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00:00My name's Mike Rowe, and this is my job.
00:06I explore the country looking for people who aren't afraid to get dirty.
00:10That's a catfish.
00:11Keep them in there.
00:12Oh, jeez.
00:13Sorry.
00:14Hard-working men and women who earn an honest living.
00:16I just want it out of there, right?
00:19Crap.
00:20Doing the kinds of jobs that make civilized life possible for the rest of us.
00:24No, I can't see anything.
00:25Oh, oh, oh!
00:27Back up!
00:28Now, get ready to get dirty.
00:39Coming up on Dirty Jobs.
00:40You got the oldest record of dinosaurs probably anywhere in the world.
00:44Right here in Utah.
00:45Yeah.
00:45I haul my Jurassic up a mountain to work a fossil dig.
00:49All of this is bone?
00:50There's probably four or five skeletons all intertwined in here.
00:53It's a job 65 million years in the making.
00:56What kind of bird was it, do we know?
00:57It's a group that went extinct with the dinosaurs.
00:59It's our guess.
00:59Who would disagree with you?
01:00Oh, there's a bunch of people.
01:02Not on this show.
01:05And, of course, we've got the obligatory pussy.
01:12Oh, God.
01:13Oh, God.
01:15Oh!
01:17Oh!
01:19Oh!
01:20Oh!
01:20Oh, God.
01:21Oh!
01:21Oh, God.
01:23Oh!
01:24Oh, God.
01:26We're gonna start recording soon.
01:29Oh.
01:29Real soon.
01:33I take it you've noticed the incoming storm yeah this doesn't look pretty at all that looks bigger
01:40than you know a scattered thunderstorm yes we're in the middle of highway the weather is coming in
01:45from that direction we're actually in Moab maybe just a little outside of Moab in Utah
01:53point was to come here to Utah meet some paleontologists there's archaeologists that
01:59dig around in the dirt and see if we can unearth some dinosaurs and it's the kind of work we
02:04probably can't do in the rain is that correct yeah it's yeah it's prohibitive yes prohibitive
02:11is fancy talk for no and uh and dark clouds are not a metaphor for that those are actual dark
02:20clouds
02:23the place we're going is called the Stikes Quarry it's located on this unnamed mesa
02:28it's a hotbed for dinosaur research attracting top paleontologists from around the world
02:34our plan is to hike up there with some scientists learn a lot of things and maybe even discover
02:40some rare fossils like Indiana Jones unfortunately just getting to the mesa is proving to be difficult
02:47kind of like an Indiana Jones movie it's on a dirty jobs budget
02:54this is really bad
02:58all right we just we got it we got it we got to press on and see what the paleontologists
03:02say
03:02what they want to do
03:04I mean it could blow out in an hour you know
03:08look at the tumbleweeds
03:11or have a look at that it's crazy
03:13look at the cows they're running to cover
03:22all right so Dave is conferring with our guy I'm not sure what the big mystery is that there's just
03:27no way we're going to be able to climb up a mountain in this but wait for the official word
03:32that is hail
03:34sure it's hailing of course it is
03:37he said they get five inches of rain here a year
03:41you're kidding me
03:42and we're going to get it all today
03:44yeah no question
03:47yeah we're supposed to be up there
03:49and if you've just joined us
03:51this part of Utah gets approximately five inches of rain a year
03:54it appears to be all coming down today
03:59would you say that in terms of the stages of grief
04:02are we in denial at this point or are we beginning to
04:06I know you're past anger
04:10no I'm not going to work with Doug all day
04:12but maybe not
04:13see I think you're in denial
04:14I still think you're good
04:16get a point
04:16you think you're going to work with Doug all day
04:18I don't think so
04:20I think we need to take a deep breath and get our heads around acceptance
04:25that was a bolt of lightning
04:26we don't want to be up there
04:28when I say we
04:30I think we know what I'm talking about
04:31we don't want to be up there
04:49even if you could get up but it's two hours later
04:50that just really is demoralizing
04:57Yeah, regarding this tire, I noticed on the ride-in that your passenger side, your tire is extremely low.
05:07But on the positive side, it stopped raining.
05:10So the meteorology seems to be cooperating with us right now to the point where we might be able to
05:16take an honest stab at the geology, the archaeology, and the paleontology.
05:21But before we do that, let's say we take a quick tour around the campsite.
05:27At Camp Dinosaur, our luck had finally turned around.
05:30A couple of paleontologists started changing our tire.
05:34I came up with a brilliant opening monologue.
05:36Good, I can work with that.
05:38And even Dave was starting to look happy.
05:40Check, check.
05:42Now, at long last, we were ready to start our day.
05:44When our good friend, Amber, closed the back of the SUV and accidentally locked the keys in the car.
05:54No, no.
05:56What?
05:57No, it's not possible.
05:59No, it's not possible.
06:00We brought four equipment trucks out here, but the one that is now inaccessible is, of course, the one carrying
06:06all of our videotapes and batteries.
06:08That's not possible.
06:09Oh, no.
06:10It's possible.
06:11In fact, I should have realized on a day like this, it was probable that something like this would happen.
06:18So now, we still have to finish changing the tire, but we also have this additional challenge.
06:26Wow.
06:28All right, we'll spot you here.
06:31All right, here we go.
06:35So, it basically, it just got away from us again.
06:38It's quarter to 11.
06:39Our plan was to be up there by 8.
06:44And the weather has cleared up.
