Media Advisory

What: Newly arrived fossils from the Cerrejon coal mine in Colombia will be unloaded and opened at the Florida Museum of Natural History.

When: 11 a.m. Friday March 22

Where: Florida Museum of Natural History rear loading dock, 3215 Hull Road, Gainesville, University of Florida Cultural Plaza

Media: Museum employees will unload and open plaster jackets containing fossils of an unnamed crocodile relative recently received from Colombia. The fossils are from the same Cerrejon coal mine where the 48-foot-long “Titanoboa: Monster Snake” was discovered. The fossils will be brought into the “Titanoboa” exhibit prep lab, where visitors have the opportunity to observe “science in action” and speak with researchers and volunteers working on the fossils.

Florida Museum vertebrate paleontology curator Jonathan Bloch, who led the international team that discovered Titanoboa, will be available for interviews.

“This is extremely exciting because we’ll be unpacking the first lower jaw discovered of this giant, 30- to 40-foot-long crocodile relative we believe may have actually battled Titanoboa,” Bloch said.

Bloch and other researchers are currently preparing a journal article describing the new species.

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