Hello, I hope I donât come across as being too âemotionalâ in my responses here ;)
I found it refreshing to depict paleontologists as something other than cold, distant, lofty people or talking heads. I find it confusing that people have a hard time with others, especially scientists, expressing emotion or excitement. Paleontology *is* exciting! And Iâve seen the joy on many âprofessionalâ paleontologists faces when they discuss or show their favorite specimens or talk about their digs (having been an amateur myself attending the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meetings).
Itâs fairly common for paleontologists to not have a degree. Jack Horner, for example, works in Montana and discovered Maiasaurua cared for its young, as well as several other species of dinosaurs. Heâs never been a âdegreed paleontologist" - he only holds an Honorary degree in science from Uni of Montana for his work as an â amateurâ in the field. The same is true for other paleontologists in the US, including some of the people Emily Graslie interviewed. The work of âamateursâ is what built the field and their contributions to paleontology continue to enrich the science. Likewise, a lot of my fellow artists who depict dinosaurs for shows like this one, press releases, and new discoveries are also not âdegreed paleontologistsâ.
I believe that was discussed briefly in the show about how lucky these paleontologists were to live in an area where science was so accessible to them and the public. Yes, some locations are hard digs, but that being said there *really* are places in the Plains states where you can literally walk out and find âmuseum quality piecesâ (whatever that means? Iâve seen some scrappy stuff at museums in Alaska that paleontologists were regardless extremely proud of and they worked hard to get them), which I think was at the heart of the show - the area of the United States where the host grew up and spent her formative years has fossils that are literally under your feet and that you can see and hold for yourself, that you can drive to see the span of billions of years of natural history in a single day, and the people who research them are *people* first, who share an infectious passion and excitement for their livesâ work, and not just some unemotional, dour individual in an ivory tower. In this day and age of anti-science sentiment in the United States, especially the areas where Emily Graslie was visiting (smack dab in the middle of âTr*mp Countryâ), itâs important to make science more accessible to the public, which is probably why this show was produced for PBS and not for a cable channel.
I wish the virus were over so I could visit the Standing Rock Institute - remember when they were literally pulling âmuseum quality piecesâ as she was interviewing the paleontologist there? These places literally exist!
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