06:47Unfortunately, we've just had a parade of horribles unfold, beginning with a flat tire.
06:55And now, we've got this whole situation happening.
06:59How does this compare to, say, the last time you locked the keys in one of our cars?
07:02I think it was in Nebraska, right?
07:04It was in Nebraska, yeah.
07:05Uh-huh.
07:06I mean, that sucks.
07:07Yeah.
07:07Well, it strikes me as a good time to ask you if, when you rented these, you went ahead with
07:13the damage waiver?
07:14Oh, absolutely.
07:15There's a good one.
07:15Okay, you know what?
07:16I don't hesitate on that one.
07:17Yeah.
07:18We pride ourselves in the possibility.
07:20Okay, I just got confirmation there is OnStar for this car, but no one can touch the doors while they
07:24do it.
07:25So, back off for a minute.
07:26Why do we have that information before?
07:28Because I didn't know it had OnStar.
07:29I just got to call back.
07:31So, back off for a bit.
07:32Screw that.
07:33Hey, Gamber, give us five minutes.
07:36Now, it's personal.
07:37Yes!
07:39How did that happen?
07:40You just pulled it.
07:43Or they did it.
07:44Who did it?
07:45We'll say you did it.
07:47We did it.
07:47There.
07:48We did it.
07:50All right.
07:52And that's all the time we have for today's show.
07:54All right, then.
07:55Signing off from somewhere in the desert.
08:00All right, guys.
08:00Let's shoot a show or something, huh?
08:04How's it going?
08:05Got a letter here from Lucas.
08:07He writes,
08:08Dear Mike,
08:08My name is Lucas.
08:10I'm just a kid.
08:11I love dirty jobs.
08:12I also love dinosaurs.
08:14Can you tell me why aren't there any dinosaurs on dirty jobs?
08:18Your friend, Lucas.
08:20First of all, Lucas, I'm not your friend.
08:22I'm kidding.
08:23Of course I'm your friend.
08:24You see me on TV?
08:26I'm your friend.
08:27Secondly, regarding dinosaurs, here's the thing.
08:30They're dead.
08:31All of them.
08:32Been dead for a long time.
08:33Like millions of years.
08:34You know how long a million is?
08:35It's a long time.
08:36And dinosaurs have been dead a lot longer than that.
08:39There's a fancy word for dead if you're a dinosaur.
08:41It's called extinct.
08:42So dinosaurs are extinct.
08:44That's the bad news.
08:44Today, I can't find a dinosaur and put it on dirty jobs because they're dead.
08:48But there are little pieces of them left all over the place.
08:51You know what those little pieces are called?
08:52They're called fossils.
08:53So today, we're going to walk up on that hill and we're going to find dinosaur fossils.
08:59It's the best I can do.
09:00Now, I'm going to have some help, okay?
09:02I've got some experts with me.
09:04They're called scientists.
09:05And scientists who look for dinosaurs, well, they can be all sorts of people.
09:08They can be paleontologists.
09:09They can be archaeologists.
09:12They can be geologists.
09:14They're all over there.
09:15So we're going to meet some of them.
09:17Then we're going to go look for little pieces of dead dinosaurs.
09:20And then we're going to learn a whole bunch of stuff.
09:21How's that sound for you, Lucas?
09:23Good?
09:24Good.
09:29When paleontology meets roadside assistance, a sentence I never thought I'd say before.
09:34This is Jim.
09:35Jim.
09:36Jim.
09:36And what's your last name?
09:37Kirkland.
09:37And that's your crew that's graciously decided to pull our bacon out of the fire?
09:42They're good hands.
09:43Yeah.
09:43I reckon.
09:44So are you a...
09:46I'm throwing a lot of ologist words around this morning.
09:48It's a paleontologist?
09:49I'm a paleontologist.
09:50I'm a state paleontologist for Utah.
09:52I see.
09:52So I get to kind of hang out in this place.
09:55Not a bad place if you're going to work on fossils.
09:57This place, as I mentioned earlier, is the Stikes Quarry.
10:00And it's much better than not bad.
10:02But Jim and his colleagues have found many, many dinosaur bones here.
10:06And we'll be seeing some of them real soon.
10:09Will we be seeing big bones, small bones?
10:11Yeah, you're going to see fairly small bones.
10:13Bones of what, exactly?
10:14Well, this is the thing I found first of this animal about seven miles over.
10:19Is that a tooth?
10:19That's the killing claw of Utahraptor.
10:22No, it's not the actual killing claw.
10:25It's a replica.
10:26How many more things are you going to be pulling out of your fancy pockets?
10:28That's about it.
10:29Okay.
10:29I figure you want to know what the animal is we're going for in there.
10:33And it's called the Utahraptor?
10:34It's Utahraptor.
10:35In addition to dinosaur bone fossils, they also have fossilized evidence of other kinds of animals.
10:41We've got the oldest bird tracks ever found in North America up here in some blocks.
10:45Are we going to see those today?
10:47Yeah, we'll see those today.
10:48Oldest bird tracks in North America, we're going to see?
10:52That's where we're headed?
10:53We're headed up there, right under that big gray lair.
10:55But before we get started, there's a little paperwork.
10:58What's in your hands?
11:00Okay, well, if I want you legal, you know, I give out the permits here in Utah.
11:03So there's your dinosaur hunting license.
11:06Check it out, Lucas.
11:07I am now a licensed dinosaur hunter.
11:12Let's go find some fossils or something.
