Monty by Jim Meddick for April 18, 2022

Monty’s speechless. He must be since his mouth disappeared.

Does that mean that trilobites camped near there?

I live in a 55+ RV park in Phoenix. You won’t believe the number of old fossils I’ve found here…

Yes, but they won’t stay still so you can observe them.

Looks like Monty is testing the strength of his underwear.

Those darn trilobite’s fool me every time. Speaking of, you gettin’ enough fiber in your diet there Monty? Taking too much Vicodin? Who was that old prune I saw you out with last night?

Trilobites are no big deal. Used to find them all the time, where the construction companies in the old days used dynamite to clear areas for housing. Limestone with trilobites all over the place.

Mr. Roboto seems to always upstage Monty.

I found a trilobite fossil once. It was in the gift shop of the museum.

I found trilobites on a school outing when I was 10 and I found obsidian arrowheads on a dried-up lakebed when I was 48. Both were cool finds.

To be fair, he has better optical sensors.

I’ve found impressive fossilized oyster shells, clumps of barrel barnacles, coral, and sweet little sea shells on our property, and we live in the middle of north central Florida hours from the ocean.

I have found arrowheads, cephalopods, ferns, heart urchins, shark teeth, crinoids, snails, and a piece of tree limb half way to fossilized.

Monty can’t get up again. He IS a fossil. :)

Trilobite fossils are not particularly rare, for good reason: "Trilobites (meaning “three lobes”) are extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. Trilobites form one of the earliest-known groups of arthropods. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the Atdabanian stage of the Early Cambrian period (521 million years ago), and they flourished throughout the lower Paleozoic before slipping into a long decline, when, during the Devonian, all trilobite orders except the Proetida died out. The last extant trilobites finally disappeared in the mass extinction at the end of the Permian about 252 million years ago. Trilobites were among the most successful of all early animals, existing in oceans for almost 270 million years, with over 20,000 species having been described.

I always wanted to find a trilobite

I don’t understand the punch line though. Was that funny?

I once had a trilobite, as a kid. Found it while walking the railroad tracks (not allowed to do that now), it being part of the ballast (crushed rock). Sadly, lost growing up amidst moves.

Just go to your local natural history museum’s gift shop and buy a replica, Monty. So much easier and just as satisfying, plus E.B. won’t one-up you!