Joshua Bonde, a citizen of the Te-Moak tribe of Western Shoshone, and doctor of Geology and Earth Science, grew up on a farm in Fallon, Nevada. Friday afternoon, he gave a talk titled, “Nevada has Dinosaurs!” at the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno.
A packed crowd of dinosaur enthusiasts listened and cheered as Bonde shared his knowledge on the topic. With him, he brought a real fossil which he actually trusted the crowd to pass around. He intertwined stories about his personal journey, which has ultimately led to becoming director of the Nevada State Museum in Carson City, as well as other impressive achievements, which include discovering a fossil of the first non-avian dinosaur in Nevada.
The presentation began with Bonde explaining how Nevada is not known as a “Dinosaur State”. This is due to its complicated geology, leaving only slivers of dinosaur aged rock. However, in 1976, the United States Geological Survey reported findings of dinosaur bones in the Silver State, which Bonde said were promptly shipped to a museum on the East Coast.
Bonde shared how growing up in Fallon, his family would often go on camping and fishing trips around Northern Nevada which gave him a familiarity with more of the remote, rural areas. These of course included Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park in Nye County, which hosts fossils of an Ichthyosaur, that also inspired Bond’s love for paleontology.
The turning point, however, was when his parents took his brother and him on a trip to Berkeley to see an animatronic dinosaur program. “I was terrified and hooked at age eight,” Bonde said.
After high school, Bonde would go on to attend the University of Nevada, Reno. For years he worked as a student worker at the W.M Keck Museum which hosts an incredible assortment of minerals, ores, and fossils, amongst other items. “I reorganized everything in there, and got my first chance to go on a fossil dig,” he remembered.
Later on, Bonde would pursue his masters at Montana State University. Under the tutelage of his professor James Schmitt, they would end up on a scouting trip in the Valley of Fire State Park in Clark County 2004. Though they were looking for Cretaceous turtles, they ended up having to drive through a flash flood. Though risky, Bonde said they would end up discovering the first dinosaur fauna in the state, and they would characterize a whole new type of rock in geology, all the while he was trying to do turtle research for his thesis.
Later on in 2008, Bonde would go on to make his own great discovery. “I wanted to bring something back home, I was always taught that if you leave home you have to bring something back,” he said. “For me this was bringing back the paleontological skills I had developed.”
This discovery would be the fossils of what he would name the Nevadadromeus schmitti, which he discovered in the Valley of Fire State Park. This would be the first non-avian dinosaur discovered in Nevada, and the oldest of its subfamily. “Nevada is of course because it was discovered here, dromeus means runner, because it was a small fast two legged plant eater when reconstructed with unique femur features, and schmitti was in honor of my professor Jim Schmitt,” Bonde said of the inspiration for the name.
Bonde has since continued digging, and leads student expeditions having held teaching positions at several of the local universities, including currently as an adjunct at UNR. He shared a story of how his wife who is also a paleontologist and him actually made a discovery the day after their wedding. “We got married at the Fallon courthouse… and what do two paleontologists do after their wedding? We went fossil hunting and found a dinosaur fossil,” he said.
After Bonde gave his presentation, he took questions from the crowd. One person asked what they should do if they encounter what they perceive to be fossils while out on the trail. “Leave it alone, take a picture, write down the GPS coordinates, and send it to me,” Bonde said. He explained how depending on what it is, it could be illegal to remove, plus you damage the contextual data by taking it out of its place.
Another spectator asked Bonde if they’re still shipping out all the fossils found in Nevada. Bonde explained as director of the state museum, he has been proud to be part of developing a repository for fossils to remain in state. However, sometimes fossils are still removed for different research purposes and displays, and that’s something he only has so much control over.
A third question was asked about if Bonde plans to lead any public fossil hunts. He said this is something they have looked into the logistics for, and would like to eventually pursue as a museum.
After the questions ceased, Bonde was greeted with raucous applause.