Our admission to the Audubon special exhibit at the Houston Museum of Natural Science included access to the regular exhibits. We visited gems, Texas wildlife, African wildlife, and more. But we spent the most time with the dinosaurs in the Morian Hall of Paleontology (click for more photos including slothzilla). I’ve made lots of posts about dinosaurs. Anyway, turn to the left as you enter and start with ancient trilobites, then work your way through evolution* to homo sapiens.
Here are the highlights:
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- Trex.
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- ARMADII-O-ZILLA. A several ton Glyptodont. The sabre tooth tiger would have little luck if the glyptodont dug quickly into the dirt with his hind legs – his usual defensive move..
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- Both the camel (shown) and the horse originated in the Americas, but died out here.
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- Tons of petrified wood in the Zuhl Collection. This piece is from Oregon, but there were samples from The Petrified Forest National Park too..
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- The human ancestry family tree.
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- Lucy. Some of her bones were found in 1974 while Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds played. This photo is from her Tinder profile.
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- Megalodon, the king of sharks.
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- Mastodon trying to escape Megalodon.
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- A lot of fossils here, including this six-foot-long turtle.
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* It’s either evolution or God’s providing a history. I always think of the engineering anecdote at Disneyland. The engineers were given a work order to apply a mixture of mayonnaise, water, and other ingredients to an outside light fixture in the New Orleans area. The engineers complained that the quantity and preparation method were not included in the work order. Turns out the work order was for the art department. They did as ordered and a week later the fixture looked like it had been there for many decades. Maybe God’s work order called for giving the universe a history. Of course it really doesn’t matter. We just know that in the beginning he created the heavens and the earth. I don’t know why I get so obsessed with wanting to know how he did it.
I have heard more than a few times that to understand our times, we need to look to the Enlightenment. Humans can reason out any and all questions without the need for an outside source.
I really appreciate the notes on Lucy!