11:15Coming up, I discover them discovering things that haven't been discovered.
11:20What is it, Diablo Saratops?
11:21Big horned animal, the devil's horn face.
11:23Big horny animal.
11:24Big horny animal.
11:27And later.
11:28I feel like a superhero there, man.
11:29It's not a bird.
11:30It's not a plane.
11:31It's a new use for auto parts.
11:33Drive it down the slope.
11:34You seriously are going to just drag it out.
11:36We're going to drag it out.
11:43The place, Stikes Quarry, just outside of Moab, Utah.
11:47You know, what Utah's most famous for is dinosaurs.
11:50The job, discovering fossilized dinosaurs.
11:53We've now recognized that we've got the oldest, most complete record of dinosaurs probably anywhere in the world.
12:01And I'm hoping eventually we'll be the standard by which everybody compares.
12:06Right here in Utah.
12:07Yeah.
12:08Jim says the rocks around here were formed in the Jurassic Geological Era.
12:14Jurassic, that's what?
12:16Jurassic, these rocks here, about 150.
12:18150 million years old.
12:20The higher up Jim and I climb on the mesa, the younger the rock.
12:24And then as you go up to where your team is?
12:26They get up right, right above them, the top of that little red mound up above their heads.
12:30Right there is about the top of the Jurassic.
12:33And our dates, the very basal stuff, is pretty iffy.
12:36But our first dates that we have that we feel comfortable with are up by the quarry.
12:40Right.
12:40They're about 125.
12:43Let's go see what your guys are up to.
12:44Yeah.
12:45Our first stop is below the Stikes Quarry, where they're doing work on those fossilized bird tracks Jim was talking
12:51about earlier.
12:53You are Don, right?
12:54Yeah.
12:55Mike, nice to meet you.
12:56Don's job is to cut these bird tracks out of this sandstone and move them to civilization.
13:02So the goal is to get this out and back to the museum?
13:05Yeah.
13:05Well, are you going to get this out today?
13:07We probably won't get it out today, but we can probably work on making a few more cuts.
13:11Yeah, that'd be fun.
13:12Let's see what it does.
13:13And actually, this wind might be nice because it blows the dust somewhere.
13:16It blows the dust away.
13:19Yeah, probably just a few more parallel cuts would be fine.
13:23This boulder probably weighs three or four tons.
13:25It would be very difficult to move to a museum, so Don decided to cut out a five-inch-deep
13:31section of the rock's surface, just the part where the bird tracks are located.
13:36Getting that part out of here will be much easier than moving the whole boulder.
13:41But cutting this rock is still physically taxing.
13:44The saw is heavy.
13:46The noise is deafening.
13:47Don says he can only endure a couple of hours of this pain every time he's here.
13:51So it'll be a while before they move this fossil.
13:55That's probably good for now.
13:57We can bust them off.
14:00Now you can set this guy in one of those cracks and give it a few whacks.
14:05Feathers and wedges.
14:06Yeah.
14:06So this is modern paleontology.
14:10I think that one will just pop out now.
14:12Yeah, I think it did, too.
14:14Yeah, so that's kind of the rewarding part when you finally get it.
14:16That was pretty rewarding.
14:17You can take that home if you want.
14:18That'd be great.
14:19You know, I'll put it in my backpack.
14:22So how long will it take you in real time to get this thing out?
14:26If we saw, you know, a few more hours of sawing, probably we'll get it in pretty good shape.
14:31We can, you know, start undercutting.
14:33And then one of the difficulties is I'm the only one out here that's sucker enough to get talked into
14:40working on a slope like this.
14:43Yeah, I mean, you think this side's not bad because you've got the nice saw.
14:46But when you're standing on the rock down there, like, edging yourself up, yeah, you're holding up.
14:50Because that thing weighs, what, 60 pounds, probably?
14:53Yeah, I think it's about 35.
14:55Oh, well, maybe 100.
14:55It starts at 35.
14:56By the end, it ends up, after a few minutes, it starts going up rapidly.
15:01Oh, there you go.
15:03That's a resounding crack there.
15:04Yeah, it feels good.
15:06All right, yeah, if you want to make a couple more and then we can...
15:08Well, it's not about wanting to make it, Don.
15:10Well, we could use.
15:11All right, Dennis.
15:12You'd really be helping me out.
15:13There you go.
15:14See, when you frame it as a potential favor, the appeal to the angels of my better nature.
15:20Let's see.
15:21My pants are falling down.
15:25These fossilized bird tracks were first discovered in 2005.
15:29In 2006, they retrieved a major part of this valuable find.
15:34Unfortunately, during the delicate removal process, a stubborn part of this old fossil wouldn't break free of the boulder.
15:41So, it's that and Tanker's piece of leftover bird tracks...
15:46It's gonna go.
15:47Oh, nice.
15:48...that I'm cutting out right now.
15:50What kind of bird was it?
15:52Do we know?
15:53Probably a thing an extinct group called an in-an-an-ornthine bird.
15:57It's a group that went extinct with the dinosaurs.
15:59Yeah.
15:59It's our guess, but we can't say exactly.
16:02Yeah.
16:03I mean, who would...
16:03I noticed there's no...
16:04Who would disagree with you?
16:05Oh, there's a bunch of people.
16:06Not on this show.
16:08Not on this show.
16:09Yeah.
16:10What do you think, Jim?
16:10You think I can whack this off in one blow?
16:12Uh, give you three.
16:14Three blows to whack this off.
