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At 07:48 18.08.1997 -0700, Henry Gee wrote: > I remain puzzled why dinosaurs attract such attention. Why no > panderichthyidfest, agnostidfest, multituberculatefest, > coccolithophoroidfest, mesonychidfest, ctenocystoidfest, > seymouriamorphfest, [insert-your-favourite-group]-fest? Not that I > demand any of these things, of course. > > I find dinosaurs, although lots of fun, conceptually less interesting > than some other extinct groups, but that's just a personal thing. As a > kid I found fossil fish much more fun, and I can't explain why -- > perhaps the displays at the Natural History Museum seemed nicer to a > five-year-old. > > I suspect media interest picks up the interest in dinosaurs that > exists, thus fuelling more interest, generating a recursive positive > Fisherian runaway feedback loop out of all proportion to reason, > expectation or the dictates of common sense. > > It would be a shame to give young minds the impression that dinosaurs > are all that paleontology has to offer. I don't buy the usual line > that kids get into dinosaurs first and branch out into less trendy > fossils once their interest is whetted. > > ........... > > Henry > Thank you, Henry! You spoke like a soul-brother. Alex (working on Mesozoic fishes and father of a 5mth old son) Alexander Mudroch Institute for Geology and Palaeontology University of Hannover, Germany Address: Callinstr. 30, 30167 Hannover, Germany Tel: ++49/511/762-5918 Fax: ++49/511/762-2172 E-Mail: mudroch@mbox.geowi.uni-hannover.de
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