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Millersville University received a pleasant surprise recently when a prehistoric fossil was donated to the biology department on behalf of the Salvation Army in Carlisle, Pa. The store received an anonymous donation of a prehistoric predatory fish fossil and decided it would be of better use in the academic world than to be kept in the store.
“Once we started to research it and delve further into the history of the fossil, it made sense to us to donate it. As an organization that is so generously supported by the community, for us to be able to give back is great,” said Jeanne Troy, development director at the Salvation Army in Carlisle.
After being examined by the State Museum of Pennsylvania and trained ichthyologist Dr. Dominique Dagit, associate professor of biology at Millersville, it was confirmed that the fossil is approximately 165 million years old.
The fossil, originating from the Santana Fish Formation in Brazil, is split right down the middle to show the details of the fossilized stone. Dagit was pleased to learn about the donation and said the value to science makes this donation priceless.
“The fossil itself is not particularly rare. Many like it do exist; however, fossils themselves are rare because so few organisms from the past die and are preserved in such a way that we can later find them as fossils,” said Dagit.
It will be used as a learning tool in Dagit’s ichthyology course and also in her zoology course when they study vertebrate animals. “Students can appreciate that the earth has a long history of animal life – millions of years ago strange creatures lived on this planet. Life on the planet now is only the evolved descendants of things that existed millions of years ago,” explained Dagit.
The fossil has not yet arrived at Millersville, but it will be displayed for others to see once an appropriate case is found to hold the 165-million-year-old piece.
