Re: Second Thoughts on Sue

[Gothgrrl@aol.com]

Jeff Poling wrote:

>How many 90% complete, very pathological, _T. rex_ skeltons >going through
twisted legal battles are found every year?  >Cleaning off matrix, examining
that 1,000,006th ammonite, >looking at a pile of theropod teeth, writing
papers, are, >according to the books, the everyday part of paleontology.
>"mundane" is very much appropriate in this context.

While "Sue's" celebrity no doubt increased her market value, it didn't
increase her "value" to science (except, perhaps to historians of science)
and is therefore irrelevant. And, while it is true that the specimen does
present an exceptional opportunity to vertebrate paleontologists interested
in many aspects of dinosaurian biology, ultimately, the way we choose to
value one fossil over another is almost always subjective.
"Mundane" is in the eye of the beholder. 

Caitlin R. Kiernan