Ancient Aardvarks
I'm still adding the occasional poem to PhaWRONGula. This one was inspired by Pharyngula: Jurassic aardvark! and Jurassic Mammal.
Popeye arms and aardvark bite,
Of ancient lineage long deceased, he
Lived beneath the lizards' might,
This late Jurassic tiny beastie;
Simple tubular teeth can munch
The termites destined for his belly;
Scratching foreclaws find his lunch:
It's Fruitafossor windscheffeli!
Comments
Of all the attention given to Fruitafossa windscheffeli, I enjoy your work the best. My friend, Wally Windscheffel (Fruitafossa's name sake) and I worked at the Fruita Paleontology Area for over 15 years before finding a fossil that was exciting enough to bring the scientists to publish. Wally and I are greatly indebted to the paleo staff at the Carnegie Museum for accepting, cataloging and now finally publishing information about one of our fossil finds!
My comment is that your poetry contains as much information and is greatly more pleasurable and memorable than anything else I have seen written about Fruitafossa.
You took the discovery seriously and gave it some thought. Most people, generally a little suspicious of a person who would break rocks in the hot sun for 15 summers, grant a smiling congratulation and move on to another topic
Anyone who wants to see pictures of where the fossil was found, Windscheffel and the Carnegie staff can do so at www.carnegiemnh.org/news/05-jan-mar/fossil/
Thanks for dropping by and taking the time to comment, Chuck. It's the stories of dedicated long-term efforts that usually get ignored. The culminations of huge efforts get attention, but even then, only if they're lucky.
I wish you faster finds in the future.