General discussion - public

[Halichoeres]

I just learned a goat to jump through a hoop on command.

Please tell me there is video.

[Nanuqsaurus]

I just learned a goat to jump through a hoop on command.

Please tell me there is video.

There will be soon! I need to find someone to film it first, it's for a school project so I need proof.

[Soopairik]

The reason I like dinosaurs so much is because, well, to dig up something over 65 million years old and be able to study it and know there were weird animals that lived millions of years ago is simply fascinating. 

[Killekor]

Hi,
This Christmas ornament represents a Reindeen, but, it's possibile that, accurate or not, could represent a male, female or baby Megaloceros?

Thanks

Killekor

[Killekor]

Hi,
This Christmas ornament represents a Reindeen, but, it's possibile that, accurate or not, could represent a male, female or baby Megaloceros?

Thanks

Killekor

Oh! Sorry! I haven't post the photos





Killekor

[Soopairik]

Cool reindeer man.

[Killekor]

Cool reindeer man.

Thanks

Killekor

[Halichoeres]

The reason I like dinosaurs so much is because, well, to dig up something over 65 million years old and be able to study it and know there were weird animals that lived millions of years ago is simply fascinating.

Hear, hear!

[Soopairik]

Yeah, it's simply mind-boggling that we can uncover things that were preserved for over 65 million years and know there were weird animals before us. I mean, 65 million years! That is a very long time. It's already cool enough we can discover ancient artifacts from 500 years ago, but the fact we can uncover things from over 65 million years ago is even more amazing. 65 million years is 130,000 times longer than a measly 500 years.

[Halichoeres]

65 million years is barely the surface! The Burgess Shale and the Maotianshan Shales are more than 7 times that old, and we have large chunks of entire ecosystems.

[Soopairik]

Yeah, it's kind of sad to know some people think dinosaurs are for kids and stuff. I mean sure, they kind of are for kids, but they're definitely pretty cool creatures.

[Nanuqsaurus]

Yeah, it's kind of sad to know some people think dinosaurs are for kids and stuff. I mean sure, they kind of are for kids, but they're definitely pretty cool creatures.

I was at a dinosaur museum yesterday, and there were some nice Papo's in the gift store (Papo is quite rare here). Funny to see that kids are directly drawn to the scaly, monster-like dinosaurs, while they didn't even look at the Archaeopteryx or the new feathered Velociraptor. I think the monster reconstructions are what gets their attention, because well, they're kids. Adults are more often interested in the modern reconstructions.

Also, it was quite funny to see parents nearly fainting when they checked the price tags on that nice Papo Spinosaurus that little Timmy just showed them.

[Soopairik]

Cool, which museum where you at?

[SBell]

65 million years is barely the surface! The Burgess Shale and the Maotianshan Shales are more than 7 times that old, and we have large chunks of entire ecosystems.

The really awesome thing is when you are actually out looking for them yourself--knowing that your eyes are likely the first ones to look at these random, sometimes tiny, body parts in 10s of millions of years. Individuals that may have not even 'seen' daylight since before the Chixalub crater or the closing of the Panama ishtmus or whatever age-appropriate event.

[Nanuqsaurus]

Cool, which museum where you at?

Naturalis, in The Netherlands. It's currently closed for renovations except for the Tyrannosaurus exhibit. Still definitely worth a visit!

[Soopairik]

I remember going to this museum (cannot remember which) just to see the dinosaurs, only to see the exhibit was CLOSED.

[CityRaptor]

The whole "Dinosaurs = for Kids" thing is so annoying. To quote Mark Witton:

Our group also raised the association between dinosaur outreach and very young demographics, and the challenge this presented to educators. The problem isn't that many children are naturally interested in dinosaurs - if anything, this is something to celebrate and encourage - but the impact this association has on older audiences. Many adults assume that anything to do with dinosaurs, and by extension any prehistoric animal, is automatically related to children, and often very young children. This becomes an issue for to those attempting to perform outreach or market palaeontologically-informed products to older audiences, and particularly outside of online venues. Experience shows that 'real world' dinosaur events - regardless of venue, event type or advertising theme - will be primarily stocked by children and parents expecting child-friendly media. I've experienced this many times in my outreach career, such as bowing to pressure for colouring-in stations at a palaeoart gallery, being asked whether a public lecture (entitled Palaeoart: the Never Ending Quest for Accuracy) was suitable for toddlers, and being invited to run art stalls and events for older audiences at dinosaur-themed events to find few interested people over 10 years of age.

The general expectation that dinosaur-related events or products skew towards children presents a complex set of challenges. Firstly, it can lead to older audiences deciding a priori that they cannot take anything away from dinosaur outreach because the event - whatever it is - is 'just for kids'. I'm sure many of us have seen how 'switched off' parents of young dinosaur fanatics are when visiting outreach events, even though the people their children are speaking to may be expert scientists, experienced fossil hunters or world-renowned palaeoartists. Secondly, mismatched expectations of outreach events can be frustrating for both outreachers and audiences: attendees may wonder why a dinosaur event is pitched above the level of their children, while outreachers may feel over-prepared or over-invested in their activity programme when confronted with only young audiences. Perhaps the most concerning issue is that many outreachers and merchandisers use young demographics as an excuse for low scientific standards and sensationalism, promoting outdated, erroneous and sometimes idiosyncratic views of palaeontology because their audience is too young and insufficiently educated to know otherwise, or ignoring scientific data where it might curb child appeal. I am sure most readers can think of numerous examples of products - many labelled as 'educational' - which show evidence of this, and it's easy to see how this attitude may play a major role in perpetuating outdated and erroneous ideas about the past.

[Soopairik]

I 100% agree. I remember in school I was reading an online article about Triceratops or something, and then these kids are like "haha, what are you, 5? Still looking at dinosaurs?"

Then I showed them a dino documentary.

[Libraraptor]

I am not really sure where these thoughts fit in, but I decided not to create  a brand new thread, since the number of new threads opened for even the smallest questions and ideas becomes annoying.

Today I asked myself: "Isn´t it somewhat eerie that there was EXACTLY ONE Earth history that had occured?"

This also led me to the epiphany that there REALLY were dinosaurs and all the other strange creatures, that they REALLY existed!

We will NEVER find out what exactly happened and occured. At best we can create approaches to prehistory.

There was a world BEFORE we looked at it. There were birds singing BEFORE a human ear was there to listen.

Call me nuts, call it silly, call me a living room  philosopher, but somehow this  feels strange...

What do you think?

[Halichoeres]

Are recreational substances legal in Germany? 

It really is mind boggling to think about the vastness of Earth's history and how many things have lived and died here.