[Rockhounds] Bob & Bonnie Finney rare bat fossil

[Brett Whitenack]

Tim,
   
  I haven't been to the ROM but I'll add it to my"To do list." We all have one of those don't we?
   
  "The fossil goes where the experts are"
   
  I don't dispute that the ROM has very capable and learned experts but as you point out, two of the four paleontologists are from the United States. I think part of my issue is due to patriotism. Is there any reason the Finney's contacted the ROM instead of a U.S. museum? 
   
  After thinking it over, I can see your point about the amount of people who would see the specimen if it was returned to Wyoming. However, other good homes would be the Smithsonian or the AMNH. The important thing in the end the specimen went to a very auspicious institution and if not in the U.S. at least it remained in North America and not in some private collection overseas. Though I bet deep down the curator at the AMNH hated to see it go to the ROM instead of their museum.
   
  And I do agree that it is indeed quite an honor for the Finney's. I think most of us would like to be able to do what they do and enjoy it. And, as a fellow Kansan I congratulate Bonnie on her find.
   
  Brett W.

Tim <nospam at orerockon.com> wrote:
  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






--- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts ---
multipart/alternative
  text/plain (text body -- kept)
  text/html
---