Monday, July 21, 2014

"Rhino Horn"

"What's the thing sticking out of the hillside?"

Either that, or "MOMMY, I FOUND A RHINO HORN!!"

After a month, I don't even have to turn around. I just say a prayer of thanks that they understand that they aren't looking at dinosaurs, and approach them smiling.

"Actually, that's a tree root. See how its up in the dirt layer?"

This always brings laughs all around, from the parents and generally even the kids. Then they look down. Something is missing.

"Wait. Then where are the horns?"

Bonus points! They made the connection either between the fossils and the pictures or the fossils and rhinos that they have seen in the zoo. Or TV. But the point is, to the modern day.

This is a great teaching moment, actually.

You see, rhino horns aren't actually made out of bone. They're the same material as hair or fingernails. There is a rough bit on the tip of the bones in their nose where it would have attached (our species of hornless rhino doesn't have this.) Technically, this is soft tissue, and it doesn't preserve.

So rhino poachers could technically just sell their fingernail or hair clippings for the same result. That, and people who hunted rhinos for the magical powers of their horns will find any of those same "powers" in their own hair.

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My Story (Very briefly...)

Lots of people claim that they wanted to be paleontologists at the age of 3. So did I. The problem is, I never really grew out of it. My third birthday party had dinosaurs. Everywhere. I grew up digging in fossil dirt from Aurora, NC, looking for coral and shark teeth. I practically lived at my local science museums (and still do, only now I get to do research, fossil preparation, and work in collections!) When local paleontologists discovered a dinosaur with a "fossilized heart" (no longer considered such) when I was little, I got to meet the man who led the work. And then, years later a dinosaur bone with soft tissue turned up. I was officially hooked.
No longer was I dreaming about dinosaurs. I was actively pursuing the science behind prehistoric creatures. I didn't want to read about it, I wanted in on the action. So I started working at the museum, and finally going on my own adventures. And thus, I needed a place to share them and maybe inspire others the way I was inspired. I have gone from watching fossils be prepared from one side of the glass at the museum to working on them on the inside of the glass. I am a student working toward my goal. I can finally start to call myself a paleontologist.