16:15All right.
16:16Strong finish.
16:18Oh, he gets in a two.
16:20Let it evens out.
16:21We compromise.
16:22All right, so here we have a beautiful example of what exactly it takes if you want to be
16:26a paleontologist.
16:27Beyond all the glamour, beyond all the BS, it's dirt, it's dust, it's hammers, it's feathers,
16:32it's wedges, it's rock saws, it's sweat.
16:34Yeah, absolutely.
16:35It took him three years to get the Diablo serotops out of a rock like this.
16:38Don't even know what that means.
16:39What is it, Diablo serotops?
16:41Big horned animal, the devil's horn face.
16:43Big horny animal.
16:44Big horny animal.
16:45Spines on it, its head, you know, three feet long.
16:48Something Don discovered and it took him three years to chop it out of the sandstone.
16:52Wait a minute, you discovered it?
16:53You mean that particular one or the whole group?
16:56The whole group, yeah.
16:57Well, I mean, that's the first skull known of it.
16:59So it was a brand new animal.
17:01Well, wait, that's some high cotton now.
17:04No, so you just went right to, your stock went through the roof.
17:06You discovered a whole new, what is it?
17:07Yeah, I know.
17:07We named five new dinosaurs last year, just our group.
17:12I'm kidding me.
17:13You guys are naming dinosaurs.
17:14Yeah.
17:15It took us three years to cut it out.
17:18And then once I got it back in the lab, it took me 800 hours to prepare it out of
17:22the rock.
17:22Because it was in stuff like this.
17:24800 hours, that's like six months.
17:26Yeah.
17:26That's like three months.
17:27Bone looks like mahogany.
17:28It's one of those beautiful things we've ever collected.
17:30But can you be sure it wasn't mahogany?
17:32Yeah, pretty sure.
17:33Because that would change the whole nature of the planet.
17:35Oh, it would.
17:36Yeah.
17:36No, it would.
17:37Would.
17:38It would.
17:40Oh, God.
17:42That's so good.
17:46Chickens and other birds are descendants of dinosaurs and carry dinosaur DNA.
17:52American paleontologist Jack Horner has been working with researchers to genetically engineer
17:56a chicken to give it hands and a tail, making it look more like a dinosaur.
18:08Let's go see what you guys are up to.
18:10Yeah.
18:10Seems likely somebody's going to fall.
18:13Jim Kirkland is a Utah State paleontologist, and he's taking me to meet fellow paleontologist
18:19and geologist, Salina Suarez.
18:22Hello, Dr. Suarez.
18:23How's it going, Mike?
18:24Dr. Rowe, how are you?
18:25Call me Mike.
18:27What are you working on?
18:28Looking at the Morrison Formation here.
18:30Just a good example of the Morrison Formation.
18:32You have a really nice clay stone.
18:35You can tell it's clay stone if you...
18:37Are you eating the rocks?
18:39Absolutely.
18:40Take a little lie at it.
18:43And it gets nice and creamy and not gritty.
18:45That's what you're tasting?
18:47Yeah.
18:47You're trying to bite the clay to see if it's creamy.
18:49Yeah.
18:50And not gritty.
18:51Blow it off a little bit there so it's some...
18:53Yeah.
18:54So if it kind of creams in your mouth, then it's clay stone.
18:58If it creams in your mouth, it's clay?
19:00Yeah, if it gets kind of creamy.
19:02Gotta let it sit a little.
19:03I am.
19:04I love it.
19:06Okay, that's clay.
19:07Yeah.
19:08And so a little further up, we get Cretaceous up there.
19:12Jurassic here.
19:13Jurassic here.
19:14Because it's older, of course.
19:15Yes.
19:15Cretaceous is younger.
19:16The higher we go, the younger things get.
19:18Yep.
19:19Selina is taking me up the mesa from the Jurassic period rock, which is about 150 million years
19:24old, to the Cretaceous period rock, which is about 125 million years old at its base.
19:35So that's nice and...
19:37Okay.
19:38Consolidated.
19:39And so we want to dig back enough so that we can actually see the rock and describe it.
19:44Mm-hmm.
19:44And this would just be like a green silk stone.
19:47Okay.
19:47Um, and eventually you would want to take this back to the lab and grind it up and then
19:53analyze it on a mass spectrometer for calcium isotopes.
19:55Or carbon isotopes, sorry.
19:59So the carbon isotopes allow Selina to calculate the age of the rock.
20:03An oxygen isotope test allows her to determine the weather during the era.
20:07So you either have a heavy, heavy mass isotope or a light mass isotope.
20:12Combining data from a whole bunch of isotope tests, Selina hopes to determine how weather
20:16patterns impacted the dinosaur ecosystem.
20:19The number you get is the ratio of the heavy to the light isotopes.
20:25But what is an isotope test?
20:27I don't know.
20:28How many people get into your field or think they want to get into your field because,
20:33you know, they saw Indiana Jones or, uh, you know, some, some documentary on the Discovery
20:39Channel and then realize that they're just too stupid?
20:43One would hope that we keep trying.
20:46One would, but as a professor, I mean, really, you need a, a, a good sized brain for this.
20:52Or a lot of hard work.
20:54Um, chemistry was never my strong suit.
20:56But you got through it?
20:56But I got through it, yeah.
20:57I apply it to paleontology and I clicked a little bit better.
21:00So if you apply it to something that you really like, it clicks a little bit better.
21:03So your passion was paleontology.
