Smithsonian.com

The Natural History Museum's Dinosaur Hall. Courtesy of Flickr user JSmith Photo

Summer might be coming to an end, but the Dinosaur Hall in the National Museum of Natural History still echoes with the voices of tourists. As a spinoff of DCist’s fantastic weekly series “Overheard in DC, here’s our version of “Overheard at the Museum”:

An older gentleman: “I always thought they were five stories high or something, the way they talk about them.”

A young child near the Stegosaurus: “Look at the shark, Dad. See, the shark jaw?”

A little kid, looking at the Stegosaurus: “Mom, that’s not real bone!”
Mom: “How do you know that?”
Child: “Look at it!”

Man with a camera: “Well, I couldn’t get the dinosaur to smile.”

A girl, looking up at a pterodactyl: “Whoa, he looks like he’s about to eat me!”

A little girl: “That’s a very dead Stegosaurus.”

A young girl talking on a cell phone: “Me and my daddy are downstairs, and we saw some beautiful, real dinosaurs. It’s okay that we saw real dinosaurs because they’re dead. The T. rexes are dead, too.”

“That one looks exactly like Rexy,” says a girl, referencing the T. rex from Night at the Museum.

A little boy looking at a pterodactyl: “That’s a big old bird.” (Ed. Note: They are all big birds!) Oops! Thanks to our commenter for catching our error!

A dad to his daughter, while looking at the pterodactyl: “Look at some of the birds that used to fly way back then.”

A little girl looking at the Camarasaurus:  “It’s laying down; it’s dead.”

A little boy near a “Life in the Ancient Seas” display:  “Poor little fish, he’s alone out of the water.”

– Abby Callard

A dinosaur playground toy photographed in Mount Kisco, New York. Photo by Brian Switek.

I had not expected to find a dinosaur in the woods of Mount Kisco, New York, but there it was. While going on a little hike I saw the big, purple head of the dinosaur sticking out from behind a storage shed. When I got a better look I saw that it was a big playground toy meant to be ridden by children and it must have come from the nearby park. I had expected to see a few squirrels and birds on my hike that day, but not a purple dinosaur!

Have you spotted a dinosaur in a strange place? Snap a photo and send it to dinosaursightings@gmail.com and you might see it here!

A dinosaur badge, compliments of the Order of Science Scouts

Stop the Presses: David Hone’s paper on theropod behavior got picked up by the mainstream press. Then, he watched in dismay as each subsequent report piled error upon error. (For instance, he was surprised to read that he was German.) Hone presents a detailed case study of lazy science journalism, and offers good advice to paleontologists on how to deal with the media.

Badge of Honor: Edicarian proudly displays the “science scouts” badges that he has earned, including the “Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah, I’ve got a TV gig” badge and the “Inordinately fond of invertebrate” badge. (As a part-time physics geek, I rather like the “String theory… I soooo get it” badge.)

What’s in a Name? “There is an awful lot of crap taxonomy out there,” observes Christopher Taylor at Catalogue of Organisms. “Incoherent ramblings, near-unidentifiable taxa, or ‘new’ taxa of dubious distinction from their previously-published relatives are all too common.” Some researchers have proposed that that only names published in peer-reviewed publications should be acceptable. Taylor explains why that’s a really bad idea.

Realtime Paleoart: Peter Bond live blogs his creation of an Anomalocaris painting.

Lounge Lizard: Matthew Brown works in “a slightly obscure corner of paleontology” doing fossil preparation. Get a glimpse inside his laboratory at his blog, The Prep Lounge. (His helpful hint of the day: Storing lab chemicals in food containers is “not cool.”)

In Memorium: Paleoblog pays tribute to the late actor Cecil Kellaway—best known to dino-movie fans for his role as paleontologist Professor Thurgood Elson in the classic 1953 Ray Harryhausen film, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. Elson went underwater in a diving bell looking for the beast, but never returned. His heroism will never be forgotten.

And Speaking of Movies: Bob’s Dinosaur Blog has assembled a list of Great Dinosaur Movie Taglines. Among my favorites: “Driven to extinction! Back for revenge!” and “Cowboys battle monsters in the strangest roundup of all!”

Paleontologist Jerry Harris fleeing from a Monolophosaurus.

I have often wanted to visit the natural history museums and famed fossil sites of China, but sadly such a trip is a bit out of my price range. Fortunately, though, paleontologist Jerry Harris has recently returned from a grand dinosaur tour of China with colleagues Matt Lamanna and Hailu You and shared his photos from the trip.

Maybe it is not as good as being there yourself, but Harris has uploaded many shots of skeletons, fossil sites, and paleontologists in action, all with helpful captions to explain just what you are looking at. If the photos inspire you to undertake such a trip yourself, then you might be interested to know that Sinofossa Tours, the paleo-tour company that organized Harris’ trip, regularly runs similar endeavors. It is a great way to get an in-depth look at paleontology in China.

The dinosaur with a sweet tooth, courtesy of artist Brian Walline

Why is Tyrannosaurus always depicted as chasing after Triceratops? If this t-shirt from Threadless is correct, it is because Triceratops was filled with candy. Tyrannosaurus did not want to dine on the bones of the horned dinosaur but was only after the sweets inside. It’s a good thing that Tyrannosaurus lost and replaced teeth throughout its life; imagine the dentist bills otherwise!

Even better, someone turned the t-shirt design into a cake as part of the annual Threadcakes competition! Using chocolate cake, gummi bears, a LOT of frosting and some other ingredients Andy Pitts made a beautifully designed cake. It makes my teeth hurt just looking at it.

[Hat-tip to Dinochick]