first sign of clear incoming current I generated as I approached.
conditions, we hit the road for
our favorite snorkel cove at the southernmost tip Finding my first nudibranch didn’t reinforce
of Monterey Bay. From our home in Santa Cruz, my identity as a diver nor as a scientist. Instead,
we traveled south along Highway 1. We crossed it reminded me to relish my own successful,
the single bridge in Moss Landing, at the mouth evolutionary instincts: inquisitiveness and a desire
of California’s third largest estuary, the Elkhorn to learn. They’re instincts we all possess as Homo
Slough — the site of my graduate studies and home sapiens, and the sea goddess reminded me to use
to a population of federally endangered sea otters. them to their fullest. D
Research has revealed the sea otter, which was
nearly hunted to extinction during the period Andria Greene is a scientist who writes about her work on
of exploitative colonialism in America, to be a
keystone species that helps protect kelp forests water-based places following rivers, lakes, estuaries and
because of the top-down pressure that the otters
maintain on the kelp-feeding urchins upon which oceans.
they prey. I allowed the first wave of excitement to
settle as I watched the intact dune system between
Marina State Beach and Fort Ord Dunes State Park
flash by, an ecologically important site made rare by
global urbanization of coastlines.
Once in the cold water, I swam through a dense

MAR/APR 2022 . DISCOVER 25

2
13
45

COMBATFROM TO
CONSERVATION
After half a century of armed conflict, Colombia’s ex-guerillas
have no war to fight. Their new mission: preserving
biodiversity in the jungles they occupied for decades.

BY ADDISON NUGENT

PHOTOS 1, 2, 4, 5: JAIME GONGORA. PHOTO 3: WILFREDO RODRIGUEZ/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS Deep in the Colombian Amazon rainforest, rainforest they had occupied for decades, the former
dozens of sweat-soaked men and women guerrilla fighters were suddenly confronted with the
weave through a maze of ceiba and rubber question: “What now?” Part of the peace agreement
trees. Armed with machetes, they hack stipulated that the Colombian government support
through vines as thick as saplings. They the 14,000 ex-FARC members financially for several
move in utter silence, eyes squinting in the dim years; after that, they must live independently.
light. They approach their mission — cataloging
and protecting endangered species — with intent So far, former combatants have faced enormous
focus. A few years ago, these former members of hardship on the road back to civilian life, and
the guerilla group FARC might have been tracking COVID hasn’t helped. In mid-2020, Colombia’s
enemy soldiers or preparing to kidnap a political urban unemployment rate surged to 15.4 percent.
prisoner. Now their targets are far more elusive: It’s difficult for anyone to find a job, but for former
giant river otters, nimble brown spider monkeys, guerillas, it’s particularly challenging. Colombian
Dracula orchids with black petals and fanglike citizens often still regard them with suspicion, and
protrusions, the riotously colored Flor de Mayo. many have been out of the workforce for decades.
In 2016, after half a century of armed conflict,
the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia “It’s hard,” says Hugo Ramirez, who joined
(in Spanish, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de FARC in 2001 at the age of 17. “There is an abysmal
Colombia, or FARC) signed a peace treaty with amount of absolute poverty, and we still witness
the Colombian government. Emerging from the children dying of starvation.”

1. Socratea exhorriza, or the walking palm, is native to tropical But where so many saw a problem, Jaime
rainforests in Central and South America. 2. Former combatants Gongora, a wildlife geneticist at the University of
learn how to use camera traps. 3. The brown spider monkey is Sydney, saw an opportunity. Colombia is the second
one of the world’s rarest primates. 4. Wildlife geneticist Jaime most biodiverse nation on the planet; rainforests
play an integral part in this, with more than
Gongora shows off an armadillo found during a biodiversity 56,000 species that call it home. But, until recently,
researchers haven’t been able to study it in person
survey. 5. The charapa, also known as the South American river due to FARC’s occupation. Teeming with rare
specimens, from the pink river dolphin to the criti-
turtle, is at risk of extinction from excessive hunting. cally endangered Magdalena River turtle, alongside
countless undiscovered plants, the Colombian

MAR/APR 2022 . DISCOVER 27

rainforest is a naturalist’s dream. Who better to explore that 1. The brown jacamar perches on exposed branches to catch PHOTO 1: CESAR ARREDONDO. PHOTO 2: ALEXANDRE LAPRISE/SHUTTERSTOCK. PHOTOS 3-5: JAIME GONGORA
terrain than the people who had once lived there? its prey. 2. The blooms of the Dracula simia, or the monkey
orchid, look uncannily like a monkey’s face. 3. Former guerrillas
So, in 2017, Gongora created Peace With Nature, a series of use binoculars to spot birds in the Colombian jungle. 4. Owl
workshops in the Guaviare region of Colombia to train past
combatants in conservation science. The hope is that they’ll butterflies are known for their huge eyespots, which resemble
later apply those skills to ecotourism initiatives, like creating
new nature trails, and become citizen scientists themselves. an owl’s eyes. 5. Male rhinoceros beetles use their hornlike
The workshops are led by a multidisciplinary team of teach-
ers, including conservationists and biologists. These experts projections to drive rival males away during mating rituals.
have guided over 100 former soldiers through brainstorming
sessions on combining their lived knowledge of the jungle with and large landowners. Many of these individuals established
the rigors of the scientific method. They learn how to take plant communes throughout rural Colombia that the government
samples, how to handle binoculars and the best techniques for initially ignored. The guerrillas called for land reform and
observing wildlife. For the participants, the program aims to better conditions for peasants, and vowed to defend the
provide both a new purpose and a promising path forward. defenseless against the government’s intrusions. But in 1964, the
“The idea was to empower these combatants with knowledge Colombian military began invading and destroying the com-
[of] biodiversity,” explains Gongora. “This [work] could be munes. Members were forced to flee into the jungles, eventually
incorporated into activities that will allow them to incorporate regrouping to form FARC.
into society.”
In the decades that followed, FARC’s numbers grew and
Today, he returns to Colombia between three and four times shrank before settling at 15,000 members at the dawn of
a year to hold these sessions, which each last about a week. the 21st century. It was during this period that Ramirez, a
The homecomings are a joy for Gongora, who grew up in the current participant in Gongora’s program, joined FARC. At
Colombian countryside. He speaks of a youth spent playing in the time, FARC was an extremely powerful organization.
nature, creating makeshift huts with friends and observing the The group’s members were still fighting for communist causes,
jungle’s magnificent wildlife. Gongora carried that passion for but the organization was also heavily involved in drug-
wildlife into adulthood; in 1999, he left Colombia to pursue trafficking, illegal gold-mining, kidnapping and extortion. The
a doctorate in animal genetics in Australia. However, the war guerilla fighters caught the attention of other countries whose
continuously loomed in the background of his childhood — a political and financial interests the group threatened, including
conflict with a complex history spanning nearly 70 years before the U.S. Between 2000 and 2015, the U.S. provided 10 billion
the peace accord. dollars in military aid to help the Colombian government
fight the drug-trafficking and terrorism that were FARC’s
A PROLONGED CONFLICT cash cow.