21:05Your, uh, one of the challenges was chemistry, but because you were able to apply it to something
21:09that made sense to your brain, you were able to master chemistry.
21:11Yes.
21:12You see, this has just, this has made the whole story worthwhile.
21:14It was very wise, I thought.
21:15Very insightful.
21:17I saw you squirting something on the rocks before.
21:19Yeah.
21:19What was that?
21:19That was, uh, some hydrochloric acid.
21:22Why were you doing that?
21:23Uh, to see whether, to see the carbonate content.
21:25If you can calcium carbonate, uh, like the things that, uh, shells are made out of.
21:29Yeah.
21:30Um, it fizzes an acid.
21:33Basically, you liberate CO2.
21:34We'll see if this is...
21:35Here, let me hold it for you.
21:36Sure.
21:36This way we can be involved.
21:38Do stuff together.
21:39There you go.
21:39Yep.
21:40So that's fizzy.
21:41So that means...
21:41So that means there's calcium carbonate in there.
21:43Probably calcium carbonate cement.
21:45And you can do isotopes from the calcium carbonate as well.
21:48You can do carbon and oxygen isotopes.
21:50Do you know that?
21:50Carbon and, carbon and what?
21:52Oxygen?
21:53Oxygen isotopes, yep.
21:53For carbon isotopes, you've got carbon 13 and carbon 12.
21:57Mm-hmm.
21:57And for oxygen, you have carbon...
22:00I mean, oxygen 18 and oxygen 16.
22:01Oh, yeah, right.
22:0218 and 16 for the oxygen.
22:03Right, sure.
22:05So, yeah.
22:05What's your favorite element?
22:09Um...
22:09Right now, oxygen.
22:13Really?
22:13Because I'm thinking hydrogen and oxygen together right now would be pretty good.
22:17Water, yeah.
22:17Yeah.
22:18Yeah.
22:18Yeah, we'll look around for some of that.
22:20You should probably keep hydrating.
22:22I will.
22:23Okay.
22:24Well, this has been a good excuse just to catch my breath for a bit.
22:26Sure.
22:26Up and down here how many times today?
22:28Today, I've been up and down this about three or three times, probably three or four times.
22:32And on an average day?
22:34Probably like five times, six times.
22:36It just depends on where I'm at.
22:37Are you paying attention, kids?
22:39You think you want to get in the dinosaurs because they're cool and whatnot.
22:42Okay.
22:43She's...
22:43What do you weigh?
22:43Like eight pounds or something?
22:44About 95.
22:45A 95-pound woman.
22:46She's a cardiovascular machine with a giant brain and an insatiable level of curiosity.
22:52Perhaps you have what it takes.
22:53Yes.
22:53But I doubt it.
22:54Most of us don't.
22:56I'm sorry.
22:56I didn't mean to go.
22:57Just got over a car and don't mind getting dirty.
22:59That's right.
23:00For sure.
23:00This is definitely, definitely dirty.
23:02She said it better than I did.
23:03Okay.
23:04All right, Lucas.
23:05This is the big moment.
23:06We are finally going to the Stikes Quarry where we will see actual dinosaur bones.
23:12All right.
23:13Keep going, guys.
23:16Well, this looks like a destination.
23:18Selena tells me, right in front of me, there's a major find of fossilized bones.
23:23Wait a second.
23:23Wait a minute.
23:24All of this is bone?
23:25It's just intertwined bones.
23:28Skeletons.
23:28There's probably four or five skeletons all intertwined in here.
23:31Oh, so this is all a jacket over top of everything.
23:34I know.
23:35They don't really look like bones.
23:36That's because over millions of years, minerals have formed around them, entrapping them inside
23:41the rock.
23:42Sorting out this mass of hidden bones is the job of paleontologist Scott Madsen.
23:48Are you a cranky paleontologist?
23:50Yeah.
23:50Yeah?
23:52What makes you?
23:53It's only when I started working for this outfit.
23:56And then things took a weird, bitter turn?
23:59Yeah.
23:59How long have you been at it?
24:0233 years.
24:02Yeah.
24:03As long as I've known Jim.
24:04You guys have known each other 33 years?
24:06Oh, yeah.
24:07Dug in a lot of places.
24:08Yeah.
24:09Yeah.
24:09Pulled a lot of pretty important specimens out in our time.
24:12Is it still fun?
24:12Yeah.
24:13Most of the time, except this quarry.
24:15Why?
24:15I mean, why is this such a pain in the neck?
24:17It's just kind of this marble cake of different rock types.
24:22And the bone is sort of interspersed through a layer of, what, at least a meter thick here.
24:27And so you're, you know, every place you try and trench in where you don't want to find
24:32bone.
24:33You find them.
24:33You find bone.
24:34So what do you reckon happens to bring, you know, I mean, this looks, I mean, if I were
24:39CSI, you know, 120 million years ago, there'd be some sort of weird crime scene, some sort
24:44of...
24:44Right now, I'm thinking maybe this is a levee, you know, where the sediment piles up on the
24:49sides of a river somewhere, and these animals were dammed up against it.
24:54Yeah.
24:55But it's a log jam of skeletons.
24:57Now, when they uncover a large enough fossil, they'll protect it for transport by covering
25:02it with plaster of Paris.
25:04If we're lucky, we'll get to that a little later.
25:07Basically, to get into this area, it's dismantling the rock as opposed to just blindly whacking it
25:14with a hammer.
25:16There's two methods.
