Ever since I was little, I've been fascinated by dinosaurs, so I wanted to hide a dinosaur cache, to commemorate my 200th find, for other kids like me who love them.
Most people think of the Jurassic period when they think of dinosaurs, and it truly was the Age of Reptiles, but dinosaurs continued to thrive through the Cretaceous period, 145-65 million years ago. In fact, many of the dinosaurs that we are most familiar with didn't appear until this time, such as the Triceratops and the fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex. I bet you didn't even know that the fierce Velociraptors featured in the famous Jurassic movie didn't even exist until the Cretaceous Period!
Flowering plants were evolving, but conifers were still plentiful and widespread. Leafy trees and ferns appeared, along with birds, feathered dinosaurs, and small mammals. Insects diversified, as did amphibians (yes, there were frogs!) and rays and sharks became common in the oceans.
The big event marking the end of the Cretaceous Period was the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction, approximately 65 million years ago, killing about 60-75% of all the species on Earth. We all know that dinosaurs went extinct as a result of this event, but the oceans suffered the worst loss of species. Many terrestrial plants were lost or suffered significantly, except for the ferns, which apparently thrived. Surprisingly, there was a relatively low level of extinction among amphibian species too, as well as turtles and snakes.
We'll never know for sure what caused the mass extinction, but the common theory is that a comet, asteroid, or large meteorite crashed into the Earth, generating a dust cloud that blocked sunlight for as much as a year, and then reduced sunlight for another 10 ten years or so. Naturally plant life, dependent on photosynthesis, died out, as did the animals that depended on those plants for food, as well as the predators that, in turn, depended on the plant eaters. There may have also been intense radiation, global firestorms, increased carbon dioxide, and acid rain…. all in all making the Earth a very difficult place to live.
You're looking for a camo'd 1 lb coffee can that contains animals of the type that lived during this era. Feel free to take and trade as you like. I only ask that you let me know if the supply of creatures is running low, so I can replenish it.
FTF gets their pick of the critters in the cache, as well as an official Geocaching License :-p
STEALTH REQUIRED! THIS CACHE HAS BEEN MUGGLED SEVERAL TIMES! IT MIGHT BE BEST TO RESTRICT YOUR SEARCH TO THE EARLY MORNING HOURS, BEFORE THE YOUNG MUGGLES COME OUT TO PLAY.
Please try to keep the container off the ground…. It will all stay much drier that way........ CONGRATS TO ChycAChrryCola and nickelcitylove ON THE QUICK SHARED FTF! ALSO CONGRATS TO cheektowagabz ON THE STF!