Using Quotations and Paraphrasing in Journalistic Writing/Post-Class Activities/BC Dinosaur Interview

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BC Dinosaur Interview

BC
 dinosaur
 interview:
 Reporter
 ‐
 Hayley
 Dunning
 (HD)
 and
 Researcher
 – Victoria 
Arbour
(VA)

HD: 
So 
you
 (or 
someone) 
found
 the
 jaw
 of 
a 
flying 
dinosaur 
in 
BC?

VA: 
That’s
 right, 
although 
it’s
 not
 actually 
a 
dinosaur,
 it’s
 actually 
like
 a 
pterodactyl,
 and
 we
 call
 them
 pterosaurs.
 They’re
 not
 dinosaurs,
 but
 they’re
 the
 closest
 evolutionary
 cousins
 to
 dinosaurs.
 Dinosaurs
 and
 pterosaurs
 have
 a
 common
 ancestor
 but 
they’re
 not 
the 
same
 thing.

The 
specimen 
was 
found 
by 
someone 
called 
Sharon
 Hubbard,
 and
 the
 place 
that 
it’s
 from
 is
 called
 Hornby Island.
 At
 that
 location
 you
 find
 these
 little
 nodules,
 little
 concretions 
of
 rock
 and
 people 
will
 go
 out
and
 look
 for
 them
 and
 crack
 them
 open
 and 
sometimes
 they
 have
 fossils
 inside.
 A
 lot
 of
 the 
time
 you 
find marine 
animals
 like
 clams
 or 
ammonites
 or
 crabs
 of
 things
 like
 that,
 but
 this
 time
 they
 cracked 
it
 open and it 
had 
this 
jaw
 inside 
of
 it‐
 That’s
 kind
 of 
unusual
 and 
that’s
 when 
it
 got
 brought
 to 
our 
attention.

HD: 
When
 was 
it
 discovered?

VA: 
Probably 
about 
7 
or 
8 
years 
ago. 
I 
got 
involved 
with
 the 
project 
in 
2007.

HD:
 I
 guess
 you
 haven’t
 been
 working
 just
 on
 the
 jaw,
 are
 there
 some
 other
 finds
 from
 that
 area?

VA: 
Well 
it’s 
the 
first 
thing 
I’ve 
worked 
on 
from 
southern
 BC, 
a 
couple 
of 
years 
ago 
I
 actually 
wrote 
a
 paper
 talking
 about
 the
 first
 dinosaur
 remains
 from
 BC,
and
 those
 are
 from
 a 
place 
north‐central 
called 
the
 Sustut
 Basin.
 That’s
 why
 Phil
(Currie)
asked
 me
 to 
be 
involved 
in 
describing 
this 
specimen. 
Even 
though 
I started
 talking
 about 
it
 in 
2007,
 and
 it’s 
now 
2011,
 that’s 
because 
I 
also 
work 
on 
armoured 
dinosaurs, that’s
 my
 thesis,
 so
 this
 has
 been
 sort
 of 
like 
a
 side
 project.
 It
 takes 
a 
while
 to
 get
 these
 things 
worked on 
sometimes;
 we 
had 
to 
prepare 
it 
a 
little 
bit 
more 
because 
we 
had
 to 
have 
a 
bit 
more 
detail 
exposed, 
and for
 a
 long 
time 
we 
didn’t 
know 
what 
it 
was, 
so
 it 
took
 us 
a 
really 
long 
time 
to 
get 
on 
track 
with 
what 
kind of 
animal 
it 
was 
before 
we
 even 
began 
writing 
the 
paper.

HD: 
How 
did 
you
 figure
 out 
in
 the 
end
 that 
it 
was 
part 
of 
a
 flying
 reptile, 
especially
 when
 there 
were
 no 
others 
found 
in 
BC?