FARC was founded in 1964, six years after Colombia’s bloody Ramirez’s description of his time living with the guerillas
civil war — known as La Violencia — came to a close. The is two-pronged: a time of learning in the splendor of the
conflict erupted in 1948, when Jorge Gaitán, a popular presi- Colombian rainforest, but also a period of profound loss and
dential candidate for the country’s center-left Liberal party, was trauma. Living under the constant threat of enemy fire takes its
assassinated. His death ignited riots and, eventually, a decade toll, no matter the beauty of one’s surroundings. Ramirez says
he watched friends die in horrific ways, torn apart by aviation
PARTICIPANTS LEARN HOW TO TAKE PLANT bombs or shot out of trees by the Colombian army. He was also
SAMPLES AND HANDLE BINOCULARS, AND THE taught to kill — an aspect of his time in FARC that he speaks
BEST TECHNIQUES FOR OBSERVING WILDLIFE. about only in vague, simple terms.

of armed conflict between the Liberals and the country’s Still, Ramirez insists that bloodshed composed only a small
Conservative party. After 10 years and 200,000 deaths, the two fraction of his life in FARC. When not patrolling, he and his
parties agreed to the establishment of a bipartisan political comrades would study the works of communist scholars and
system, known as the National Front, in 1957. Though it put an learn new skills like medicine and cartography. In rare, non-
end to La Violencia, the system was overwhelmingly bipartisan regimented moments, they’d enjoy one another’s company.
and excluded participation by political leaders identified as
heads of guerrilla groups. Above all, Ramirez remembers the moments that he shared
with local people, including Indigenous communities. Because
One such group was the Colombian Communist Party, his regiment remained constantly on the move to avoid govern-
or Partido Comunista Colombiano (PCC). Communists first ment surveillance, he often encountered neglected pockets of
became active in Colombia after World War I, a reaction against the Colombian diaspora. Ramirez says the guerillas would share
the enormous wealth disparities between the working classes sustainable ways of living with the locals, such as teaching them
medicinal practices, as well as how to live in an ecologically
responsible manner. Many of these practices were taught to the
former FARC members by the Indigenous communities they
encountered, who have a long history of protecting biodiversity
and countering deforestation through traditional, sustainable
farming practices. “The true goal of FARC was to make a posi-
tive social change,” adds Ramirez.

28 DISCOVERMAGA ZINE .COM

12
3
45

2
13
45

PHOTOS 1, 2, 4, 5: JAIME GONGORA. PHOTO 3: CESAR ARREDONDO SOLDIERS TO SCIENTISTS for the different species they came to know in the wild, while
unraveling the subtle, natural connections integral to keeping
When the fighting finally ceased, Gongora, the wildlife ecosystems alive. In other words, the former guerillas are given
geneticist at the University of Sydney, was halfway across the the tools to study and analyze, scientifically, what they simply
world in Australia. But shortly after the signing of the peace observed during the years they spent in the Amazon. “I have
accord, Federica Di Palma, an evolutionary genomicist at the learned to have a deeper understanding,” says Ramirez, “to
University of East Anglia and director of GROW Colombia, value and love [the jungle] more.”
invited him to partner in the program, funded by the U.K.
government, alongside various Colombian research, academic SAVING THE FOREST
and government institutions. The initiative fosters bioscience
and biodiversity in Colombia, while a sister organization, With that love, however, comes fear — specifically, of losing the
ECOMUN, promotes ecotourism. One of GROW Colombia’s rainforest they once knew intimately. When FARC occupied
main goals is establishing a “bioeconomy” for citizens by creat- the Colombian Amazon, those areas were still protected from
ing new businesses involved in monitoring and conserving unsustainable farming practices and recent development initia-
local flora and fauna. tives like oil drilling and palm oil plantations. “We maintained
the ecosystem with the mentality that the jungle was our house,
Gongora agreed, but identified a missing element: the former our protector,” says Ramirez. If their company had to fell a tree,
FARC members. The Colombian government’s reincorporation they planted 10 more. Beyond that, he says, they responsibly
initiative found that around 40 percent of the former guerillas eradicated all waste, and the bush they camped in was tamed
had previous experience in environmental conservation. with machetes as non-invasively as possible.
Gongora believed that this population could be vital to creating
a bioeconomy in Colombia. As a naturalist, he’d long yearned to Today, just four years after the peace treaty, the once-
study the jungles of his home country. Now, there was a veritable occupied areas of the jungle have already seen significant
army of people ready to help. deforestation. FARC’s speedy exit from the area has left a lawless
vacuum in its wake, which the Colombian government has
Peace With Nature gives participants a crash course in an done little to fill. Loggers cut down trees en masse, while other
array of conservation practices. They learn direct observation areas are razed to make room for unsustainable cattle ranching.
techniques, how to conduct indirect surveys and track animals Meanwhile, illegal gold miners ravage once-pristine habitats. In
using footprints and feces, as well as ways to collect specimens 2017, deforestation in Colombia rose 65 percent compared to
in a non-invasive manner. They’re also taught how to set up and the previous year; by 2018, nearly 500,000 acres of jungle had
use tracking cameras and can access taxonomic identification disappeared. Previously lush hubs of biodiversity now resemble
resources. Many are particularly interested in learning how to ashen planes littered with the skeletal white remains of ancient
make inventories of plants and animals, says Gongora. trees. Ramirez aptly calls these areas tumbas, or graves.

