Re: The future of dinosaur discoveries

[Dann Pigdon <dannj@alphalink.com.au>]

On Sun, Aug 30th, 2009 at 5:21 PM, B tH <soylentgreenistrex@yahoo.com> wrote:

> So, what is the issue?  The gov't putting paleontolgy way down on the list of 
> priorities for
> funding?  I can't believe it's due to lack of public interest - I'm sure Oz 
> is just as fascinated
> as the rest of us when these wonderful creatures are unearthed.
> Or is it just this world recession mucking up the works?

When you compare the number of paying palaeontology positions in Australia as a 
proportion of 
the total population, it's probably not all that bad. It's just that we've got 
a population size about 
twice that of the Greater London Area spread out (very unevenly) across a 
continent larger than 
Europe.

Australia has a population density of 2.84 people per square kilometre. That's 
less than one-tenth 
the population density of the U.S., and only about one-hundreth that of the U.K.

-- 
_____________________________________________________________

Dann Pigdon
GIS / Archaeologist                Australian Dinosaurs
Melbourne, Australia               http://home.alphalink.com.au/~dannj
_____________________________________________________________