VA: 
We
 basically
 just
 read
 a
 lot
 of
 scientific
 papers
 over
 a
 long
 time,
 and
 I
 have
 a
 friend
 here, Derek
 Larson,
 and
 he
 worked
 on
 dinosaur
 teeth
 and
 teeth
 of
 other
 things
 from
 different
 places
 in 
Alberta, and
 one
 day
 he 
just
 said
 to 
me 
“Well,
 have
 you
 tried 
any 
pterosaur
 papers?”
 and
 I 
said
 “No, 
but 
maybe 
I should.” 
So 
I 
did, 
and
 not 
too 
long 
after 
that 
suggestion 
I
 came
 across
 a 
paper
 describing 
a 
pterosaur 
from China
 from
 the 
early 
Cretaceous, 
and 
when 
I
 looked
 at 
it
 I
 thought
 “You 
know
 that
 looks
 pretty 
similar 
to
what 
we 
have”.
 I 
started
 to 
re‐orient 
what
 I 
was 
looking
 at 
in
 the
 specimen
–
 so
 originally
 what 
I
 thought
 for
 a
 long
 time 
might
 be
 a
 lower
 jaw,
 when
 I
 looked
 at
 that
 specimen
 I
 kind
 of
 flipped
 it
 around
 and
 went
 “Aha!
 It’s
 an
 upper 
jaw.” 
And
 then
 things 
started
 to 
move 
pretty
 quickly
 and 
I
 found
 more
 papers
 and
 more animals 
that 
looked
 similar 
and
 it 
just
 kind
 of
 went
 from
 there.

HD: 
What 
precise
 time 
period
 is
 this 
pterosaur
 from?

VA: 
So 
it’s
 from 
the 
Late 
Cretaceous, 
its 
rocks 
from 
the 
Campanian, 
about 
70 
million
 years
 ago.
 The neat
 thing
 is
 it’s
 about
 the
 same
 age
 and
 the
 famous
 dinosaur
 localities
 in 
Alberta
 like 
Dinosaur
 Provincial
 Park.
 It’s 
from
 a 
similar 
time 
period 
but 
a
 different 
geographic
 location,
 so 
it’s 
kind
 of interesting
 that
 there’s
 different
 things
 there.

HD:
 I
 read
 that
 it’s
 the
 first
 pterosaur
 in
 BC,
 but
 are
 there
 others
 elsewhere
 in
 Canada?

VA:
 We
 have
 some
 really
 fragmental
 stuff
 from
 Dinosaur
 Provincial
 Park,
 but
 it
 belonged
 to
 a
 different
 kind
 of
 pterosaur
 which
 is
 a
 giant
 pterosaur,
 so
 this
 is
 the
 pterosaur
 that’s
 like
 the 
size
 of 
a
small
 aeroplane.
It’s
 really
 cool 
but 
it’s
 also
 found
 in
 the 
United
 States.
 So
 we 
have 
some 
of 
that 
species in 
Canada,
 but
 this 
one 
in
 BC 
is
 the 
first 
one
 that’s
 unique 
to
 Canada, 
so 
we
 were
 pretty 
excited 
about that.

HD:' 
I
 noticed
 also
 there
 was
 a
 little
 controversy
 about
 the
 finder...

VA:
 Yeah,
 actually
 there
 isn’t
 much
 controversy;
 basically
 what
 happened
 was
 we
 made 
a
 bit
 of 
an
 error
 in 
who
 actually
 collected
 the
 specimen. 
So
 in
 the
 paper 
we
 said
 that
 Graham
 Beard
 collected
 it,
 he’s the
 one
 that
 brought
 in
 to
 our
 attention
 because
 he
 runs 
a
 museum
 out
there,
 and
 Sharon
 Hubbard
 is
 the collector.
So 
we’ve
 been 
just 
working
 to
 make
 sure
 that
 people
 understand
 that
 she
 was
 the
 one
 that
 collected
 the 
specimen.
 But 
beyond
 that
 there 
isn’t 
really 
much
 controversy 
because
 it 
was 
just 
a 
mistake that 
we 
feel 
bad 
about.

HD: 
I
 read
 that 
she 
was 
a 
bit 
angry
 about 
it...

VA: 
Yeah 
and 
understandably 
so,
 it’s 
important 
that
 we 
give 
the 
right 
credit.

HD:
 As
 far
 as
 being
 a
 new
 species
 and
 being
 a
 pterosaur
 in
 BC,
 which
 you
 haven’t
 found
 before, 
does 
it
 say 
something 
unique 
about 
what 
kind 
of
 environment 
or
 what
 else 
existed
 there 
at
 that
 time?