25:17That's the other method, is people just take...
25:19Blind whacking.
25:20Blindly whacking into the rock.
25:21But I find using the cracks and dismantling the cliff works better.
25:25Does she want me to sweep this stuff?
25:27Just avoid...
25:28About there, over there.
25:29That's bone, though, right?
25:31No.
25:32Yeah, that is a little bit of bone.
25:34Yeah, see?
25:34That's okay.
25:35I'm bringing all eight minutes of my experience to the situation.
25:39I'm telling you.
25:39What would look like work now if we were to do something with plaster?
25:42Well, we can go down and work on this block that we have partway down the hill.
25:47All right.
25:48That sounds good.
25:49Coming up, even paleontologists got to go.
25:52Poop only.
25:53No pee.
25:54This is just the place where we poop.
25:57See?
25:58And...
25:58It's very cold and unpleasant on my hands.
26:00Give me a little plaster, and the natives get restless.
26:03You don't sit anywhere.
26:05Be comfortable.
26:07Be comfortable.
26:09Be comfortable.
26:12Before we move on to the plastering, I know my young friend Lucas, with his unquenchable thirst for knowledge, wants
26:19to know one thing.
26:20Namely, when paleontologists are out in the field all day digging up dinosaur bones, where do they poo?
26:26That's where you poop when you're looking for dinosaur bones.
26:30Come on, Lucas.
26:31I'll show you more.
26:35A little different from the bathroom at home.
26:38This is what you call a portable port-a-potty.
26:41See?
26:41You pick up the whole thing and go.
26:46Inside, people sit down here and take care of their business.
26:50And while they're sitting and relaxing, you have all sorts of stuff over here that you might need.
26:57You got your toilet paper and you got your reading materials.
27:02See what sort of stuff scientists read.
27:06Oh, yeah.
27:08They read magazines about the earth and stuff like that.
27:10It's very nice.
27:11But look, you sit here.
27:15And look at that view.
27:18See, Lucas, that's important.
27:20Poop only.
27:21No pee.
27:23This is just the place where we poop.
27:25See?
27:27Poop.
27:32When you're done, magazine goes back in here.
27:37Makes the toilet paper.
27:39Lid goes on.
27:40Make sure it's on tight.
27:42And then, make sure it's covered.
27:46Then you can go looking for dinosaur bones.
27:50Okay.
27:52With a new spring in my step, I rejoined Don and another paleontologist named Jonah for a quick lesson.
28:00I felt like a superhero there, man.
28:02On how to fix a fossil.
28:05If you've just joined us, we're putting a dinosaur bone onto the hook of a car.
28:09The fossil's covered with a protective jacket of burlap and plaster.
28:14Unfortunately, the jacket got damaged.
28:15We need to fix it before we can transport it down the mason.
28:20Yeah, so we've got to reinforce these spots.
28:25Using plaster of paris and burlap to protect fossils in the field is a time-tested technique paleontologists have used
28:32for over 100 years.
28:33All right, so now just feed that in there and just get it all impregnated with plaster.
28:38Oh, my God.
28:39You just took it into a whole biological place.
28:44Knocked it up.
28:45All right, well, let's get...
28:46Why don't you get your ass off of that dinosaur?
28:49Yeah.
28:51All right, well, let's...
28:52Why don't you stay there?
28:53You just told me to get off this...
28:54Oh, yeah, well, turn around.
28:55Turn around.
28:55We're going to put it on this thing, so...
28:58The fossil inside this plaster jacket contains many thin, delicate bones from several small dinosaurs.
29:05Nobody told me not to dribble in the hole.
29:07You can't dribble in the hole.
29:08All right, that's good.
29:09That's good.
29:09We're in good shape.
29:10All right, now...
29:10Back in the lab, it'll take hundreds of hours to prepare this fossil,
29:14and it'll be years before scientists can definitively say which dinosaurs the bones came from.
29:20Yes, you are.
29:21You're a bad dinosaur.
29:22I'm not bad.
29:23You're extinct.
29:27It's almost too interactive, you know, for three dudes.
29:31Yeah, it's a lot of touching.
29:33I mean, we're like one click away from that scene from Ghost.
29:37Ah, dear.
29:39Now, are you guys paleontologists first or geologists first?
29:43But what are you, Jonah?
29:45I'm a paleontologist.
29:47You're a paleontologist.
29:47I like to think of myself as a biologist who does paleontology.
29:51Well, in spite of what you might like to think about yourself, what are you?
29:54Paleontologist.
29:54Okay.
29:55See, I like to think of myself as an astronaut and a superhero, but I'm really just a show host.
30:00All right.
30:01That's it.
30:03So it's very cold and unpleasant on my hands.
30:05Oh, yeah.
30:06Some gardens like that.
30:07You know, sit anywhere.
30:08Be comfortable.
30:09You all right?
30:10Oh, yeah.
30:10All right.
30:11Let's sit.
30:16Bring the folks at home with the sounds of paleontology.
30:20Oh, yeah.
30:21Yep.
30:23Dirty, dirty.
30:24Dirty dinosaurs.
30:28All right.
30:29Ready to go?
30:29So, I mean, can we go do the cliff?
30:31Is it you and I that are going to do this?
30:33Yeah.
30:33So we're going to go up by the site and then head around.
30:36All right.
30:36Let's do that.
30:37Let's get out of here.
30:39The rock that makes up this cliff is called the Poison Strip Sandstomp.