By learning these skills, the former combatants can aid But Gongora hopes that Peace With Nature’s efforts will help
researchers in their canvassing efforts while brainstorming their safeguard the rapidly dwindling Colombian rainforest. For
own ecotourism initiatives. In one session, the participants example, participants can present their ecotourism ideas to
speculated about how much an avid birdwatcher might pay to major Colombian research institutions and agencies. At these
spot one of the Colombian rainforest’s countless rare species. In forums, the program’s members apply for project funding,
another, they identified areas where new nature trails, on which potentially providing them with a new livelihood — and
they could serve as specialized guides, might be created. pathway to reintegrate into society — while identifying which
areas of the increasingly threatened jungle to protect.
And after decades living in the jungle, former FARC
members can share their own knowledge, like how to easily In the long term, Gongora aims to expand his program
identify medicinal plants. Take the yoco, for instance, a tropical beyond helping former FARC soldiers get back on their feet.
vine whose sap can be used against fever, nausea and vomit- He hopes participants will also share the techniques they’ve
ing. Former FARC members also inform researchers on the learned with local communities so that, together, they can
behavior of rarely observed wildlife. “Some of them also learned work to protect the at-risk areas they call home —and extend
animal tracking from Indigenous communities,” says Gongora, the efforts of Indigenous groups already fighting to preserve
explaining how several participants taught him how to observe the Colombian Amazon. “They can use these techniques and
animals undetected. collaborate with local and national institutions in Colombia to
protect biodiversity,” says Gongora.
Building on this already extensive knowledge of the jungle,
Gongora immerses his students in the intricate science of Participants in Gongora’s program will hopefully go on to
biodiversity: They learn technical terms and scientific names become part of the Amazon’s army of citizen scientists, spread-
ing interest in conservation efforts throughout Colombia and
1. Known as pusui, this plant is sometimes used to make fences to visitors through their ecotourism initiatives. For Ramirez,
and animal shelters. 2. A member of the Colombian police the only way to save the rainforest is to inspire the same deep
accompanies one of the group’s fieldwork activities. 3. The love he feels for it in others. “We need to instill it in people from
childhood,” he says. “That care [and] love that one should have
Amazonian umbrellabird, named for its umbrella-shaped crest, towards biodiversity.” D

can be found foraging in the rainforest canopy. 4. Gongora and Addison Nugent is a freelance writer based in Paris.

collaborator Jaime Erazo scan their surroundings at a lake near

the Guaviare River. 5. There are more than 60 species of cicada

in the Colombian rainforest.

MAR/APR 202 2 . DISCOVER 31





THE ABANDONED Tulsequah Chief ore mine in northwestern British Columbia
operated for less than 10 years before closing in 1957. More than 60 years later, it
still leaks toxins into the Taku River watershed, which flows into southern Alaska
and the Pacific Ocean.

n the bitter cold winter of 2017, British Columbia’s
minister of energy and mines discovered that
someone had staked a mining claim in his actual
backyard. The request had come without notice
or warning. If approved, it would allow the
people behind it to pan for precious minerals in
streambeds on his Cranbrook, B.C., property,
less than 50 miles north of the U.S. border.

“The claim is not going to pay off for “Anybody in the world can stake a vulnerable ecosystems. Downstream PREVIOUS SPREAD: GARTH LENZ.
them,” then-Minister Bill Bennet told claim in B.C., as long as they have the of some mines, fish populations have THIS PAGE, FROM LEFT: COURTESY OF CHRIS MILLER; GARTH LENZ
The Province at the time; his home sits internet and a credit card,” she says. crashed and water-quality studies have
high and dry on a forested hill with shown levels of contamination up to
no streams to explore. But the people In recent years, that lax oversight 85 times what biologists consider safe
behind the permit weren’t looking has fostered a simmering sense for aquatic life. In the U.S., this would
to strike a claim. They were a group of unease among people living raise alarms and warrant hefty fines,
of First Nations women led by Bev around some of the province’s many but B.C.’s mining companies are not
Sellars, a former chief of the Xat’sull abandoned and operating mines, and beholden to the EPA.
First Nation, who had purchased the the feeling has not been restricted to
mining claim from the comfort of Canada. There are at least a dozen Now the province is poised to
her home hundreds of miles away, for mining projects along nine rivers that permit three of the largest mining
$129.89 Canadian ($105 USD). Rather drain out of B.C. and into four U.S. operations in North America, includ-
than looking to get rich, Sellars wanted states. From fissures in the Canadian ing one along a waterway that begins
to make a point: In B.C., mining Rockies, these waterways can carry near Cranbrook, ends just north of
permits are too easy to come by, regu- the residues of mineral extraction Portland, Oregon, and already shows
lations are too weak and the effects are on a circuitous, international route. signs of mining contamination. In
felt well beyond their source. They impact First Nations land and response, Indigenous groups have
U.S. states, fishing communities and

34 DISCOVERMAGAZINE .COM

THIS MOUNTAINTOP
removal site is one of
five large coal mines
in the Elk Valley of
B.C., just north of
Montana and Idaho.

AB

Banff
National Park

Kootenay River
Elk River

Cranbrook Lake
Koocanusa
emerged as a driving force behind a where it joins the Columbia CANADA
movement of residents, scientists and River. Like other rivers of U.S.
U.S. lawmakers who are clamoring for the Pacific Northwest, the
a higher level of protection for these Kootenai once ran thick Kalispell
shared waters.
with ocean-going salmon and WA ID Flathead
MINERAL-RICH WATERS steelhead — that is, until dams
The Kootenai River (or, north of the Lake MT
Canada border, “Kootenay River”)
begins in a glacial cirque one ridgeline started impounding upstream
over from the famously turquoise
waters of Lake Louise in Banff National populations in the early 1900s.
Park. It then flows south into Montana,
swelling to become Lake Koocanusa There are still some Kokanee, a
at the B.C.-Montana border, bending
like a fishhook into the Idaho pan- landlocked version of sockeye salmon,
handle and finally returning to B.C.,
and white sturgeon, an ancient fish

listed as endangered in both countries. bark baskets, spoke a language unlike

The first people to settle in the any other and depended on the river

MAP: JAY SMITH Kootenai Valley likely arrived some that takes their name. Today, they

10,000 years ago. These ancestors of are represented in the bands of the

the Ktunaxa Nation were semino- Ktunaxa First Nation in B.C. to the

madic, slept in teepees, wove pine north, as well as the Kootenai Tribe

MAR/APR 202 2 . DISCOVER 35

BRITISH Kootenay River Elk Valley Mines
COLUMBIA
Banff National Park

ALBERTA

Fording River
mine

Greenhills
mine

Koo Kootenay Line Creek
Elk RiverLakemine
tenay River Elkview
mine

Ktunaxa Coal Mountain
First Nation mine (closed 2018)
Canada

Kootenai Tribe CANADA North Fork Flathead River
of Idaho Lake UNITED STATES

Koocanusa

IDAHO MONTANA

Flathead
Lake

Confederated Salish
and Kootenai Tribes

ERIN SEXTON collects
water samples from
the Elk River, where
contaminants have
been traced 60-plus
miles downstream of
mines in the Columbia
River Basin.

