How to Identify Michigan Fossils
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- Dr. Tony Swinehart joins us again to teach us about some common Michigan fossils. Learn big words to impress your friends!
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Excellent. I appreciate when you have outside experts on your channel.
Once in awhile I like to expose you to someone who actually knows stuff!
WOW, there was a lot to absorb and soak in there. Make you have a whole new appreciation for those little critters. A big thanks to Tony for the detailed explanations !
Hello Rob, normally I would have been white noised out with such a long lesson
but this one kept me intrigued
Very informative
Carl Zatsick
Farmington Michigan
I'm glad you enjoyed it. It was long, but I found it really interesting too.
Another great video for Michigan rock lovers. Thanks, Dr. Swinehart.
Agreed, thanks Dr. Swinehart!
Really appreciate this video! I'll be looking at my corals and pods with some better information at hand. Thank you both!
There's a lot to learn here. I know some very basic things, but Tony knows the details!
Great info, I'm glad Dr Swinehart had diagrams, that helped a lot. Thank you. 🙂
Love this vid. Dr Swinehart's students are lucky to have such an enthusiastic teacher. Thank you too, Rob, for educating us. Can't wait to see those ichnofossils sometime.
Awesome video, I love informational videos, especially when it comes to fossils! Thank you Dr. Swinehart and Rob for your time and knowledge! 😃
Thank you for visiting with Tony. His talk was very informative and having specimens to stop and zoom in on is very exciting. Great video Rob!
🤯 Wow, this is so fascinating. I'll have to watch this a few more times to even start to understand. Thanks for taking the time to make such an informative video.
Tony is the guy to thank. I just held the camera. I had a very interesting day with him.
Very fun to learn about! Thank you! 😊
Cool video, Rob. I will use this for reference if I find any fossils on the beach.
Great information!
Terrific intro to the fabulous fossils of MI!
That was a wonderful education! And so much I didn't know! It was totally fascinating! Thank you Rob, for that illuminating video!❤ Happy Holidays, you and yours!
Tony is the guy you should be thankingl I just held the camera.
Thank you for this coral spot light.
What an interesting and charming man. Loved to hear him call himself a rock geek. Great video, Rob.
Great video, lot's of cool info. I had no idea Petoskey stones were a colony.
AWESOME INFO! I LEARNED A LOT FROM THIS THANK YOU~
Very interesting. Thank you.
Enjoyed the great lesson. Thanks to you both.
How much knowledge one can have. Great video❤😊
So interesting! Thank you!
Fantastic info👍👍
Fascinating video, thanks for sharing.
Good things to know. I definitely don’t know my fossils. So many types. I am glad you go to these experts. That’s pretty cool Rob😊
I don't know my fossils either, that's why Dr. Swinehart is doing all the talking.
@@MichiganRocks He definitely knows his fossils. Wow
There aren't enough videos out there about michigan fossils and this is so helpful in identifying local fossils. I'd like to see more on the clams and branchiopods. I have a small one that's hinged open sitting on a rock with what I think is hounds tooth calcite that look like gnarly teeth 😬 😆 I found it in a quary in a huge pile of rocks, along with a 5 1/2 pound Petoskey I've been slowly working on hand polishing for a couple of years now lol! Thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge with us Rob 🙏
Dr. Swinehart knows his stuff and I was also thrilled to learn from him.
Wonderful! So interesting. Thank you Rob, for taking us back to Dr. Swinehart's lab!
Thank you for sharing and thank you to professor swienhardt (?) sp... I have so enjoyed his sharing knowledge.
Very informative and educational. Thanks for sharing Rob!
I loved this and will watch over again
Fascinating - way above my pay grade!! Thx for sharing, Rob!
Got my Santa Hat today - traveled well - all in one piece ❤️
This was fascinating! Thank you!
Thanks for this. We nee RockHounds/fossil hunters need this.
Hi Rob 👋 👋 you ought to plan a road trip and invite this guy with you you could make the a learning trip for you and him that way you can teach rocks 🪨 and he can teach Fossils so both of you can learn something new.
We went hunting at Rockport once this summer, but I didn't make a video. It was nice to walk the beach without a camera for a change. Maybe this summer we'll do something on a beach together.
Great video, Doc!Honored to have the chance to learn from you and go fossil hunting with you!
I loved this video! Really cool to learn about all this ❤
Oh please Rob, gives us more of this. Excellent Video Sir! Thank you.
Glad you liked it. I have several videos with Tony.
Awesome thanks to both of you!
Thanks for sharing! ❤
I love Hillsdale College!
I have several Petoskey stones, a brachiopod, a horned coral, a stone containing two trilobites, and a chain coral that I found that did not have a matrix. Most were found in Oshtemo Township with the exception of the horned coral which came from Waugoshance Point. Rocks are cool. I also have some coral that I picked up in Miami Beach and it is interesting to compare that with the Petoskey stones.
Sounds like a nice collection.
I was wondering something. We live about an hour away after Detroit. Are there and places to go to look for fossils. The Great Lakes are just too far for us. We would be looking at no more than a 2 hour drive? Yes I am a Rock Hound and Fossil Geek!!!! And I’m proud of it. I just can’t tell you the names. Great video.! All your videos are good.! Thank you.
