Fossiliferous Florida

Deborah Painter (USA) Seated on the jet heading south to Florida, I thought of my upcoming field work in the central portion of the state. I also hoped to see some monkeys during my brief stay. I knew they were ‘invasives’ but I still wanted to see them. I had read that, many decades ago, rhesus monkeys were brought in for atmosphere in the Silver Springs area by an entrepreneur named “Colonel” Tooey, who was running a glass bottom tour boat operation named “The Jungle Cruise”. By now, the animals have established a breeding population. I also knew that the Withlacoochee, a river yielding vertebrate fossils from several Cenozoic epochs, was not far from where I would be. Therefore, I had my collecting permit from the state of Florida just in case I had a few hours to spare to look around the riverbanks. Upon arrival at the Orlando International Airport, I became instantly aware that most of the travelling public was going to, or coming back from, Walt Disney World and the Epcot Center. I was headed to a mostly wooded area in western Sumter County to do an ecological survey and wetland delineation on Federal lands, and was glad to leave the crazed traffic of the airport behind me, as my rental car sped toward the setting sun of a late September day in 2019. It did not take long for me to enter the agricultural lands where Brussels sprouts, cassava, pears and ornamental house plants were cultivated, … Read More