30:46I knew exactly why we were climbing to the top of this.
30:50I would tell you.
30:52But I don't.
30:54So just come along and wait for it.
31:08All right, that's a view.
31:09Yep.
31:11Why are we doing this?
31:13What is the mission?
31:14What we want to do is measure a cliff from the top down, just get a thickness on that big
31:19cliff at the top.
31:20What do you measure with?
31:21We're just going to use the tape measure.
31:23So we're rappelling down the side of that thing with a tape measure just to see how thick the strata
31:28is.
31:28You got a problem with that?
31:29No problem.
31:30It just seems like, don't they have laser?
31:32Yeah, I mean, we don't necessarily have to, but look at the view over there.
31:35Yes, it's a great view.
31:36Okay.
31:36If we get paid to rappel down a cliff.
31:38Yeah, it takes a little point.
31:39And then that way we can actually visually inspect the layer with the tracks.
31:42That's what it is.
31:43Visual inspection.
31:43I didn't realize there'd be visual inspection.
31:45That's good.
31:46All right, then.
31:47To sum up, I think we're just looking for an excuse to see a really great view.
31:51Measure some stuff along the way.
31:57Which is fine.
32:02Coming up.
32:03We're going to come down and look at some bird tracks.
32:05No bones about it.
32:06We let it all hang out.
32:08Let's not do that.
32:08Because that looks like every cartoon I've ever seen where the rope is all frayed.
32:13Going back and forth and thinner and thinner.
32:16But the weather threatens to spoil the party.
32:19Nice.
32:20That's thunder, isn't it?
32:22Once again, I'm in a high place and thunder's coming.
32:34You too close?
32:35That's not bad.
32:38As you hike up the Mesa, the rock gets younger.
32:41As you rappel down the Mesa, it's just the opposite.
32:44The rock gets older.
32:45And I feel a bit less confident.
32:47I'll try.
32:48I don't have one of those fancy pads.
32:50Yeah.
32:51You have a stronger rope, so...
32:53Do I?
32:54Because that looks like every cartoon I've ever seen or every bad B movie where the rope is all frayed.
33:00Going back and forth and thinner and thinner.
33:02Yeah, so we'll try not to.
33:03That's not bad.
33:03Yeah, let's not do that.
33:05All right, step one.
33:06All right, so we're going to try to get a measurement from the top.
33:12We got about 50 centimeters down to there.
33:1450 centimeters from there.
33:15Yeah, to this.
33:16Why is that significant?
33:17Well, it's just a slightly different sedimentary structure there.
33:22The top layer of rock was formed by deposits from a river system about 120 million years ago.
33:28Yeah.
33:29Next time I won't do that.
33:31So from here, we just essentially want to just measure it to the bottom.
33:35This layer of rock I'm measuring now represents a time when the land was covered with a river system and
33:40a floodplain.
33:44It's the most exciting tape measurement I've taken in a while.
33:49So we're going to go past this slope to the next little cliff.
33:52Right.
33:53And that's the cliff that has the bird tracks in it.
33:55So we can go take a look at those.
34:00I'm just going to come down and look at some bird tracks.
34:04Nice.
34:05That's thunder, isn't it?
34:07Once again, I'm in a high place and thunder's coming.
34:13I'm petrified.
34:14I'm a little concerned about this guy.
34:18Yeah, let's just get rid of it.
34:20The one under is loose as well.
34:22Rock.
34:25This one bothersome.
34:27Rock.
34:28Remember that chunk of rock with those ancient bird tracks?
34:31The one I was cutting with a rock saw earlier?
34:33Well, it broke off from this exact cliff.
34:36And Don is trying to pinpoint the precise spot where it broke away.
34:40Meanwhile, I'm trying not to break away from the cliff, which is a challenge when a storm is approaching.
34:47All right, we'll probably get moving, but we're pretty sure that's based on this convoluted bedding here.
34:53Uh-huh.
34:54Pretty sure those bird tracks are coming out right towards the top of this, so.
34:57This layer of rock, where the bird tracks are from, is about 122 million years old.
35:03So what is the job?
35:05Why are you marking it?
35:06Jim just wanted to see from down there where the, you know, just so we have a feel.
35:11Right.
35:11For where they are when we're down there.
35:15Little rock carpentry.
35:21Wow.
35:22Just that.
35:25Holy crap.
35:26That was a big bolt of lightning.
35:30Hey, I don't know if we're done yet, but just on the off chance that we are, because it's about
35:35to start raining again, and I'm falling on my ass and everything hurts.
35:39I just want to say thanks, Don.
35:41Yeah, you're welcome.
35:42Anytime.
35:43And if you see Jim, thank him, too.
35:46Like I said, we might not be done.
35:47I might be seeing you in just a second.
35:49But this part of the scene is definitely over.
35:55So we went partway down the mesa and waited, hoping the thunderstorm would pass us by.
36:00At this point, I'm unclear as to why we were hopeful.
36:05We definitely wanted to get away from here.
36:09Oh, man.
36:10Go!
36:11Oh!
36:19Any questions, Lucas?
36:21Yeah.
36:22See, that's why we don't have dinosaurs on dirty jobs.
36:25Yeah.
36:26Not only are they dead, but finding their bones is very difficult.
36:30And every time I look for them, it rains or sleets or hails on me.
36:34And I have to hang from high places.
36:37But hey, it's a super, super letter.
36:39Thanks for the question.
36:40Good luck with life.
36:45All right, we're done now.
