[CPProt.net] Students make plea for return of teeth; DISSERTATIONS DEPEND ON FOSSILS STOLEN FROM CAR

[MSN CPPnet (Ton Cremers)]

Students make plea for return of teeth

August 14, 2005

DISSERTATIONS DEPEND ON FOSSILS STOLEN FROM CAR

By Ken McLaughlin

Mercury News


The thief who broke into Eva Krivak-Tetley's Honda Civic at Henry Coe State
Park probably is steaming: Besides some CDs and a small amount of cash, all
he got were cardboard boxes filled with laboratory materials and fossil
teeth.

But to a pair of students at the University of California-Santa Cruz, the
teeth are priceless.

Seth Newsome, a doctoral student in the earth sciences department, lost some
century-old northern fur seal teeth on loan from the Smithsonian. He
desperately needs the teeth to complete his dissertation on the historic
ecology of marine mammals -- a five-year project he's scheduled to defend in
early September.

Krivak-Tetley, a marine-biology major, needs the fossil teeth of a sperm
whale -- on loan from the Burke Museum at the University of Washington -- to
finish her senior thesis next year on the ecology of sperm whales.

Krivak-Tetley, 21, had been ferrying the teeth in her car trunk between her
Santa Cruz home and the Moss Landing Marine Lab. After camping Saturday
night at Henry Coe, near Gilroy, she discovered someone had broken in and
taken everything.

Krivak-Tetley reported the theft to Santa Cruz police, and Newsome, 28, has
been checking eBay to make sure the thief isn't trying to hawk the teeth.

``At this point, I'd just like them back -- no questions asked,'' said
Newsome, who said he's willing to negotiate a reward. He can be reached by
e-mailing snewsome@ pmc.ucsc.edu or calling (831) 566-3276.