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!
66 Million years is a long time, so We are told. Still, it supposedly shows how long ago the dinosaurs made their exit. It is as long ago for Rhinos as it is for our Readers. We may have been here 50 Million years longer than Humans, but there is still enough “say What?” to share.
As with everything in the Mysterious Past, there’s debate about how and why, but there is agreement that something went very wrong. (When dealing with Paleontology, We take any agreement We can get.)
Ignorance is hard to combat successfully. Every Answer has a dozen implicit Questions tossing in its wake. Paleontology must be about the balance between Frustration and Aggravation… and Euphoria.
It’s mind-boggling how earnest the efforts have been to understand the Age of Reptiles. The Iguanadon, shown above, was composited by Gideon and Mary Ann Mantell in 1822, using a single tooth she had found on her lunch break. Mr. Mantell was determined to sort it out, and did remarkably well. That’s the astonishing part: how accomplished people were at the time, functioning almost entirely on their wits.
They were also dedicated to the point of mania. Everyone was an amateur really, so the competition was primarily for bragging rights. But these folks really put in the work.
The Mantell’s version had a little horn on the Iguanadon’s nose, which We Rhinos applaud. However, it turned out to be a claw after more consideration.
Clearly these early Naturalists had a lot of Inner Rhino pumping away. What else would account for it all, huh?
Question: If We were to find a great big bone, what would We think it was? To truly understand the puzzle, We have to assume that nobody had ever heard of dinosaurs at the time of the discovery. Nobody, Reader or Rhino.
Answer: We’d have no idea what it was. Mr. Pennyston didn’t, and asked Dr. Robert Plot at Oxford. In 1676 Dr. Plot guessed it was from an elephant, or perhaps a thigh bone from a giant human, maybe 10 feet tall. He was a learned man for his day, and his every hunch was wrong.
It’s hard to dial back our understanding of matters to an age when witches were still being executed. (see: Salem, 1692).
Ms. Florine Stettheimer (b.1871) was a painter in the early 20th Century, establishing an aesthetic reflecting her personal view of the deluxe New York society among whom she moved. She was progressive in many ways, politically as well as artistically. A ‘Your Inner Rhino’ kind of girl.
What Rhinos find intriguing is her singular version of the essence of city life and the languid nature of the privileged.
Ms. Stettheimer makes her world available to the viewer. That is all any artist can do, right?
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance.”
Confucius (b.551 BC) is a famous Chinese sage. He had a great deal to say on conduct and the place of the individual in society. His teachings stressed honor, self-governance, loyalty, and kindness. He felt that each individual knew what was Right, and should then do it.
After his death, his teachings were codified into a rather rigid set of rules and regulations, which was not Confucius’ goal at all. Followers can take a good teacher’s lesson and miss the entire point. It has happened often in history.
In 1883 the largest ever-recorded eruption happened at Krakatoa in the South Seas. World-wide weather was affected and there were huge Tsunamis. The island of Krakatoa actually blew itself up, much of it sinking beneath the waves. Very dramatic indeed.
Krakatoa lies right between Sumatra and Java, homes to both Javan and Sumatran Rhinos. When Nature puts on this sort of show, there is astounding fallout for Wildlife. This was a case in point for Us, one species among many.
But We press on.
(Mt. Vesuvius went off on August 24, 79 AD: See YIR Archive, August 24, 2016)
Your Inner Rhino 