[Rockhounds] Bob & Bonnie Finney rare bat fossil

[Tim]

The fossil goes where the experts are; and the Royal Ontario Museum has some
of the world's top vertebrate paleontologists. Here's the abstract:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v451/n7180/full/nature06549.html 

Here's an announcement by the ROM:
http://richarddawkins.net/article,2278,Holy-missing-link-Ancient-bat-flew-wi
thout-sonar,CBC-News

Of the four paleontologists who described the new species, one is from the
ROM, two are from the US, and one is from Germany. Seems more like an
international effort to me. As stated in the article, it will be on display
at the ROM (a cast is already on display), the best natural history museum
in Canada, and in North America, in the views of quite a few of us. Quite an
honor for Bob & Bonnie if you ask me. I encourage you to visit the ROM;
their displays are spectacular, and when their expansion is finished they
will have ALL of their major collections on display, something that no other
museum in Canada or the USA can say. Who is going to see it in Wyoming? A
couple thousand people a year? Hundreds of thousands of people will see it
at the ROM. I would be willing to wager that only the Smithsonian has more
visitors in a year. 

Tim Fisher 
Ore-ROCK-On! 
Email address at http://OreRockOn.com


-----Original Message-----
From: rockhounds-bounces at lists.drizzle.com
[mailto:rockhounds-bounces at lists.drizzle.com] On Behalf Of Brett Whitenack
Sent: Monday, July 14, 2008 9:35 PM
To: rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com
Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] Bob & Bonnie Finney rare bat fossil



Brett Whitenack <whitbre at sbcglobal.net> wrote:    Congratulations to the"Bat
Girl." Must be pretty exciting to unearth something like that. Only thing
that bothers me a little bit is that the specimen went to Canada. Is it
going to stay there or is it only on display for a specific amount of time
and then coming home to Wyoming?
   
  I may be in the minority but I strongly believe that rare or unusual
fossil specimens should stay within their country or state of origin if they
can be studied and properly cared for there. Or at least go back to their
place of origin after they have been carefully studied at an accredited
university or museum. If they are common varieties or duplicates then I
would have no problems at all with them going to other places and in fact
encourage that so others around the world can share in the wonders of our
prehistoric past.
   
  However, it is this type of thing that can cause issues with academia and
commercial collectors. This specimen, being the first of its kind, is a type
specimen and should stay in Wyoming or at least the U.S. even if it was
studied by five different museums and other agencies. If I was a commercial
collector and went to Canada and found a new species of dinosaur, and
donated or sold it to an institution in Europe or elsewhere, wouldn't the
people of Canada feel upset that their fossil heritage is leaving their
country?
   
  I don't mean to sound negative but that's just my opinion for what it is
worth.
   
  Lastly, while Bonnie Finney isn't the first and only women to have a
fossil species named after her, she is in good company:
   
  Mary Anning, famous amateur paleontologist of  Lyme Regis, England, had
two fossil species named after her.
   
  Effigia okeeffeae a toothless crocodile relative in New Mexico named after
the artist Georgia O'Keeffe.
   
  Nelly Hooper Ludbrook, was an Australian paleontologist who had at least
17 fossil species and one genus of fossil mollusk named in her honor.
   
  Josephine Ettel Kablick was a Czechoslovakian paleontologist and has many
plant fossils named after her.
   
  I would wager that Bonnie is the first to have a bat fossil named after
her though. What an honor and a way to be remembered for her discovery.
   
  Brett W.