This really cool video compresses five months of work into eight minutes. After searching for a penguin fossil for more than three years, Mamlambo found the concretion containing the fossilized penguin when it washed up on a beach. He then spent months chiseling away at it until the fossil was revealed. As he explains:
It's finally done! It's been a 5-month prep journey since I found this fossil penguin concretion washed up on the beach, but it really has been worth it! It wasn't quite alive with the dinosaurs, but I think of this as my dino penguin. :) I learnt so much prepping this penguin and can't wait to try out all these new techniques on the next one!
At 4:21 he goes over all of the different parts of the penguin that have been fossilized, and at the end of the video he explains that his plan is to make a 3D model of the fossil and then donate it to a museum where it can be studied further.
Here's a shorter, 50 second version of the process.
Morne runs the Mamlambo Fossils YouTube channel. He describes himself and his work:
I'm an amateur fossil hunter living on the South Island of New Zealand. I enjoy hunting the coastal cliffs for Miocene and Cretaceous era fossils and venturing further afield for the petrified wood and fossils that can be found there. I'm constantly learning about the fossils that can be found here in New Zealand. I also use a variety of tools and techniques to prepare the fossils I find which I then donate to New Zealand museums. I love hearing from other fossils hunters, so please get in touch and leave a comment.
