The Nest of Paimogo [Lourinha]

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N/S ? ??.??? W/E ??? ??.???  [] In Leiria, Portugal

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Once upon a time...

...some female carnivorous dinosaurs congregated every year to lay eggs in the sands close to a calm water lagoon. In this year, seven females had joined. Youngest of them had six meters of length, while the oldest one  went up to around powerful eight meters. After choosing a small place close to the one that already had been used in the previous year, the first female laid a group of twenty eggs, each one with about 12 cm. The other females had imitated it during the remaining of the day, until the nest became a giant concentration of 180 eggs of carnivorous dinosaur. These dinosaurs protected the nest against egg eaters such as crocodiles, lizards and some other dinosaurs. Still thus, with care of not being detected by the dinosaurs, a crocodile of average size came close to that precious stack of eggs. Its intention was not to predate the nest and, quickly, it deposits its own eggs in the middle of the dinosaur's. By finishing it's task this way, this female crocodile left its offspring well protected by a group of carnivorous dinosaurs...

With this cache I want to show you the area where was found the biggest nest of dinosaurs eggs in the world and the only one where dinosaur's embryos was found in Europe. There, it was also found three eggs of crocodile which are known as being the oldest found until now.  The palaeontologists believe that they were placed there to benefit of the Dinosaurs protection.

This cache was inspired in the monthly magazine named  "CAIS" - September, 2003 edition and, also,  I visited some web sites related to the subject: Lusodinos and Museu da Lourinhã. From them, I got to knew  the TOPs hold by Portugal relating to dinosaurs and the reason why the west region has so many vestiges of dinosaurs - You can know it too if you visit this cache. I left there some documentation.

When I contacted Octávio Mateus, (OM)the Palaeontologist responsible for the Museu da Lourinhã, asking him the exact location of the spot where the eggs were found and authorization for the cache, he was so kind that appointed a meeting with me and, thus, we talked about geocaching and my intentions. After that, he led me to the nest's place and I placed the cache some meters away  - He asked me not to publish the exact coords. of the nest but only give an approximate idea were it is - So, it is at about 15 to 30 meters at NNE from the cache place - Please don't dig the area. Just look and imagine how it was at about 150 millions years. If you find something strange (like a dino's bone or tooth) please contact the museum. During our conversations, OM became even more interested in geocaching and he's considering to join us! He also indicated the museum's future new site of  and a blog spot site where one can contact him and ask about Palaeontology and Dinosaurs.

The Hunt:

Park at N39º17.335 W09º20.530  and approach the area at N39º17.310 W09º20.370.  

The cache's coords. acquisition conditions were: Satellites: 30 06W 14 05 25 09 24 17 04 EPE 6m . All coords. in wgs84.

Remember: Do not change the area in any way. The nests area's still in the process of exploration. OM allowed the placement of the cache and its visit under this conditions.

Cache Content:

• Logbook, pen, stash note.
• Documentation in Portuguese about the area of Lourinhã and the theme of this cache: The nest of Paimogo and dinosaurs in Portugal in general.
• Some nice gifts including the "cousin" of my TB "Sonolento" and some gifts gave by OM to be placed in the cache (miniature of a dinosaur, some calendars of 2004 and a leaflet off the museum).

Don't forget:  "Cache in, trash out" and Leave No Trace


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A Palaentologist in action

Octávio Mateus took the opportunity to collect some material and found 7 gastrolites - stones found in the stomach of a dinosaur (they used to eat minerals like the chickens do).
Block of Dinosaur Eggs

In total there was found about 180 eggs of carnivorous dinosaur and 3 of crocodile spread by 6 blocks with an average weight of 500kg
Pormenor showing embryos bones in the egg

It was indentified more than 200 embryos bones in the blocks.

Logged Visits ( 184 total. Visit the Gallery (158 images) )

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Cache Logs

October 18 by DEVORA-TRILHOS (1256 found) Abraçitos.............. Aproveitámos o facto de o dia estar com muito sol, e os dinossauros estarem todos na praia a tomar banho para logar esta cache nas calmas. Obrigado pela cache. In: Bolotótrilhos + TB Out: Moeda Luis e Paula [view this log]

October 17 by kzn69p (25 found) Very nice area. It took a while to find the cache. In: Palmtrees & HKK 20 cents Out: Stamp and Santa bear. TFTC Team Asta from Dinamarca [view this log]

October 3 by Ogato (189 found) Foi andar, andar e nada avistar a não ser a cache TFTC miau... miau... [view this log]

October 3 by white_shark (209 found) O local não tem muito para dizer, só vimos uma perdiz e um coelho, não se deixaram foi apanhar . . . In: Berlinde Out: Boneco [view this log]

September 13 by agraka (260 found) # 160 Esta foi a ultima do dia e não me vou esquecer dela pois consegui uma foto espectacular.TFTC. TNLN [view this log] DSC00008 Reduce

Current time: 11/22/2009 6:50:42 AM
Last Updated: 10/18/2009 8:52:14 PM
Rendered: From Database
Coordinates are in the WGS84 datum