OPPOSITE PAGE: JAY SMITH. THIS PAGE, FROM TOP: COURTESY OF ERIN SEXTON; WEEKEND WARRIOR PHOTOS/SHUTTERSTOCK of Idaho and the Confederated Salish the tone for modern-day Canada. the mining industry there generated
and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) in These early prospectors tapped into $11.7 billion Canadian ($9.3 billion
Montana. The Kootenai River still stone and made camp with little USD) and directly employed more
anchors them all. regard for Indigenous inhabitants than 10,000 people, according to
or the local environment. “They the Mining Association of British
“We’re not a major casino tribe, described it like the land of milk and Columbia. The industry’s economic
that’s not our bread and butter,” says honey, but they saw it in terms of how benefits have helped locals —
Rich Janssen, head of the Department much money they could make. This is including many Indigenous employees
of Natural Resources for the CSKT not a new story,” Sellars says. — but these gains have come with a
in Montana. “What is our bread and cost, both local and far afield.
butter is our resources.” By the 1960s, fully mature mining
corporations began carving the first In the early 2000s, proposals to
From their reservation on the large-scale mines along the Elk River, develop mineral deposits upstream
south bank of Flathead Lake, the a tributary that joins the Kootenai of lakes Koocanusa and Flathead
CSKT have made themselves a just north of Lake Koocanusa in B.C. loomed over the CSKT’s hard-won
bulwark against environmental Today, four active open-pit opera- environmental accomplishments, and
degradation in their ancestral terri- tions (plus a closed mine) sprawl
tory. They have built a sound forestry across the Elk Valley, producing MAR/APR 202 2 . DISCOVER 37
department to manage their vast about 21 million tons of coal each
timber stands and have established year. Teck Resources Ltd., which
herds of Rocky Mountain bighorn owns them all, is one of the largest
sheep and elk that now migrate hard-rock-mining companies in B.C.
into Idaho. They reintroduced the — and all of Canada.
seemingly lost trumpeter swan and
reclaimed the National Bison Range, Mines in B.C. produce more copper
which has grown to include more and coal (for steelmaking) than
than 400 animals. any other Canadian province, plus
tons of silver and all the country’s
Miners first wandered onto molybdenum, a silvery metal used for
Ktunaxa lands in the 1850s on the making steel and lubricants. In 2017,
heels of the great gold rushes that set

GARTH LENZ has spent 25
years photographing the impact
of industrial sites on natural
landscapes, such as this tailings
pond at Red Chris mine in
northwest B.C. See more of his
work at www.garthlenz.com.

the tribes sought to weigh in on the SOUTH OF THE BORDER own data. Armed with that informa- WIRESTOCK CREATORS/SHUTTERSTOCK
permitting process. “We’re not against In 2013, the Ministry of Mines tion, the tribes can establish a baseline
all mining. We’re against the mining granted Teck permission to expand for water quality in the Kootenai and
that pollutes our natural resources in its Line Creek mine in the Elk Valley, set their own limits, or standards, that
our Aboriginal territories,” Janssen advancing a goal of opening eight they hope B.C. will honor under the
says. “We’re looked at as leaders in new mines and expanding nine others Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909.
Indian Country; we don’t sit back idly by 2015. Even then, though, studies
and wait for something to happen.” showed levels of contamination Sexton, who has worked along the
downstream of mines in the Elk River Flathead for 14 years, began by com-
that were significantly higher than paring two rivers: the heavily mined
what occurs naturally. Elk and the so-far unmined Flathead,
just one watershed to the east. “It’s a
“From a science and data perspec- perfect study of what happens to a
tive, none of those mines should even Rocky Mountain rivershed when you
be considered right now,” says Erin mine it,” she says. She collected water
Sexton, a biologist at the Flathead samples and bugs, comparing popula-
Lake Biological Station in Montana tion diversity and abundance in the
who works on behalf of the CSKT. separate waterways. In the process,
Knowing that any substantive case “we’ve discovered that contaminants
against upstream development would go farther down the watershed than
have to be rooted in a scientific we ever thought they would,” she says.
understanding of the impacts, the “And they can have impacts on every
confederation set about collecting its aspect of life in that river community.”

38 DISCOVERMAGA ZINE .COM

In the Elk River, Sexton infrequent inspections and
found three contaminants
that exceeded healthy weak enforcement.
thresholds. One in particular,
a natural element called “We found almost every
selenium that leaches from
rocks exposed to weathering, one of our expectations for
is considered especially
problematic. It biomagnifies, a robust compliance and
or increases in potency, as
it filters through the food enforcement program within
chain, and recent studies have found
it can threaten life in lake water at the Ministry of Mines and the
levels as subtle as 0.8 milligram per
liter. Fish with unhealthy levels of Ministry of Energy were not
selenium may be born without gill
plates and with other deformities. It met,” the report concluded.
can also lead to deformed eggs and
reproductive failure. In the years since, the

Digging deep into the ecological CUTTHROAT TROUT numbers dropped ministry has taken substantial
minutia, Sexton discovered 72 species 93 percent from 2017 to 2019, according action to improve mining oversight,
of algae in the unmined Flathead to studies in the Elk Valley, near Banff says Meghan McRae, the ministry’s
waters, but only 12 in the Elk. National Park and four active mines. communications director, and has
“That’s what drives all the life in the
river,” she says. Perhaps as a result, looking to expand its Fording River beefed up enforcement. But critics
biological diversity on the Elk appears
to have been significantly impacted. project into the largest coal mine in contend that, with 13 active mines
Compared to the Flathead, the Elk
harbored far fewer stoneflies and North America, studies showed that and hundreds of permanently or
caddisflies, while mayflies, which
thrive in disturbed environments, the downstream western cutthroat temporarily closed mines that have the
were doing better than the others.
trout population had plummeted by potential to leak harmful chemicals,
Once they knew what to look for,
biologists noticed selenium signals 93 percent since 2017. there are too many risks to monitor.
flickering throughout the Kootenai
system, in Lake Koocanusa and even Teck now operates two water treat- “There’s a lack of boots on the
60-plus miles downstream where the
Kootenai Tribe of Idaho has been ment facilities, with more planned ground. It comes down to the
battling to recover dwindling white
sturgeon. So far, contamination that or under construction,
far down has not been deadly, and the
CSKT aim to keep it that way. and expects to be able to

