Hell Creek Gar Reproduction Now Available

ValDaGar in initial stages of preparation

Back in the summer of 2012, known as the summer of "Lake Dakota" in the lab due to how much it rained that year keeping us at our soggy campsite, I was lucky enough to discover an articulated gar in the Hell Creek Formation. In the previous decade of Hell Creek fieldwork, I had found hundreds of scales and isolated bones from gar but hadn't given them much thought. 

Hell Creek gar scales

Perhaps it was because of all the rain that year, but late on our first trip out to South Dakota for that season on a low, soft, sandy outcrop I found vertebrae, articulated scales and the outline of a skull just beginning to erode out. I had no idea at the time just how special that discovery would be. It turns out this specimen - RMDRC 12-008 - which I nicknamed "ValDaGar" after my wife giving it a bit of Nordic sounding flair, was the most complete articulated gar fossil out of the entire Mesozoic of North America. 

RMDRC 12-008 ValDaGar as originally found, with beautiful articulated scales

The excavation was pretty straightforward. Our now Executive VP Jacob Jett and I managed to perimeter around the specimen through the soft sand and jacketed the gar all in one day. Unfortunately there were no sizeable outcrops immediately adjacent to the dig to help place us in section, however a butte a short distance away had a Triceratops skeleton eroding out approximately 60 feet above our dig, indicating we were definitely working on a Cretaceous gar, not a later one from the post-asteroid Fort Union Formation. 

Jacob Jett cleaning out the trench before jacketing

I'm not going to lie, I was a bit nervous when it came time to prepare the specimen. The matrix was very soft, which poses quite a few challenges, especially when you're set to work on an animal that is basically a tube sock made of 10,000 scales floating in loose formation in the sand. Since this specimen was extremely rare and scientifically important, I went very slowly.

Initial prep of the skull area in the lab

Much of the initial work was done with just an X-acto knife and chip brushes, slowly working down to the specimen until you feel and hear the "thunk" of the underlying bone or scale. Once the bulk of the matrix was moved off a section, I stabilized it with Paraloid B72 and came back with low pressure air abrasion to finish cleaning the surface. All this was done one section at a time so that the air abrasion wouldn't blow away any adjacent patch of scales that may not have been consolidated yet. 

Skull area after basic consolidation and air abrasion

In the end, prep took me about a solid week. After the specimen was cleaned, we wondered how to replicate this rare (and likely new taxon) gar. Traditional silicone molding techniques were rejected right away due to the danger the demolding process might pose to such a soft and delicate specimen. It would be a shame to rip it apart after all of this work so we turned to technology.

Skeleton after prep, Senior Curator for scale

We were curious how the specimen looked hidden under the surface of scales and sand, and what might be present for the lower jaws that were spun under the skull. For this we took it to a local animal hospital, Powers Pet Emergency in Colorado springs to have it CT scanned in between patients. There were concerns that the metal poles used in stabilizing the field jacket might interfere with the scans however no problems were noted and the images they turned out just fine. 

Image taken of the skull area at Powers Pet Emergency

Luckily though 3d scanning was very much still in its infancy at the time, we at TPI had the equipment and skill to create a very high fidelity surface scan and model of ValDaGar. Turning the digital model into something physical would take a bit more time though, as we thought the resolution of the printers used in making such a large print was insufficient for what we wanted the final product to be. Fast forward about a decade. Luckily for us, technology has caught up enough to allow a high fidelity physical replica to be made. 

Scanning of ValDaGar in our collections area

We were able to print it out, though not all in one piece. That's where I came in, reassembling the parts and getting it ready for our skilled artists to detail and paint up. The detail was fantastic, especially with the diamond plate skin resolution.

With this step finished, we are now able to offer reproductions of this Mesozoic gar for museums across the world. Contact Jacob Jett jacob@rmdrc.com for specifics and to make your order.