I don't know. I live in Alpena where we find all sorts of fossils. I don't do much about southern Michigan though.
I feel like I will be getting my Associates Degree in Biology mailed to me some time early next week. This was filled with a ton of amazing information. Thanks.
I think this might be a little short of an associates degree, but it's a good start.
Thanks for sharing this information Rob.
Wow so fascinating .i very much enjoyed this. contuation of the recent video with Dr Swinehart. Thank you
Tony is a smart guy. I hope some of that rubs off by hanging out with him.
Thanks amazing how much memory some people have . I can barely remember my grand kids names lol
I know what you mean. What's his name and the little one sure are cute kids though.
Really good video.
I loved this video/episode! Thank you for doing this!
outstanding video...watched it 3 times. i got to get up to partridge point and find some of those
That's a great place to look.
Very informative video! Thanks Rob
Cool breakdown. I found a few fossils while digging a drain in northern MI. A piece of finger coral with thousands of tiny holes, and a few various shells. Have been keeping up with your work since. One piece has me confused yet though. It resembles half of a hollow thunder egg, but has the radiating line pattern of a shell inside it. As if this hollow formed around a shell. Any ideas?
I don't know if I could help you out with a picture, but without one, I have no idea.
You were local, that's awesome. I keep finding marine fossils around the area and don't know what some are. Some may be petrified wood. I didn't know there was someone at the college that studies the topic..
No petrified wood at Rockport, and very little in Michigan. I have a couple other videos with Tony if you want to learn more.
@@MichiganRocks would there be any chance I could send you some pictures and maybe you could help me figure some out?
I've been watching them, thank you 🙂
@@BananaPancake66 Nope. First of all, I'm not the fossil expert. Second, I just don't have time. I spend a ton of time making these videos and responding all the comments. I'd suggest going to the Fossil Forum, reading the recommendations on how to take good pictures and making a good post, then posting your rocks there. www.thefossilforum.com
@MichiganRocks ok, fair. Thanks.
Fascinating!
Awesome video thank you
Very interesting!
Just found your channel and i dig it!
We're from Missouri but vacation in southwest Michigan every summer.
I know you don't give up your secret spots but is there anywhere in southwest Michigan you could recommend for rock hunting?
I share most of the spots I go. There are a lot of good beaches in that part of the state from what I hear. I have only been to Pilgrim Haven Natural Area and I liked it. th-cam.com/video/AMO69Z0Ljdw/w-d-xo.html
@@MichiganRocks thank you.
Now i know that it was a brachiopod i found in the sand near grand bend canada on lake Huron thanks
I'm glad you're learning something. I sure learned a lot the day I spent with Tony.
That was very interesting.
I thought so too. I enjoyed that day.
Love it 🤙🏼💚🏵️💯
Way out of my league, but really enjoyed. Thank you
🙋♀️❤️🌲 So, Petoskey stones were a group of living individuals . I never really thought about it. I'd like to have seen a living specimen.
Petoskey stones are corals and all corals are made by living animals. So you could just look at some coral.
🤪way over my head. I'll just pick them up and save whatever fossil I find and not worry about what it is. I'll leave that to the experts. Lol
It's nice to know that someone else knows all the specifics though, right?
@@MichiganRocks 👍
Who is policing the identification process?
I don't understand your question.
@@MichiganRocks Tony said he didn't want to be wrong when making identifications. Who would be correcting him if he did incorrectly identify a coral fossil.
@@powerlinekid4296 I don't think that's what he was worried about. As an educator, I would be more worried about spreading bad information.
Nice video, great information, but to me it will always be “Ooooh look a fossil “
I understand that too!
Hey Rob - a diamond was found in Arkansas - 4.67 carats the largest in 3 years
Come On Down !!!
What's the average size found in a day? That's the statistic that would be more important.
I do plan to do more traveling as long as I can keep the budget down low enough so that my videos pay for my trips. So there's a chance I'll get down your way someday.
😍😍😍
I'm still confused on all this. He talks quick and jumps from one to the next too fast for me to keep up. So I saved the video so I can watch it over and over till I understand it better. Really interesting video. Thanks for sharing this one.
You can go into settings on this video and slow the playback down so it’s easier for you to listen to.
@@cvx2dog549 , thank you. I'm going to play and pause it while I take notes. I have a few fossils I would like to learn more about.
Hopefully the big words on the bottom of the screen help. It took me a really long time to watch this because I had to look all of those up to see how they're spelled.
@@MichiganRocks , I have a few different fossils from around the state and just what to make sure I identify them correctly.
anybody know of a good rock app that helps identify rocks? i know its hard in person something that wouod get me close
I don't think such a thing exists. There are apps that claim to do this, but they're not very good. There are so many other things besides looking at a rock that are important. There's hardness, acid tests, specific gravity, etc. I tried one of those apps once. I showed it three different rocks and it called all of them the same thing. They were all wrong too.
On the other hand, I've tried the apps for identifying plants and they seem pretty good.
I learned a lot here....guess you can teach an old dog!
* It is so complex to identify Corals. WOW..
Yep, that's true.
This is fascinating. Thanks for posting.
Glad you enjoyed it!