I was walking through the museum and came to this section featuring Lythronax. Note that there's a facial reconstruction on display along with a model of the fossil skeleton and a real fossil skull:
As I was walking past, I noticed this mother with her four year old (?) daughter. The girl was sobbing uncontrollably. I stopped to ask if everything was alright.
The girl was too shy to answer me, but the mother pointed at me and said, "She works here, so she has to tell you the truth! You can ask her."
Me: "Uh...what did you want to ask?"
Girl, after mom's continued urging, tearfully asks: "Why did you behead him?" She points trembling at the Lythronax facial reconstruction.
Me, fumbling to explain facial reconstruction to a four year old: "Oh, it's just what someone imagines he looked like and they made it, kind of like an art project."
Girl, very confused and still sniffling: "So it's not real?"
Me: "Definitely not."
Girl: "Oh."
Mom, as they're walking away: "See, I told you it wasn't real."
Me inside my head while watching them walk away: What kind of four year old not only knows the word behead, but actually grasps what it means enough to think that a replica is an actual head?
*Fun fact: The facial reconstruction for Lythronax was done by the same guy who reconstructed Otzi the Iceman and in the Nova video about the Iceman, when they interview him, you can actually see the partially finished dinosaur head in the background!*
As I was walking past, I noticed this mother with her four year old (?) daughter. The girl was sobbing uncontrollably. I stopped to ask if everything was alright.
The girl was too shy to answer me, but the mother pointed at me and said, "She works here, so she has to tell you the truth! You can ask her."
Me: "Uh...what did you want to ask?"
Girl, after mom's continued urging, tearfully asks: "Why did you behead him?" She points trembling at the Lythronax facial reconstruction.
Me, fumbling to explain facial reconstruction to a four year old: "Oh, it's just what someone imagines he looked like and they made it, kind of like an art project."
Girl, very confused and still sniffling: "So it's not real?"
Me: "Definitely not."
Girl: "Oh."
Mom, as they're walking away: "See, I told you it wasn't real."
Me inside my head while watching them walk away: What kind of four year old not only knows the word behead, but actually grasps what it means enough to think that a replica is an actual head?
*Fun fact: The facial reconstruction for Lythronax was done by the same guy who reconstructed Otzi the Iceman and in the Nova video about the Iceman, when they interview him, you can actually see the partially finished dinosaur head in the background!*
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