Additional funding provided for essential laboratory and field personnel at the new East Tennessee State University and General Shale Brick Natural History Museum and Visitor Center at the Gray Fossil Site has already paid off with a significant one-of-a-kind find – a nearly complete skeleton of the fossil red panda (Pristinailurus bristoli).
“It’s the find of a lifetime!” says Dr. Steven Wallace, director of the ETSU Don Sundquist Center of Excellence in Paleontology which has research labs and offices in the museum.
“The public response to the opening of the Natural History Museum has been overwhelming,” says ETSU Provost Dr. Bert C. Bach. “And, ETSU is committed to supporting the museum’s needs.”
Though digging continues on the rare skeleton, already recovered material includes: the skull and jaws, both front limbs (complete with “panda’s thumb”), several neck as well as trunk vertebrae, ribs, most of the left half of the pelvis, portions of the left hind leg and foot and three tail vertebrae.
Wallace notes that this specimen represents “the only fossil red panda skeleton ever found in the world and just the second skull.”
A partial skull of Parailurus anglicus from Romania was reported by Max Schlosser in 1899. Although the new skull is heavily crushed, Wallace says 3-D reconstruction seems highly possible based on its good preservation.
In addition to the recent spectacular find, the crew has made significant progress in the backlog of specimens from last season’s excavations that were the result of the move from ETSU’s main campus to the new museum facility in Gray.
This progress ensures that the 2008 “field season” can start as planned in the spring. Moreover, both the museum and the Sundquist Center are benefiting from increased use of volunteers due to the supervision that the experienced crew provides.
With this considerable fossil site activity, museum visitors will see even more action in the lab and in the field as soon as the weather breaks.
During the museum’s five months of operation from Aug. 31, 2007, through Jan. 31, 2008, almost 45,000 people have visited the site from around the region, as well as every state in the nation and a growing number of foreign countries.
“I could not be more pleased,” said Jeanne Zavada, museum director. “We are attracting visitors of all ages and from other parts of the world. Many seek me out to praise our team and the university for what we are doing out here.
“The weather at this time of year does not permit active excavation, but we still do our guided tours to the dig site and the screening site.
“What has changed with the additional funding is that trained lab personnel are working alongside our loyal volunteers preparing fossils at the windows of the lab and the collections storage room. Visitors really enjoy seeing what looks like a lump of clay in a plaster jacket turn into a recognizable fossil tapir jaw with teeth intact.”
The ETSU and GSB Natural History Museum and Visitor Center at the Gray Fossil Site is located less than two miles from Exit 13 on I-26.
The museum is open from 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. seven days a week with the exception of these holidays: Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. For more information, call toll-free 1-866-202-6223 or visit www.grayfossilmuseum.org.

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