36:47It's over.
36:48Are we done?
36:49No.
36:50No.
36:50The rain is done.
36:52Coming up...
36:53You seriously are going to just drag it out.
36:56We're going to drag it out.
36:57Witness my superhuman strength.
36:58We're pulling an Iguanodon down off of a mountain.
37:02It's me versus a group of paleontologists.
37:05Yeah, I know.
37:05All right.
37:06Okay.
37:06Are you guys ready?
37:07Here we go.
37:16Me and a bunch of paleontologists have worked our fingers to the bone,
37:19preparing to haul a prehistoric fossil off this mountain in Utah.
37:24While our crew was hiding from thunder and lightning,
37:28Jim's team was strapping the plaster-coated fossil onto the car hood.
37:32What have you done, Jim?
37:34Bolting this thing down to this beautiful, classic American vehicle.
37:39I'm going to drive it down the slope.
37:41You seriously are going to just drag it out.
37:44We're going to drag it out.
37:45Hey, if you've just joined us, we're pulling an Iguanodon down off of a mountain here in Utah.
37:50Well, Iguanodon's an old dinosaur, and we found one stuck in a rock,
37:55and we wrapped a rock in plaster of Paris.
37:57Weighs like 300 pounds.
37:58And then we're going to drag it down in that direction.
38:02It's a job.
38:03You want a little more of an angle even here.
38:05Tell you the truth, Don and Jim can't say for sure if they've got bones from an Iguanodon or some
38:10other dinosaur.
38:11Pull.
38:12Now pull.
38:13But whatever we have, it is quite valuable and of great scientific significance,
38:17which explains why the bones are traveling first class.
38:21Rock, rock, rock.
38:22Down the mesa.
38:24Are you guys ready?
38:25Here we go.
38:27Don't push your heart.
38:28Okay.
38:29Slow now.
38:31All right, easy.
38:37There it goes.
38:40How you doing, all right?
38:41Right, I'm pulling.
38:41Hold on, Mike.
38:42I wasn't pulling.
38:43I'm just hanging on.
38:44Okay.
38:46Runaway dinosaur.
38:52Dinosaurs are heavy.
38:54All right, hold up a second.
38:56Okay.
38:58Hey, this is weird.
39:01It's a weird day, man.
39:05It's weird.
39:08This whole thing's weird.
39:10It pulls sideways.
39:11Do more.
39:12The old dinosaur is caught on the rocks.
39:13He's in it a thousand times.
39:16And now it's time to learn something really naughty.
39:20Today's knot is called a bolan on a bite.
39:23Handy for situations like this.
39:24It's like a bolan, except you tie it around yourself like this.
39:26It goes in and around, down like that.
39:29Come through like this, and then you pull it out of the hole.
39:32Okay?
39:33It'll never slip.
39:34Super handy.
39:35Ideally for pulling iguana dots down mountainsides.
39:38Dons.
39:40Iguana dots down mountainsides.
39:49By the way, did I mention that we still have a long way to go with this 300-pound rock?
39:55I mean, a really, really long way to go?
40:02Yep, you get the idea.
40:06I think that's, we should call that a wrap.
40:08Hey, I'm good with that.
40:10I'm good with that.
40:12I mean, look, the thing's been up here, what, 300 million years?
40:13Now the night's not going to kill it.
40:15Oh, no, it won't kill it.
40:16It's dead already.
40:17Yeah, we got to do more strapping for...
40:20So...
40:20And then we'll have to dig out this hill a little more.
40:22Yeah, I'm afraid to see rocks would be nice to move.
40:24I don't think it's going anywhere.
40:25No, it's not going anywhere.
40:26You're kidding.
40:26All right, so if this were a, like, a week-long show,
40:30we would stay here, and we would pull this down.
40:33But it's not.
40:34We're out of time.
40:35So let me just say thank you very much.
40:39And, of course, Jim.
40:40Hey, I just want to present this to you.
40:43Now you're ready.
40:44Yeah?
40:45A junior ranger paleontologist.
40:48All right, all my dreams are coming, Drew.
40:51Lucas, I'll send this to you.
40:54Thanks, guys.
40:55Take care.
40:55See you.
40:56Good luck with the fossils and whatnot.
40:59As the sun set gently in the west,
41:02it was finally time for us to bid farewell to Camp Dinosaur.
41:06But before we hit the road,
41:07I had one final piece of business.
41:22So today, I'm feeding this goat some watermelon
41:28while I'm running electrical current
41:30through a series of needles that I've placed under her skin.
41:34This, believe it or not, is a job.
41:36It's acupuncture with electricity
41:40and a little bit of watermelon,
41:42which I've added to the mix.
41:44This idea came to me from a viewer
41:45who thought it would be a dirty job.
41:47The viewer was correct.
41:47So now I'm here doing it.
41:49You can make all this happen as well.
41:51Discovery.com forward slash dirty job.
41:54Well, how you roll.
41:56Hmm.
41:57Hey, look.
41:58Hmm.
42:00Oh.
42:01Not unfortunate.
42:03Dirty job.
42:03We're going all Jurassic on you.
42:08I'm petrified.
42:10Next on Dirty Jobs.
42:12Cretaceous.
42:14I'm petrified.
42:16When we come back,
42:17Jurassic.
42:20Petrified.
42:21Followed by Jurassic.
42:25I'm petrified.
42:27Jurassic.
42:29Yeah.
42:31Yeah.
42:32God.
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