Each summer, the Museum of Paleontology seems a rather empty place as faculty, staff, and students
disperse around the world for meetings, research, and sometimes just for fun. Andrew (Drew) Lee seems
to have packed a lot of unusual experiences into his summer as he traveled to Canada, Oklahoma, and
South Carolina to work on his research on extinct and living archosaurs.
 “The bone beds of the Dinosaur Provincial Park
Formation in Drumheller, Alberta represent a death
assemblage of horned dinosaurs, particularly of Centrosaurus. I visited the collections of the Royal
Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology and Dinosaur Provincial Park to collect a growth series of limb bones from
Centrosaurus for microstructural study. While I was there, I had the opportunity to walk the badlands and
experience the richness of the formations bearing vertebrate fossils. My host, David Eberth, also gave me
a chance to tend ‘The Good Earth.’ Now, I have an appreciation for farming, but an even greater
appreciation for the urban life.
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“A trip to Norman, Oklahoma gave me the
opportunity to study the bones of a juvenile long-necked dinosaur,
Apatosaurus. Matt Wedel traveled with me, and it was a good thing that he did because I got a chance to
see Oklahoma from the perspective of a Sooner. I will cherish memories of shooting a rifle, a hike to find
the elusive mammoth, a fantastic barbecue, and broken bottles.
“I ended my summer with a trip to Clemson
University, SC to work on alligator locomotion. It was incredible
to be able to work with living alligators, particularly because they are reminiscent of their dinosaurian
cousins. My collaborator, Rick Blob, and I wanted to learn how alligators move their forelimbs and what
strains their forelimb bones experience during locomotion. We surgically implanted small strain-measuring
devices onto the arm bones of four juvenile alligators and successfully collected bone strain and forelimb
movement data (see the photo on the front page). Despite undergoing surgery
and having wires protruding from their arms, the young alligators
were endearing and even chirped at us when they were tired of walking. They were the highlight of my
extremely fun summer.”
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