#barosaurus

Barosaurus lentus

Biosyn Adventure Scale Charts - Barosaurus

Fun Fact: The design is from the NHK 1994-1995 Documentary series "Planet of Life"

Barosaurus

Heavy Lizard

• Family: Sauropod

• Sub Family: Diplodocidae

• Time period: Late Jurassic Period

• Date Discovered: South Dakota, 1889

Image description: A poorly-rendered rendition of the Theodore Roosevelt Rotunda in the American Museum of Natural History. And look, Mr. Roosevelt was progressive as far as the environment, but like pretty much anyone famous in America's history, he was a racist Ding-Dong.

So that sucks. Maybe let's not name a rotunda after him or something?

But, oh, yeah.

I was telling y'all how museums are good?

Um.

So, look.

This museum has just super fossil mounts of an Allosaurus threatening a Barosaurus and its baby (Baby not pictured), and the Barosaurus is rearing up on its hind legs and it is super super tall. I got to see it once when my friend was living in New York. I must've stared at it for 3 hours, when my friends went and did things that were less obsessive. THEN I turned around and stared at the Allosaurus for another 3 hours. The fossils are mounted on stone platforms, which are themselves settled on black stages. It's such a pretty exhibit.

I drew two spectators standing under the vaulted ceiling, gazing adoringly up at the two titans. Beneath the Barosaurus is Bob, a monster under the bed. He's a weird mix of Totoro, a big bear, and John Candy. He has brown fur with a sort of ocelot-esque coloration, but with a wide-toothy mouth, and antelope horns.

The human is a white trans woman, her brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, her head bent back to smile at the Allosaurus, who, if living, would most likely snack on her without a second thought.

She has blue denim overalls on, the legs rolled up to midcalf. She is wearing a beige, long sleeved shirt with pink stripes, and an army green backpack, with a she/her pronoun pin.

She has on headphones, and is DEFINTELY listening to the album Scoundrel Days, because the song "The Weight of the Wind" is entirely necessary for this diorama.

Then the message, Good museums invoke a sense of wonder. They teach us to think critically, and learn from the past. This is why fascists fear them.

Rebel.

Visit a museum.