“At this point, I’m not sure anyone treat more than 14 million “THEY DESCRIBED IT LIKE THE LAND OF MILK
would argue that there’s not a gallons of water per day — AND HONEY, BUT THEY SAW IT IN TERMS OF
selenium pollution problem in the nearly three times the 2020
Elk River,” Sexton says.
capacity — later this year, HOW MUCH MONEY THEY COULD MAKE. THIS
In 2014, the province approved Steeves said. The invest- IS NOT A NEW STORY.” — BEV SELLARS
Teck’s Elk Valley Water Quality Plan, ment is proof of how much
which established water quality
targets for selenium and other mine- there is to gain and lose in
related contaminants. The company
has since spent more than $1 billion the valley.
(Canadian) implementing it, accord-
ing to Dale Steeves, Teck’s director “The Elk River is the
of stakeholder relations. “Our plan is
working,” he added. worst-case scenario you can find,” fact that the government has no

But in 2019, with the company Sexton says. “I didn’t always think this money for this,” says Nikki Skuce,

way, but I’ve come to think of it as a co-founder of the B.C. Mining Law

case study for B.C.’s broken mining Reform Network, which advocates for

policy.” stricter mining regulations. Setting

out to create a map of the province’s

CONFLICTING INTEREST abandoned mining sites, Skuce

When it comes to mining regulation quickly found that the information

in B.C., only a thin veneer separates was not readily available through the

church and state. Both enforcement government. Her group, in partner-

of environmental protections and the ship with a trust, spent around

promotion of the mining sector falls $20,000 Canadian ($16,000 USD)

under the authority of the Ministry pulling it all together.

of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon The Kootenai tribes ran into similar

Innovation. (The department’s name setbacks when trying to understand

was changed in November of 2020 to what threat the Elk Valley mines

replace “Petroleum Resources” with might pose to their waters. The lion’s

MATT JEPPSON/SHUTTERSTOCK “Low Carbon Innovation.”) In a 2016 share of water quality and ecological

report, the province’s own auditor data is collected by mining companies

general found those two roles to be that report their findings to the

“diametrically opposed,” noting that province. Sometimes it takes years for

operating under the same roof “creates that information to become public.

an irreconcilable conflict,” the result “In the U.S., agencies are work-

of which has been quick permitting, ing together to get a picture of

MAR/APR 202 2 . DISCOVER 39

TRANSIENT GLACIAL
sediment, seen here
downstream of Red
Chris mine along
the Iskut River in
B.C., is vulnerable
to upstream spills.

contamination, but if we want to look BEV SELLARS, former chief of the and, three years later, the province THIS PAGE, FROM TOP: GARTH LENZ; COURTESY OF BEV SELLARS.
over the border for a picture of what’s Xat’sull First Nation, with her husband, missed a deadline to pursue charges OPPOSITE PAGE, FROM TOP: CHRIS BLAKE/QUESNEL RIVER WATERSHED ALLIANCE; COURTESY OF MININGWATCH CANADA
happening there, Teck holds the data,” Hereditary Chief Bill Wilson. under both the Environmental
Sexton says. This has left communities Management Act and Mines Act. As
from Montana to Alaska wondering spewed about 30 million cubic yards of this writing, Canadian citizens
what might be floating downriver. of waste slurry into Quesnel Lake. have paid some $40 million Canadian
($32 million USD) to cover cleanup,
“The way that these mines are built “We had been worried about because B.C. does not require, as the
and regulated, it’s really not an ‘if ’ Mount Polley, but we didn’t think EPA does, that mining companies put
hypothetical question, it’s a ‘when’ what happened would happen,” says up the costs of cleanup and mitigation
problem,” says Amelia Marchand, Sellars, who lives in nearby Williams as bonds before receiving a permit.
environmental trust manager for the Lake. “I was just in shock; I didn’t
Confederated Tribes of the Colville in believe it.” Mining reformers like Skuce have
Washington State, about the risk of an been calling for a robust financial
accidental disaster. Noting a lack of It was the largest environmental assurance system, similar to what
consultation from B.C.’s government, mining disaster in Canadian history, Quebec has instituted, to ensure
she worries that in the event of an that taxpayers aren’t on the hook in
accident at the large copper mine the event of a disaster or a mining
expansion being planned upstream company going bankrupt before
on the Similkameen River, the cleaning up a site. The province is only
Colville wouldn’t find out until it’s starting to put this system in place.
too late. According to the auditor general, the
estimated total liability for all mines
On Aug. 4, 2014, those fears is more than $2.1 billion Canadian
became all too real for some when the ($1.7 billion USD), while the ministry
dam holding back a lake of gold and has obtained financial securities for
copper tailings breached at the Mount less than half of that.
Polley mine in central B.C. The
accident, caused by faulty engineer- When the province does act on
ing that didn’t account for erosion, violations, critics say it does so

40 DISCOVERMAGAZINE .COM

halfheartedly. In March, for instance, THE MOUNT POLLEY dam breach in 2014 carved a destructive path through
B.C. ordered Teck to pay $60 million the B.C. landscape before dumping more than 6 billion gallons of mining
Canadian ($48 million USD) for not contaminants into Quesnel Lake and nearby waterways.
adequately treating water downstream
of its existing Fording River coal states are responding. Since 2017, decades. It has also invested
operations. Although the company
was found to be out of compliance they have spent more than $7 million $20 million Canadian ($16 million
during each year between 2012 and
2019, the fine was issued only for 2012. (USD) monitoring and documenting USD) over three years to hire 65
Sexton would like to believe this his-
tory of noncompliance would quash contaminants in transboundary safety and enforcement officials,
Teck’s request to expand its Fording
River mine, but the project appears to rivers, with the hope of swaying B.C.’s and increased its limitation period
be moving forward anyway.
pro-mining agenda. In the Gem State, for action under the Mines Act and
REFORMS UNDERWAY
Far to the northwest of the Kootenai where the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho has the Environmental Management Act
watershed, Toronto-based Seabridge
Gold is pursuing one of the world’s been trying to save the endangered from three to five years.
largest copper and gold mines in the
salmon-rich headwaters of the Unuk white sturgeon, new
River, which enters the Pacific Ocean
near Ketchikan, Alaska. Seabridge has selenium standards went
undergone a six-year environmental
review, monitored water quality along into place in 2018. In 2020, FEARS BECAME ALL TOO REAL WHEN THE
the Unuk since 2007 and proposed to Montana’s Department of DAM HOLDING BACK A LAKE OF GOLD AND
build a state-of-the-art water treat- Environmental Quality
ment plant. The KSM mine would also
dig one of the largest human-made capped a six-year effort, COPPER TAILINGS BREACHED AT THE MOUNT
holes on Earth, erect one of the highest championed by the POLLEY MINE IN CENTRAL B.C.
dams in North America, and require Kootenai tribes, to bang
wastewater treatment for 200 years
after its closure. out new water-quality

