It was a hobby that went B次元官网网址渂erserk.B次元官网网址�

ThatB次元官网网址檚 how David LangevinB次元官网网址檚 wife Linda Langevin describes the collection of 18,000 fossils her late husband and his colleague John Leahy discovered just outside Cache Creek, B.C.

The pair had met in a Kamloops-based rock club and travelled to McAbee Fossil Beds Heritage Site on an expedition. Now, almost two decades later, the 52-million-year-old specimens comprised of plants, insects and fish the pair painstakingly preserved have been donated to the Royal BC Museum.

B次元官网网址淚t took over the house, it took over the home, it took over the family, it took over them, but in a positive and good way,B次元官网网址� Linda says of the pairB次元官网网址檚 dedication to the project.

B次元官网网址淭o crack open a plain old looking rock and see laying there a gorgeous bug or flower exposed for the first time in 50 million years B次元官网网址� they just thought that was the most amazing thing,B次元官网网址� she recalled.

McAbee, a provincial heritage site, is home to fossils from the early Eocene Epoch, making them some of the most important in the world for their diversity and quality, says Richard Hebda, curator emeritus at the Royal BC Museum.

Much of what they found had been preserved naturally, having been driven down to the bottom of an old lake bed, explains Hebda, who on occasion found himself scaling the siteB次元官网网址檚 rock walls with Leahy B次元官网网址� a teacher who died in 2015 B次元官网网址� who was as fearless as he was enthusiastic.

B次元官网网址淐ollecting fossils with John was just a wonderful exercise,B次元官网网址� Hebda says. B次元官网网址淗is eye was so fantastic. He could look right at a slab and see what was important that was there.B次元官网网址�

The Eocene Epoch is characterized by how warm the planet was then and Hebda draws the conclusion that these specimens could provide a model for what might happen with global climate change going forward, one more reason the findings are so unique.

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 rare to have fossils in such numbers, so well preserved, and in such diversity,B次元官网网址� he says, because the preservation has occurred at the cellular level.

A closer look at the fossils reveals the layers of hundreds of thousands of years of history.

B次元官网网址淭he site is like nowhere else on Earth,B次元官网网址� Hebda says, and for that reason he and Leahy often discussed what the future would hold for both the fossils, and the site.

B次元官网网址淎s an institution weB次元官网网址檙e able to hold complex collections like that, especially with specimens that are going to be new to science,B次元官网网址� says Hebda, who expects new species to be discovered from the fossils. B次元官网网址淭hey need to be in a place where their access can be managed and their care can be carried out for centuries.B次元官网网址�

Different people will come a hundred years from now and find different things, he adds.

In the 80B次元官网网址檚, Langevin was B次元官网网址渉orrifiedB次元官网网址� to learn a mining company from Alberta had dug up part of the site for kitty litter, Linda says. He and a friend went and staked a mineral claim; the action ended up ensuring the site was provincially protected.

Along with the tours Leahy would give to interested school groups and tourists, the former schoolteacher photographed and scanned his finds in detail, mailing the images to scientists across North America. Many scholarly paleontological papers were written as a result, relying upon both the samples and imagery that Leahy provided as a B次元官网网址渃itizen scientist.B次元官网网址�

Two years after Leahy passed away, Hebda came to the family home to survey what had been collected, the scope of which blew him away, says Bernita Wienhold-Leahy, JohnB次元官网网址檚 widow. B次元官网网址淗e just shook his head and said, B次元官网网址業 canB次元官网网址檛 believe the work he did.B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淛ohn and DaveB次元官网网址檚 passion was to share the McAbee site with school groups, scientists, anyone that would be interested in finding and discovering their own little piece of history,B次元官网网址� she adds. B次元官网网址淭his is the natural place for them to be.B次元官网网址�

kristyn.anthony@vicnews.com

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