Whats all this fuzz about?
Today I was giving my daughter her lunch while watching TV. Martha Speaks was on and we saw a dinosaur chasing a caveman. I was just about to explain to her that the fierce looking creature is a dinosaur when she turned to me all excited shouting T-Rex, T-Rex , pointing to the TV!!
I was taken by surprised to see that my daughter, who by the way just turned 2 last month, not only knows that its a dinosaur, but also knows its species!!
I remember very vividly that I was first introduced to dinosaurs in 7th or 8th standard in English class in India. We had a chapter on these pre-historic cold blooded animals, and back then it all sounded just like an story from long long time ago.
But here in US dinosaurs sound more real to me. Even though Man and dinosaurs are many millions of years apart, now a days there is more awareness about dinosaurs, there is so much more information and we have identified more number of species than ever. We have more knowledge on how they might have lived, what they ate, whether they flew, who were the nocturnal ones, which kind of species lived in water and how they are related to the animals living now etc.. Also its probably 'cos we are in US that we are getting all this exposure to dinosaurs. In India there is far less interest and awareness about dinosaurs. I bet India doesnt even have enough money to spend on creatures that are alive now. May be some day when She is richer, She can afford the luxury to splurge on a bunch of broken muddy bones and fossils.
I cant really understand what all this hype is about in America. Children go crazy over dinosaurs to point that they seem almost fanatic. I was amazed to see how even pre-schoolers know so much about dinosaur species that they can recognize them all just by looking at the pictures even when their small tongues struggle to pronounce the long names.
Lots of money, time and effort is going in to researching about them, not to mention the marketing that exploits the kids' interest in dinosaurs. TV shows, cartoons, soft toys, hard toys, clothes, books, puzzles, games, CDs, and scores of other curios are extremely popular here with kids and adults alike. It used to be a subject of interest for nerds and geeks before, but now every child seems to be a hardcore dinosaur fan. Its beyond me to grasp the reason behind all this new-found interest in a creature that's been dead for like a zillion years! Apart from the fact that we can be prepared for and may be escape what ever the catastrophe it was that obliterated them from the face of Earth, I fail to see much use for all the digging for bones and fossils all over the world in the name of excavation.
May be its too soon to judge, may be some day there will be light to make good of all this work and effort, until then I am just going to let go and let my daughter watch the dinosaur shows. Rather a dinosaur geek than a Justin Bieber groupie.
I was taken by surprised to see that my daughter, who by the way just turned 2 last month, not only knows that its a dinosaur, but also knows its species!!
I remember very vividly that I was first introduced to dinosaurs in 7th or 8th standard in English class in India. We had a chapter on these pre-historic cold blooded animals, and back then it all sounded just like an story from long long time ago.
But here in US dinosaurs sound more real to me. Even though Man and dinosaurs are many millions of years apart, now a days there is more awareness about dinosaurs, there is so much more information and we have identified more number of species than ever. We have more knowledge on how they might have lived, what they ate, whether they flew, who were the nocturnal ones, which kind of species lived in water and how they are related to the animals living now etc.. Also its probably 'cos we are in US that we are getting all this exposure to dinosaurs. In India there is far less interest and awareness about dinosaurs. I bet India doesnt even have enough money to spend on creatures that are alive now. May be some day when She is richer, She can afford the luxury to splurge on a bunch of broken muddy bones and fossils.
I cant really understand what all this hype is about in America. Children go crazy over dinosaurs to point that they seem almost fanatic. I was amazed to see how even pre-schoolers know so much about dinosaur species that they can recognize them all just by looking at the pictures even when their small tongues struggle to pronounce the long names.
Lots of money, time and effort is going in to researching about them, not to mention the marketing that exploits the kids' interest in dinosaurs. TV shows, cartoons, soft toys, hard toys, clothes, books, puzzles, games, CDs, and scores of other curios are extremely popular here with kids and adults alike. It used to be a subject of interest for nerds and geeks before, but now every child seems to be a hardcore dinosaur fan. Its beyond me to grasp the reason behind all this new-found interest in a creature that's been dead for like a zillion years! Apart from the fact that we can be prepared for and may be escape what ever the catastrophe it was that obliterated them from the face of Earth, I fail to see much use for all the digging for bones and fossils all over the world in the name of excavation.
May be its too soon to judge, may be some day there will be light to make good of all this work and effort, until then I am just going to let go and let my daughter watch the dinosaur shows. Rather a dinosaur geek than a Justin Bieber groupie.
Comments
May be its all about this fuzz or advertisements or what else... the kids here are more exposed than in india and they get to know more rather than just book worms... as we were in those days.. :)