For opponents of the project, the standards for the Kootenai
failure of the Mount Polley dam and
persistent elevated selenium levels River and Lake Koocanusa.
below the Elk Valley are proof that
industry assurances are not enough And in Washington state, where the With these and other changes,
to wager the most pristine Chinook
salmon habitat remaining on Earth. Confederated Tribes of the Colville officials intend to clean up B.C.’s

After years of grassroots efforts are collaborating with upstream First image while continuing to churn up
from people like Sellars, U.S. agen-
cies in Alaska, Montana and nearby Nations on their own water quality precious metals that combine into

standards, 25 state legislators recently steel, produce renewable energy

penned a letter calling on B.C. Premier and power the province’s continued

John Horgan to better regulate economic prosperity. But to Sellars,

transboundary mines. who doesn’t call for an outright end to

For its part, the Ministry of Energy, mining, the updates are yet another

Mines and Low Carbon Innovation chapter in a story that’s been play-

has shown a willingness to adapt. ing out since the Gold Rush: “Most

Following the auditor general’s government people look at the world

recommendations, it created a Mine like it’s a triangle with people at the

Investigation Unit to enforce regula- top. Indigenous people look at it like a

tions — though still under the min- circle with everything connected.”

istry’s umbrella — and brought the Asked if mining can be done

first successful prosecutions in two responsibly in B.C., Sellars says,

CONCERNED CANADIANS at a B.C. “Nobody’s ever really tried it.” D
courthouse present a petition with
25,000 signatures, seeking legal action Stephen Robert Miller is an environmental
after the Mount Polley mining disaster. journalist based in Colorado.

MAR/APR 202 2 . DISCOVER 41

EXCLUSIVE!

WAITING TO

SELF-TAUGHT FOSSIL SPECIALIST TERRY
MANNING UNCOVERED HIS FIRST DINOSAUR
EMBRYO FROM AN ANCIENT EGG IN 1993. MORE
THAN 30 EMBRYOS AND NEARLY THREE DECADES
LATER, HARDLY ANYONE HAS LAID EYES OR
HANDS ON HIS RARE SPECIMENS.

•BY TIMOTHY PRATT PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARK PETERMAN

INSIDE HIS
home and garage
in Tucson, Arizona,
Terry Manning
keeps dinosaur
eggs by the box full.
This clutch from a
therizinosaurus is
roughly 70 million
years old.

HIS DAYS WOULD start promptly, like a banker’s — except he

also worked weekends. At 8:30 each morning, Terry Manning
would step outside his two-story brick house on Gipsy Lane in
Leicester, England, walk through the yard, let himself in the house
next door, climb the stairs and take a seat at his workbench, with
a view onto the garden out back.

THE PROCESS There he sat for the next nine hours or so, sur- might contain what he was really after: dinosaur
of meticulously rounded by dozens of sand-colored eggs ranging in embryos. At the end of it all, the self-taught fossil
dissolving size from 1½ to 20 inches long. Soaking in plastic technician had developed his own technique for
fossilized bowls of acid, these eggs were originally laid some uncovering embryos, using acetic acid, resin, wax
eggshell while 75 million to 85 million years ago by dinosaurs living and other materials. He now claims an unrivaled
preserving in what is now China. Manning would break from his collection of nearly three dozen eggs revealing unborn
the embryo station around 5:30 p.m., head downstairs, watch the dinosaurs, which is unique in its own right and even
within requires news and eat, maybe take a nap. Then he’d trudge back more remarkable given his lack of scientific training
specialized up the steps for a few more hours at the microscope. or any institutional oversight. “Basically,” Manning
tools and Finally, around 9:30 p.m., it was off for a pint and glass says, “everything I’ve learned was from books.”
extraordinary of tequila at the local pub, Swan & Rushes.
patience. When his first specimens surfaced in the early
This routine defined Manning’s life for the better ’90s, they were “revolutionary,” says Jeff Liston,
part of a decade, starting in 1993. Along the way, he president of the European Association of Vertebrate
sorted through at least 3,100 eggs from the Henan Palaeontologists. Manning had revealed dinosaur
province of China, sold most of them to fund his embryo skeletons and what may be soft tissues such
ongoing work, and kept about a third, guessing they as cartilage, both of which are exceedingly rare in
paleontological research. Yet nearly 30 years later, only
about half of Manning’s collection has ever appeared THIS PAGE, TOP RIGHT: CINDY HOWELLS
in public, at a single exhibit in 1995. Beyond that, just
a few scientists have been able to publish research on
some of the eggs — producing novel findings.

“[It’s] almost like a legend or a myth,” Liston says
of Manning’s work. A unique series of circumstances
have barred the specimens from wider research,
public viewing and recognition. This includes
international laws and politics, academic suspicions
about outsiders in science and the multimillion-dollar
price tags Manning has placed on his eggs, according
to scientists and museum officials who have followed
his work for decades.

None of that changes the potential answers

44 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM

MANNING OPTS
for off-the-grid
living on his ranch
in Tucson, forgoing
regular internet
use and a personal
cellphone.

MANNING they hold for the field of paleontology. Renowned laid in areas with shallow, mineral-rich groundwater,
maintains a paleontologist Luis Chiappe, who works as the head the calcite in the water would have helped preserve
humble work of research and collections at the Natural History the bones of the embryos.” All he had to do was find
station at his Museum of Los Angeles County, says that if the col- the right eggs and dissolve enough shell and sur-
home, where lection were made public, it would be “like discover- rounding material without destroying the embryos
he processes ing five new paintings by Leonardo da Vinci in a false — something no one else had done before.
fossils for wall in a house somewhere in Europe.” But since 2010,
museum 33 of Manning’s best specimens of dinosaur eggs Manning put the word out to fossil dealers. But it
projects. and embryos have been locked in a safe on a retired wasn’t until 1992 that he got a call from Peter Woo, a
banker’s country estate in Sussex, England. business partner in prior deals. “I got a batch of eggs,”
Woo said. Just before the new year, Manning flew
DISSOLVING THE PAST from Manchester to San Francisco to see what Woo
Growing up in Plymouth, England, Manning kept to had brought back from a recent trip to China’s Henan
himself and read prodigiously. “I was a loner. I never province. It didn’t take him long to conclude that
had friends,” he says. “I could recite the Encyclopaedia his partner was onto something. Manning sent Woo
Britannica from back to front.” back to Henan to buy what he could. The dinosaur
egg fossils were so plentiful that farmers there treated
By the time he reached age 12, he says, he was them as rocks, using them in their stone walls. Over
correcting the teachers; and at 17, he donned a kilt the course of almost a year, Woo bought 3,100.
and set off to hitchhike across Europe, a defining step
in his unconventional life to come. Over the next Back in Leicester, Manning began what would
few decades, Manning made jewelry and bought and become his decade-long routine in his workshop on
sold gems, minerals and fossils, mostly in England, Gipsy Lane, refining his technique on whatever Woo
Germany, Russia and the U.S.
could find. Scientists had used acetic acid to dissolve
In 1985, he was working at a rock surrounding vertebrate fossils since
museum in Moscow when the 1930s. So Manning experimented
he encountered a group of with various concentrations and
dinosaur eggs that had been other materials to slowly dis-
dug up in Mongolia. He solve enough of the dinosaur
peered through the cracks eggshells to see inside — at
in one shell, and had a a mind-numbing rate
vision. “Through the of about 1/2000 of an
hole, inside the egg, I saw inch per day. If the eggs
calcite,” he says. He knew appeared to contain
the mineral came from promise, he would
hard water, and that it dissolve the silt and stone
attaches itself to bones and covering the delicate
preserves them: “If I could bones of the embryos. On
find dinosaur eggs that were a good day, he could remove
1 teaspoon of silt from around