VA: 
The
 reason
 that 
I’m
 really
 excited
 about 
it 
is
 that
 it 
means 
maybe
 we’re
 going
 to
 find 
more
 land-dwelling 
animals 
from
 that
 time 
period 
in 
that 
area. 
A
 few
 years
 ago
 there
 was
 a
 paper
 that
 talked
 about some
 fossil
 bird
 bones
 in
 the
 same
 formation,
 now 
we’ve
 got
 pterosaurs,
 so 
we’re 
learning 
a
 little 
bit
 about
 the 
animals
 that
 were
 flying
 around
 that
 area,
 which
 is
 pretty
 cool
 because
 we
 don’t
 normally
 find
 that,
 even
 in 
Alberta.
 If
 I
 could 
wish 
for 
something 
it 
would 
be 
really 
cool 
if 
we 
did 
start 
to
 find 
some dinosaur
 material 
in 
that 
formation. 
If 
we’re 
finding 
pterosaurs 
and 
birds,
 there’s
 a 
good 
chance 
we’re going
 to 
eventually 
find 
a 
dinosaur.
 But
 again 
its 
marine
 sediments
 which 
means 
things 
have
 to 
be 
washing 
in 
or
 falling
 in.
 So
 it 
just 
increases
 our
 knowledge
 of
 what
 was
 living
 there
 at
 the
 time,
 and
 it
 was
 something
 quite
 unexpected,
 so
 that’s 
what
 got
 us
 so 
excited
 about
 it.
 I 
would
 never
 have 
guessed
 that
 that would
 be 
what 
we
 would 
pick 
up
 off 
the 
beach 
there.

HD:
 I
 noticed
 some
 press
 releases
 also
 come
 with
 a
 really
 nice
 picture
 [attached],
 how
 did 
that
 come about?

VA: 
That’s
 actually
 something
 I
 drew.
 The
 reason
 we
 did
 that 
is,
when 
we
 finished
 writing
 the 
paper 
I knew
 I 
wanted 
to
 do 
a 
press 
release, 
because
 it’s
 a
 cool
 find
 and
 I
 wanted
 people 
in 
BC
 to 
know
 about
 it. But
 the
 specimen 
itself
 doesn’t
 photograph
 really 
well;
 it’s 
actually
 not 
a 
really
 pretty
 specimen
 to 
look at. 
It’s 
cool 
if 
you 
know
 what
 it
 is,
 but
 it’s
 quite
 small
 and
 it
 has
 long
 teeth
 but
 they’re
 also
 small,
 and
 it’s
 hard
 to
 visualise
 what
 that
 animal
 would
 have
 looked
 like
 from
 that
 fossil
 unless
 you’re 
a specialist 
in 
the 
field.
 So
 I 
wanted 
to 
have 
a 
picture 
that 
would
 give 
people
 an
 idea
 of the
 shape 
of
 the animal, 
because
 all 
the
 people
 know 
what 
dinosaurs 
look
 like
 but
 they
 might 
not
 know
 what
 pterosaurs
 looked like. 
The
 drawing
 is
 a 
little 
bit
 of 
a 
guess, 
because
 we
 only
 have 
the
 tip
 of
 the 
snout, 
but
 overall
 it’s probably
 what
 the 
animal 
looked
 like 
in
 shape.

HD:
 How 
big 
do 
you 
think 
the 
animal 
was?

VA: 
We’re 
got 
the 
tip 
of
 the 
snout, 
which
 is 
about 
10cm 
long,
 so
 I
 would 
estimate 
the
 skull
 is
 at least
 50‐60cm,
 and
 the
 wingspan
 was 
maybe 
around
 3m.
He
 would
 be 
a
 medium‐sized
 pterosaur.

HD: 
Is 
there 
anything 
you 
wanted 
to 
add?

VA: 
It 
was
 a 
lot 
of 
fun 
to 
work
 on 
the 
project. 
British 
Colombia 
has 
a
 lot 
of 
really 
cool
 fossils
 that
 we 
don’t
 hear 
as
 much 
about 
because
 of
 course 
here 
in 
Alberta 
we 
have
 Dinosaur 
Provincial 
Park
 and
 all the 
great
 dinosaur 
finds 
going 
on,
 but 
this 
shows
 us
 that
 BC
 has
 a 
lot
 of 
interesting
 things
 going
 on
 as well
– 
we
 should
 definitely
 keep
 looking
 for
 stuff.
 I
 hope
 that
 people
 are
 excited
 about
 it
 because
 I
 was
 and
 it’s
 an
 interesting
 find.