Scientists draw ancient squid using its own 150 million-year-old ink
Fossilized remains of squid were so well-preserved that scientists were able to draw a picture of it -- using its own ink.
By Stephanie RogersWed, Aug 26 2009 at 12:51 PM EST
61
Photo: BNPS An ancient squid was so remarkably well-preserved, that scientists were able to draw a picture of it using its own 150 million-year-old ink. The remains of a Belemnotheutis antiquus were found by paleontologists during a dig in Wiltshire, England, when they cracked open what looked like an ordinary rock.
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What they found inside was anything but ordinary. After mixing the powdery one-inch-long black ink sac with an ammonia solution, the ink they created was of good enough quality to draw the squid-like creature and write its Latin name.
"Normally you would find only the hard parts like the shell and bones fossilized but there are a handful of locations around the world where soft preservation of the muscle, guts and gills has taken place,” leader of the excavation Dr. Phil Wilby told The Telegraph.
"We think that these creatures were swimming around during the Jurassic period and were turned to stone soon after death. It's called the Medusa affect.”
Wilby says that about 155 million years ago, millions of these creatures were dying out or being killed in this area of the United Kingdom for reasons scientists still don’t understand. One possible explanation is that they all congregated in one area to mate after being poisoned by algae in the water.
As the remains of the ancient squid are very rare and valuable, the scientists didn’t use all of it to make ink, but they just couldn’t resist creating the drawing.
"We felt that drawing the animal with it would be the ultimate self-portrait,” said Wilby.
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Comments
arrowhunter2010
12/01/2011 00:27 AM
its neat that they can do things like that on the job its like art time in preschool and by the way atheist dont pray to any god or demon they dont believe in afterlife period
Dave
01/02/2011 10:30 AM
I wonder if they got any DNA to sequence...
Brilliant.
11/04/2010 20:58 PM
Many people would have never heard of this discovery if it was buried in a tiny obscure newspaper or journal somewhere. By using the ink, many people, (especially me), read an article and were very much intrigued.
What a great way to increase awareness and probably spark the imagination of some future scientists!
Well done.
josemose
12/19/2010 23:54 PM
scientists arent meant to be immaginative, thats not what we pay them for. as a christian american i believe that my taxes should not go to those whosupport the idea that science is God. these scientists who think its so great to waste ink from a beautiful creature are probably atheist assholes praying to some cthulhu type god. notice i lowercased that god because the true god is the only version that should be capitalized.
recycleme247
Today 17:45 PM
Close minded people like you are KOOKOO-KOOKOO. You should be a bird in your next life. XXOO!!!
O-YAH the only TRUE GOD is in your head!
And no, i'm not an atheist.
C
02/24/2011 20:40 PM
Ignore the troll. :/
angawa
12/21/2010 12:42 PM
Cthulhu type god? Are you nuts or is this a joke? Oh, geez, you almost got me! Everyone knows atheists don't pray to Cthulhu, they pray to Satan. Silly.....
killslip
11/04/2010 09:18 AM
what a bunch of nerds crying over some damn squid. how about goin out and kissing a girl for once in your lives.
Canadian
11/06/2010 11:28 AM
Wait, there are still people who think scientists are inherently anti-social rejects, unable to go out, meet people, or form relationships? Or who are ignorant enough to think that anyone with an appreciation of science is pathetic and "crying over" a legitimately interesting and fascinating discovery?
Wow.
Kells
11/04/2010 03:13 AM
um.....Maybe they should have had an artist draw the picture....
Person
12/15/2010 19:21 PM
Maybe when you get off your a$$ and accomplish such an amazing discovery, you'd have a leg to stand on.
Until then, you are just another internet troll with a disproportioned sense of confidence.
JackBond
10/22/2010 23:04 PM
Fail. More like 10,000 years tops.
Nichole
10/07/2010 20:48 PM
So you find a 150 million year old squid's ink and that's the best drawing you can come up with? Thanks for giving the retard the pen. It should've been a cool drawing, like the squid wrapping it's tentacles around a megalodon or something.
And why the hell did this turn into a religious debate? And how is carbon dating "not accurate" according to the creationists? Proof please, and citing your precious book isn't good enough.
will
10/18/2010 22:24 PM
First of all, I doubt you've ever used squid ink to draw or write with but it's not like picking up a regular old pen. also the word "retard" is an unacceptable way to say stupid and the fact that you use it is demonstrates the fact that you are ignorant. You're degrading an entire group of people that are amazing and under appreciated.
Also, the squid they found is likely not even moderately close to a to the size of a megalodon. And I'm just gonna go ahead and assume that you've never taken.... More
Nichole
10/07/2010 20:47 PM
So you find a 150 million year old squid's ink and that's the best drawing you can come up with? Thanks for giving the retard the pen. It should've been a cool drawing, like the squid wrapping it's tentacles around a megalodon or something.
And why the hell did this turn into a religious debate? And how is carbon dating "not accurate" according to the creationists? Proof please, and citing your precious book isn't good enough.
emily
09/01/2010 15:37 PM
HI PEOPLE THERE IS'NT HOW WE DRAW
paula
08/05/2010 14:46 PM
i dont get why theres so many people fighting about ancient squids ink....but its quite entertaining
NyDo
09/12/2009 21:34 PM
People are taking this way too serious..This is awesome! And so cool that they are using SOME of the ink (its not like they used all of it people!) to draw it.
lori
09/20/2009 16:32 PM
maybe they did use all the ink you have know clue i have know clue you need to chill your pen aint going to run out of ink theres plenty in the world okay and maybe they did they have gotten facts that it could be 100 millions of years old and ther may have only been enough to draw the squid
basic grammar
02/01/2010 19:49 PM
Perhaps all of the ink was used. Neither of us knows, so calm down. Plenty of ink remains in the world and your pen won't run out. Research shows that its most likely millions of years old and perhaps there was only enough ink recovered to create the squid drawing.
erhumanz
12/29/2009 17:16 PM
i can fully read your comment seriously when you learn some grammar and *know the difference between know and NO...
damn. You really think some scientist which *know the difference between KNOW and NO... are going to waste 150 billion year old ink on one single drawing?