46 DISCOVERMAGAZINE .COM

the embryo he was working on. He created a Rube would become decades of barriers blocking Manning’s DO YOU SEE
Goldberg-esque setup, with bowls for the eggs, tubes work from greater exposure. The second paragraph the baby
running from water faucets and airbrushes spraying grimly notes that the “academic excitement” was dinosaur face?
stabilizing solutions on the bones. “tempered with concern.” The list of concerns: Manning
Manning and his partners were private collectors revealed
Decades later, speaking on the phone from his and had bought the eggs without the documentation this skull of
current home in Tucson, Arizona, he says, “I loved it. of a scientific expedition or collection site. They a sauropod
The only time I stopped [working] was about half past were also using the exhibition to attract a potential embryo in a
5:00.” It took about four months of this daily routine private buyer, one they hoped would donate the fossilized egg.
in Leicester for Manning to uncover his first embryo.
S. ABRAMOWICZ/DINOSAUR INSTITUTE/NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY IF THE COLLECTION WERE MADE PUBLIC, IT WOULD
PRAISE AND PURGATORY BE “LIKE DISCOVERING FIVE NEW PAINTINGS BY
The big reveal of Manning’s work, at the Cambridge LEONARDO DA VINCI.” — LUIS CHIAPPE, PALEONTOLOGIST
University Museum of Zoology, earned a review in
the March 24, 1995, issue of the journal Science. The specimens to a public museum. The price tag was
writer called the exhibition “stunning,” and reported $6 million, enough to acquire the specimens and pay
that it was “leaving many paleontologists breathless for Manning’s continued work on additional dinosaur
with excitement.” eggs, according to the article. “Such a deal might ‘lend
scientific credibility to what is essentially a commer-
Manning had produced nearly two dozen speci- cial exercise,’ ” paleobiologist David Unwin, then at
mens and the enthusiastic support of a small group of the University of Bristol, told the Science reporter.
paleontologists — enough to launch the event, with a
booklet titled “The Dinosaur Egg & Embryo Project.” These concerns about muddying science’s intel-
The Science article notes that the 20 specimens lectual purity due to commercial interests stalled
included an egg containing “the most complete set
of bones” ever seen of a therizinosaur, a little-known
group of dinosaurs, and a pond tortoise embryo that
appeared to push back the dating of this species from
40 million to at least 65 million years ago.

Along with praise, the article also forecast what

MAR/APR 202 2 . DISCOVER 47

THESE GRAY legitimate research on the eggs and embryos. That’s hell’: Everybody knew they were there, but nobody
slabs in because when museums don’t accept and catalog could publish on them.”
Manning’s specimens with what’s known as an accession
workshop number, they cannot be used for scientific research Despite these shadows, the 1995 exhibition proved
hold fossils of in reviewed and respected journals. So, in Manning’s so popular that Cambridge extended the originally
keichousaurus case, keeping the collection in his hands would scheduled one-month run to nine months. After it
marine reptiles, block any credible discoveries. Nonetheless, another closed, the “Dinosaur Egg & Embryo Project” would
which lived in geologist told the reporter, “there’s no question of the never again be seen in public.
the Triassic fantastic scientific importance of these embryos …
period, more [but] my personal attitude is, ‘don’t touch them with EMBRYOS FOR SALE
than 200 million a bargepole.’ ” Amidst this controversy, in 1998, Manning met the
years ago. scientist who would become his unbending ally.
Liston, an early supporter of Manning’s work, “[Manning] rang me at work,” recalls Nudds, referring
would go on to write a paper published in 2013 about to the Manchester University Museum, where he was
another obstacle facing the eggs and embryos. Before keeper of geology for 15 years. The museum had just
the exhibition, the Chinese government passed a received 20 million British pounds from the U.K.
law reclassifying dinosaur eggs from “trace fossils” National Lottery. Manning knew this and hoped the
to “vertebrate fossils.” This means they went from museum would be interested in buying the eggs.
bearing “evidence of an animal … [to] the animal
itself — a major reclassification,” according to John The paleontologist drove 1½ hours to Leicester,
Nudds, one of the few scientists to publish research on where the local museum was storing the eggs in the
Manning’s work. This distinction essentially made it basement as a favor. Manning took out a dozen of his
illegal to remove dinosaur eggs from the country. best specimens and spread them on a table. “They
were absolutely stunning,” Nudds says. “I had never
Even though all 3,100 of the eggs that Manning seen anything like it.”
evaluated left China before this law was passed, the
possibility of what Liston called “forced repatriation” The only problem, recalls the paleontologist, was that
cast another shadow over the work, making it even his museum’s director was “very anti- the idea,” seeing
less likely that any museum or other public institution it as unethical. Nonetheless, Nudds promised Manning
would acquire and display the specimens. The end he would do everything in his power to make sure his
result, wrote Liston: “This fantastic research resource work received the scientific recognition it deserved.
was in academic limbo — the paleontological equiva-
lent of film projects lost in Hollywood’s ‘development Over the next decade-plus, Nudds went with
Manning to China three times, attempting to sell the
collection and land the eggs in a public museum. In

48 DISCOVERMAGAZINE .COM

late 2004, the two traveled to Beijing, where they gave
a presentation to the National Geological Museum’s
director and his staff. Things were going so well that
Nudds remembers texting his wife back in England:
“We’ve sold the embryos.” The asking price, Nudds says,
was $3 million.

