This may have been my favorite day so far! There wasn’t very much for me to do in the morning, so I got the opportunity to spend a couple of hours in the library on the A level of the museum. The library had books covering every imaginable subject regarding natural science, but sadly I was limited by time and not able to focus on each of the books as I would have liked to. After finding a couple books from the early 1900s, I set out on a hunt to find the oldest book, which turned out to be a paleontology field guide from 1834. However, paleontology is not really my interest and I felt afraid of harming such an old book, so I picked out one of the latest ornithology reference books. I read the sections on the cultural significance of owls and ended up very surprised as I had no clue how much negative stigma they have in many parts of the world.
In the afternoon I visited Prairie Ridge and spoke to curators from the herpetology and ichthyology departments. They were very happy to give me a tour of the collections and we had a very interesting discussion about the misunderstood nature of many reptiles which perpetuates fear and ultimately causes harm to the animals. Pretty shortly after having this conversation, I encountered a snapping turtle in the middle of the road, and after seeing its bite I’ve decided that while reptiles are more often than not harmless, it is still best to keep a healthy level of caution.
Riley, I enjoy reading your posts! I can totally picture you in that library looking and opening all of those cool books. I wish you had more time there – maybe you can go back! I think that you know you are a lifelong learner when the excitement of learning things that interest you totally captivate you. It sounds like this work experience is having that kind of effect on you. I cant wait to read more!