A paleontologist in the making

Clayton finally found out what his special rock really is.  He found it when we lived in Magrath and we always wondered if it was something more than just a rock.  The outside is smooth and almost scaly looking and the inside is made of crystals.  Here are some views:

Dan took it in to the geology professor at the college and as soon as he looked at it he told him it was a cephalapod, or really ancient squid-like animal.  It lived during the Jurassic period, about 65 million years ago or during the time of the dinosaurs like brachiosaurus and stegasaurus and pteradactyls.  It's not a dinosaur, but pretty darn close.  Needless to say, it has maintained Clay's desire to become a paleontologist and find dinosaur bones all over the world - or maybe just in the backyard.

What an actual cephalopod may have looked like:

The piece we have is part of the shell.  It died and fossilized, the inside becoming crystals over time.