There is that exquisite moment when Rhinos embark on an interaction, when We can’t be sure what’s going to happen, for better or worse. Will this be the Very Best Thing ever? Will it just be One Big Uck Poo?
Rhinos prefer modest expectations. What a disappointment it would be if it were the Peak Experience of a Lifetime. What would We look forward to?
No, We are generally content with ‘Nice’ or ‘Pretty Good’, and let it go at that.
In 1948, Ms. Eleanor Abbott was recovering from polio in the hospital. There she created a board game for small children called CANDYLAND. It is a simple race-to-the-finish game for those who cannot read or count. A very Rhino sort of game.
The game has proven a great success over the years, albeit with a junior audience. Those of Us without reading or counting skills still have our Influence. Hooray for Us!
Sometimes We Rhinos wonder why nobody ever tells Us what’s going on.
Possibly We could be more attentive when discussion is underway.
Yes, um, possibly.
Of course, the circus is unlikely to show up every day. In the Wild especially. In the Wild, Never is the norm.
For that reason, Rhinos throw our own circuses, whenever We feel the urge. We are mostly both the performance and the audience; that way We know We are pleasing our crowd.
It’s the Greatest Show on Earth! For Rhinos of All Ages!
From 1877 to 1892, two Paleontologists, Othniel Marsh and Edward Cope, engaged in a competition, with no holds barred. Unscrupulous, ambitious, and mean-spirited, each did his utmost to achieve singularity, collecting and cataloguing fossils from the West. Not pretty in any particular.
And the upshot of all these shenanigans? Both men came to a third-rate ending, ruined and shunned by their peers. But Paleontology was served well in the wealth of samples they claimed from Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska.
When things get entirely out of hand, it’s hard to think why all that was necessary.
Ms. Mary Anning (b.1799) and her family made a modest living selling fossils which they found along the English coast. They prowled the shore, gathering a remarkable selection of marine specimens. Despite having no formal education, she had a gift for comparative anatomy, and became renowned for her insights.
Ms. Anning is known as the ‘Princess of Paleontology’ for providing the first complete fossil of an Ichthyosaur (see above), as well as fossil Plesiosaurs, and a range of other critters. Being a working-class woman, she suffered a lack of acknowledgement, but today is listed among the 10 most influential women in the history of British Science.
A big Your Inner Rhino salute to Ms. Anning!!
Discussions can be lively when a group of paleontologists, paleoclimatologists, paleoentomolgists, paleobotanists, paleogeophysicists, paleovolcanologists, paleoecologists, paleoanatomists and their friends and supporters decide to compare notes.
Among these folk, intellectual property is qualified as No Joke.
The French genius Georges Cuvier had a profound influence on dinosaur studies. He is called the ‘Father of Paleontology’. He knew a lot about a lot of stuff, plus some more stuff as well.
In 1808, at age 39, he gave the first analysis of a dinosaur, the Streptospondylus, along with speculations on how it carried on. It was inaccurate to some degree, but it provided a System for Naturalists, Geologists, Paleontologists and Comparative Anatomists. And their friends and colleagues.
He also presented the Catastrophy Theory: all natural systems have a lifespan, change and extinction being part of the Natural Order. Easy come, Easy go.
A Very Smart Guy, M. Cuvier. To say the Least. A Wow-Meister.
M. Cuvier proposed a system called the Correlation Theory. The idea is that the way any body part works is usually the same. Toes work the same, no matter the critter they are attached to or when it lived. The more specific the details, the closer you are to figuring out the fossil or bone you have.
There are obvious problems, and the Naturalist has to keep checking and adjusting any conclusion. But it’s a good system.
Paintings of Dinosaurs usually show them with reptilian skin, in colors and patterns similar to today. The assumption is that camouflage is useful to both predator and prey, and doubtless was 160 million years ago too.
But We will probably never Know for sure. So you can color them any way you like. Who’s to say you’re wrong??
Time to get your Crayolas! Now you can print off this drawing, and Color it any way you like. This is your chance; go for it!
Then you can tape it (or them) on your refrigerator. Good Times: Your Inner Rhino!
Your Inner Rhino 