I think not.. and seriously what the hell were they doing with it for that long anyways... at least they USED it for something creative.
LET'S SAVE THE SQUID JUICE INK FOR COCKTAILS AND dipping sauce for.... More
sam
09/10/2009 22:39 PM
oh, and i support both creationism and evolution because creationism is a faith-based ideal while evolution is based on scientific evidence, but it's not a law because of its status as a THEORY. science and religion just don't mix people; one explains the how, the other explains the why.
tnor
12/04/2010 01:26 AM
The Why really really hates the how and tells the how they are going to hell. Just saying.
grawrts
07/31/2010 12:27 PM
A theory in technical use is a more or less verified or established explanation accounting for known facts or phenomena: the theory of relativity.
kevnbro
Today 16:16 PM
"I do think that our concept of a year and God's concept of a year are not one and the same."
If God created the day (sunrise to sunset) and man established the "year" based on the change of the seasons; Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and back again based on the number of days it takes to occur, why would God's concept of a year and ours be any different than our own?
jessica*
Today 11:47 AM
the drawing is a great artifact in its own right.........why are people so freaked out over wasting the 150 million year old ink ?? what else is it going to do ?? sit in a vile so people can look at it ?? this drawing is much more interesting to look at.
Anonymous
Today 04:46 AM
i had to dissect a squid in fifth grade and we used the ink to write with... whats the difference? its not like the squid needed it.. he's dead. so think about THAT! lol.
Seth
Today 03:14 AM
I am a creationist and as such believe carbon dating is not nearly as accurate as believed. That being said, I do think that our concept of a year and God's concept of a year are not one and the same. Who can say the reckoning of time in God's eyes.
All in all though, I do think this is one of the coolest things I have seen lately.
herb
10/25/2010 18:05 PM
It's all well and good that you wish to believe in God, I have no problem with that. But claiming that carbon dating is "inaccurate" is as ignorant as the Baptists who STILL believe the f***ing earth is flat. Creationism is retarded: it makes no sense and has been disproved by actual, physical PROOF. As opposed to, for example, some crazy Christian radical claiming that gravity is a myth.
tyler
11/04/2010 09:47 AM
if i knew who you were i would make u swallow teeth cuz i would hit you in your mouth so hard for the cruel words u have said.
Darwin
Today 21:17 PM
Believe what you will, but that doesn't change anything,
Why did god give whales genes for smell and then turn them all off? Is She just a big joker? Or did earlier humans find it more comforting to think we were placed here for a divine purpose? You decide.
Osri
09/05/2009 22:49 PM
No wonder why ink is so expensive - if they're using 150 million year old ink!
Anonymous
09/05/2009 14:38 PM
what else could the ink be used for, besides writing, im having trouble seeing it why people think its a waste to draw with it. using water to wash a car as a opposed to drinking it is a waste. using old ink to draw a picture is as opposed to ? is a waste.
Franc
09/05/2009 18:49 PM
They could have, I don't know, preserved as much of the ink as possible in its undiluted form and then drawn the squid with ink that could be easily replaced?
Anonymous
09/03/2009 15:10 PM
Look past your opinion as to whether or not this was a good method of preserving this particular part of the squid fossil, and just recognize that THIS IS a form of preserving this portion. I believe that the only thing that matters is that there is preservation. Also, consider the beauty and magnitude of this occasion - it is so rare that mankind is afforded the opportunity to sub-create from, pay homage to, and celebrate a discovery of something from this far in antiquity. This may be the.... More
André G Pinto
09/03/2009 01:32 AM
i would like to be drawn with my own blood thousands of years in the future...
why be so purist? life goes on doesn't it? and science is not the center of human rationality. but, still, ironically, it was a scientist who drew it... nice one!
thousands of years from now, a rock was thousands of years before a squid fossil...
transformation is nature.
Ink Blot
09/02/2009 09:40 AM
Here you are talking about wise and unwise choices when it is those of you speaking ill of the decisions of the scientists that are making the most unwise life decision. Caring far too much about the decisions you both know little about save for what your read in an article and about a decision you cannot change. What is done is done, and I suggest you learn that.
The more you let outside forces influence your emotions the more you become the tiny baby sipping at the teet of.... More
flyass
08/31/2009 13:50 PM
Why they wasted that old ink? And what if their "art" won't succeed then what?
There is so many ways how to use this old ink but this wasn't the best choice.
Nic Stage
09/01/2009 09:58 AM
I think it's a great idea to use the ink to draw a picture of the animal. In fact, they could have drawn anything they wanted (Although a "Spongebob" image would have been pretty stupid). Nothing is permanent. What becomes of the fossils we unearth and study and place in our museums? Our museums crumble and fade and they become fossils again. No form is eternal.
Anonymous
09/01/2009 02:44 AM
It says that they didn't use all the ink. I'm sure they have more then enough to get good dna samples and whatnot. Try not to act like you know whats best when you haven't the slightest idea what happened first hand during that finding. These are scientists we're talking about, they know what they are doing.
Ramona
09/18/2010 00:38 AM
Erm, I don't think they were going for a masterpiece here. They seem to be pretty successful scientists who are not at all trying to sell any animal portraits (except maybe in their private lives). They didn't use it all, but they might as well have -- what better use for ancient ink? I literally can't think of a more appropriate one than drawing the creature! So awesome!