Several months later, in January 2005, the deal still not
settled, a delegation from the museum traveled to a hotel
in Leicester. Manning and Nudds rented a room and
arranged a private showing of the eggs, nearly as com-
plete as the Cambridge exhibition a decade earlier. “They
were very impressed,” Nudds says. But then the delega-
tion met with other scientists in London. To this day,
Nudds doesn’t know what was said at the meeting. But
he insists that scientists frowned upon Manning for not
having academic credentials and soured the delegation
on the deal. Ultimately, the purchase fell through. “We
kept emailing them, and never got a reply,” he says. “The
secretary eventually said the deal was off.”

Manning’s outsider status likely has inhibited the
reception of his work, according to Unwin, the geolo-
gist who was quoted in the 1995 Science story. Unwin
now teaches in the School of Museum Studies at the
University of Leicester, not far from where Manning
labored for years.

“One of the issues is that Terry Manning has been
seen as outside the discipline,” Unwin says today. “It’s
a huge issue, an elitist attitude. We do tend to be an
exclusive club, and that’s a problem.”

SAFEKEEPING
A couple years after the $3 million deal fell through,
Manning and Nudds met with Ji Qiang at the Chinese
Academy of Geological Sciences. He agreed to give
temporary access numbers to the best specimens. This
allowed one scientific paper to publish findings in 2008,
before the access number expired.

Shortly after that, Manning decided to lock away the
collection in England, where most of the specimens
remain today. The caretaker is a former client who once
bought fossils. “I trusted him because he was a banker,”
Manning says. In 2012, another Chinese delegation
funded by private investors visited the Sussex estate
and offered about $100,000, Nudds says. “We said it
wasn’t sufficient.”

Two papers have been published from Manning’s
work, despite the controversy. They both include
Manning and Nudds as co-authors, as well as Slovak
scientist Martin Kundrát. The first, published in Acta
Zoologica in 2008, brought insight into the development
of “therizinosauroids ... one of the rarest and most
enigmatic groups of theropod [two-footed] dinosaurs.”
The paper called Manning’s work “the most valuable
specimens of dinosaur embryos ever found.” It looked at
some of Manning’s eggs that are stored in England, and
took years of groundwork, stage-setting and the fierce
advocacy of Nudds to make it happen.

ARGENTINA RECLAIMS FROM LEFT: John Nudds, Terry Manning COURTESY OF JOHN NUDDS
ITS SAUROPOD and Luis Chiappe.
The second study was published
in Current Biology in 2020, after work — naming figures of $1
Manning decided to repatriate a million and $3 million in various
similar specimen unrelated to his conversations.
collection from China. This egg,
which came from Argentina, held AN EXPERIMENT
a sauropod, a group that includes IN SCIENCE
the largest dinosaurs to walk the On a recent call from
land — widely recognizable as the Manchester, Nudds revealed
long-necked brontosauruses towering just how off-the-grid and isolated
above trees in Jurassic Park. Similar Manning, now 77, has become. The
controversy surrounded the embryo, and paleontologist had been trying to contact
no museum would admit it into collections, his friend for days with no luck. Finally,
preventing scientific research and public viewing. he had another friend in the Southwest call the
Tucson sheriff ’s office to check in on Manning. Everything
In February 2020, nearly four decades after Manning was fine. Manning was just living without internet, and
bought the egg from an oil prospector in Patagonia, he hadn’t seen Nudds’ emails.
handed it over to Argentine paleontologist Chiappe, director When the study on his Argentine specimen published
of the Dinosaur Institute of the Natural History Museum of in 2020, he was completely unaware of the international
Los Angeles County. The transaction included a ceremony media coverage it received. Manning doesn’t even own a
with a bit of pomp at the Tucson Gem, Mineral and Fossil cellphone; when needed, he borrows one from his wife,
Show. Manning stands out in photos from the event, flanked Claudeen Chisholm, and on a recent call asked how to turn
by the scientists, Nudds and Chiappe; he’s the one with his up the volume. He spends his days working on contracted
shirt untucked, looking off camera under a rumpled hat. projects, like preparing Triassic lizard fossils for exhibition
in a museum, and managing the rhythms of desert life, such
Chiappe was supposed to take the egg on a plane to as the recent killing of his two geese by a mountain lion.
Buenos Aires on March 6, 2020. The coronavirus pandemic But neither remoteness nor elapsed time has dimin-
cancelled that flight, quarantining the prized specimen ished the scientific relevance of his specimens, insists
in Chiappe’s Los Angeles office for nearly two years. But, Nudds.“There are no embryos like this collection — the style
finally, a coveted accession number accompanied it, which of preparation, the quality of preservation,” he says. Multiple
made the Current Biology paper possible. scientists consulted for this story said that the findings
revealed in the Argentine sauropod embryo demonstrate
The paper’s discoveries about the embryonic skulls of the potential research value held in Manning’s collection of
sauropods made news in The New York Times, Smithsonian, rare Chinese therizinosaur embryos. And back in Leicester,
New Scientist and other outlets. Findings included that the Unwin says his own work in museum studies has taught him
sauropod embryo’s eyes faced forward. It also had a tiny that most important museum fossils have come from private
horn on the tip of its nose; as far as scientists had known, collectors. “We’re due a fairly major reevaluation of how this
scientific subculture actually deals with these items,” he says.
“WE’RE DUE A FAIRLY MAJOR REEVALUATION OF HOW Manning’s situation illustrates the need for change. “This
THIS SCIENTIFIC SUBCULTURE ACTUALLY DEALS work is like an experiment in the history of science,” Unwin
WITH THESE ITEMS.” — DAVID UNWIN, PALEOBIOLOGIST adds. “What would happen if we found something great,
but you’re not allowed to study it, and you’re not allowed to
these dinosaurs, which grew 120-feet-long from snout look at it?”
to tail, had eyes facing sideways, and lacked horns when Until something else happens, the experiment continues.
fully grown. Scientists consulted by journalists called the On his ranch in Arizona, Manning is working on other
discoveries, and the specimen itself, “amazing,” “astonish- eggs that he says contain fossilized yolks of oviraptors — a
ing” and “unique.” long-misunderstood dinosaur that science named an “egg
thief ” before newer specimens revealed they were likely
Most of the scientists interviewed for this story expressed egg protectors. When asked about this collection, Manning
hope that a similar deal could be worked out with China, calls these eggs “the ones nobody knows about.” Similar to
returning some of Manning’s eggs to the land where they his embryos from China, they too have been waiting more
were found. Several suggested this might lead to exhibi- than 70 million years to emerge. D
tions on loan to major museums in the West. Manning
says he wants that, too, but insists on payment for the Timothy Pratt is a freelance writer based in Georgia. Follow

@TimothyJPratt on Twitter.

50 DISCOVERMAG A ZINE .COM