Ready To Give My First Tour! (I think.....!)

After my “introduction” to our live reptile collection, I was definitely (maybe...) ready to give my first tour.  That tour would happen a few days after our “nameless” guide taught me the reptile portion of our tours.  The day before the tour, our director (we can call him Matthew because that’s his name.) took me under his wing and went through the museum one on one giving me a plethora of knowledge on what makes a good docent great. Clearly I wasn’t going to be a “great” docent the next day, still working on that one, as a matter of fact.

The “big” day arrived and I waited with eager anticipation (and a slight knot in my stomach) for the buses to roll in.  Yes, that’s right school buses, I was nervous to give a tour to second graders, that age group is brutal you know. Okay, they aren’t brutal, but they are extremely knowledgeable in all things dinosaur.

As luck would have it, this group was a great group of kids, they took it easy on me, thank goodness!  They had questions that I’d been prepared to answer and wouldn’t you know, by the end, I’d made some new friends.  I had two kids run up and hug me after the tour, they were  going on and on about what a great trip they had to our museum.  Then and there, I knew this was the place for me. Kids always win my heart over and between the kids, the staff/volunteers we have here and the dinosaurs, I was sold. This is my home and you all get to come and visit me right here, lucky you (ha)!

Careful: You never know when this Museum Assistant will be running around with her camera to document her life here at MNHM!

Behind The Scenes Tour Trickery At MNHM

If I told you that by the end of my first week, I was comfortably armed with the knowledge needed to give a tour of the museum, I’d be lying.  I was, however, comfortable with shadowing the many tours we had that week.

There were some daily tours I got to tag along on. During one of these tours I was unceremoniously introduced to the live reptile collection. One of the guides (he shall remain nameless) asked me as we approached the Ice Age room, if I was afraid of snakes. I responded that I was not afraid. “Great, go grab the big one there, please.” “Um...oh, as in right now, just  grab a snake?” He looked at me with a smile and again pointed at the large 6 foot Bull Snake named Jim.  Begrudgingly, I reached in and pulled out the heaviest snake I’ve ever held.   Right, not the first snake I’ve held, but put on the spot and a snake of this size was definitely new.  I went for it and held him for the visitors to see up close and even pet. They loved it and so did the tour guide.  Not long after that tour ended, I would come to find out that our “nameless” tour guide does not hold the snakes...ever. I was conned! I do have to say that I won’t soon forget one little girl that was part of this tour, she couldn’t have been more than six years old.  This particular little girl wanted so badly to hold Jim, she’d put her hand out so that he could use his tongue to smell her.  Before I knew it, she and Jim were fast friends! Leave it to a small child to put me to shame for my nerves that afternoon.

After this experience, I walked away with even more questions (of course!), why would a museum like ours house live reptiles (snakes, lizards and turtles)?  I keep hearing that Bull Snakes are good to have around on your property, but why?! On top of having snakes and a lizard, why have turtles?  What do these snakes, turtles and lizard eat?

Well, we serve as a small rescue for some of these snakes, some were once pets belonging to people that could no longer keep them.  Bull Snakes are excellent snakes to have around your home because not only do they eat mice, rats, prairie dogs -- they also eat other snakes such as Rattle Snakes! So you see, Bull Snakes are great to have around and you should in general, let them be. 

 This isn't Jim, but another one of our snakes, Sylvia. Sylvia is our amazing Milk Snake. She's quite the friendly little critter and loves to come out for our visitors to pet!

**If you DO see a snake while you’re out and about, back away slowly, unless you’ve surprised it (maybe by stepping on it) a snake bite is extremely rare as most snakes are not aggressive.**

And So The Journey Begins....

Have you ever found yourself wide-eyed and full of curiosity in a foreign land, but just wishing you spoke the native language of this place?  That is exactly how I felt walking into the doors of my new job as the Museum Assistant at Morrison Natural History Museum. Sure, I knew some very basic dinosaur facts (okay, I knew the T. rex was a carnivore and the Triceratops was a big vegetarian), but let’s be honest, my knowledge of paleontology was (and still is) sub-par.  My background, and the reason I was brought into the museum is heavy in non-profit work, social media, customer service and the like. While this job wasn’t something I’d imagined myself doing, it’s awakened a seemingly dormant curiosity within myself.

I went home after my first day armed with books, notes and so many questions running through my mind. What did Colorado look like during the Jurassic Period? What did it look like during the Cretaceous Period? Wait, which came first - the Jurassic or the Cretaceous? How do they KNOW which came first? There were no mountains during either the Jurassic OR the cretaceous? Get outta here! I’ve lived in Colorado for 27 of my 30 years - the mountains are all I know!  I didn’t write down any of these questions as I was sure I’d get the answers in due time at the museum (and I was right, I did!).

Are you wondering the answers to the above questions? Well, the Jurassic came first and then the Cretaceous, and no-there were no mountains in what is now known as Colorado during those times. Okay, not entirely true, the Rocky Mountains did start forming at the very end of the Cretaceous.

This, my friends, is where my journey as The Accidental Dino Geek begins....stay tuned!

-Billie

This would be the face behind the name.