There's Lots of Natural History in Idaho!

After the Museum of Clean, we decided to explore a more traditional venue:  the Idaho Museum of Natural History, which is hosted by Idaho State University on its Pocatello campus.

Right now, the museum is presenting four exhibits:  fossils of Helicoprion Sharks found in Idaho; fossils of prehistoric animals found in Idaho; an exhibit on Native Americans in Military Service; and general exhibits on Idaho natural history.

Interestingly, the name "Idaho" is taken from a purported Native American word EDah-Hoe, meaning "Gem of the Mountains."  Interestingly, the University of Idaho, in Moscow - not Pocatello - Idaho, where David's parents attended college, uses "Gem of the Mountains" as the name for its student yearbook.

Idaho has been nicknamed the "gem state" since its earliest territorial days, because over 240 different minerals and gems are found here.  The state gem stone is the Star Garnet - rarer than Star Ruby or Star Sapphire - which is only found outside Idaho in India.  Even though we think of garnet as a scarlet-type color, garnets are dark purple or plum in color.

The Helicoprion sharks were noted for the "circular saw" nature of their teeth, which were arrayed in a single, vertical spiral of death between two narrow jaws.  They never lost their baby teeth - instead, those small teeth rotated inward as part of their spiral jaw, to be superseded by larger teeth.  All the better to slice and dice you, my dear!

The design of their jaws has inspired much art, such as the following design:

The museum has much information about the Native American peoples who lived in this state and the rest of the West.  David found particularly interesting a diagram that shows the meanings of the Native American names for each of the months of the calendar year:

The exhibit on Native American military service focused primarily on the code-talkers who served in the wars.  As popularized in the movie, "Windtalkers" (2002), most Americans believe that the military first conceived of using Native Americans for code-talking in World War II.  However, the exhibit details the extensive work which Native Americans did in Europe during World War I to help defeat the Germans.  Thus, the military already knew it had this weapon by the time that World War II started. This might be one reason that the code talkers were employed so effectively in World War II.  The exhibit goes on to give a personal face to the Native Americans who served in these wars.  It details the work that Native Americans did as military scouts during the Indian Wars (this has got to generate ambivalent feelings among current day Native Americans), and it describes the efforts that have been made to credit Native Americans for their special service in the World Wars since their role was declassified in 1968.

Among the prehistoric animal fossils found in Idaho and exhibited in the Museum are the "Long-Faced Bear," a type of sabre-toothed tiger, the prehistoric ancestor to the horse, and a longhorn bison.

Equus Simplicidens (or the Hagerman Horse) was the ancestor to today's horses.  It roamed North America.  During the Ice Age, these horses crossed the land bridge to Siberia and populated Asia and Europe, eventually becoming the horses that Europeans raised.  Meanwhile, these horses went extinct in North America, and, ironically, the Europeans reintroduced their descendants back into North America beginning in the 1500's.

Bison Latifrons (the "Giant Bison") was the largest bison to ever live - up to 7.5 feet tall at the shoulder, with the broadest horns - up to 8 feet - of any cloven-hoofed animal.  Idaho State University has the most fossils of this animal, which date back as far as 160,000 years ago.  Here's the fossil skeleton of one of these friendly creatures:

After the Natural History Museum, our bicycle ride back to the RV park was temporarily interrupted by a flat tire on Dave's bicycle.  As a result, we walked our bikes the mile back home, along the edge of Mountain View Cemetery (formerly known as Mt. Moriah Cemetery).  The lushness of the trees in this cemetery cannot be exaggerated (we guess that Pocatellans want their dear departed to be able to rest eternally in the cool shade of trees, sheltered from the blistering Southeastern Idaho summer sun).

The cemetery has recently expanded into a new area and therefore has planted many new trees to shade the new gravesites.  In the cleared area of the cemetery, the trunk of one felled tree was saved - either accidentally or because of these carvings - but the decision to save it was clearly merited:

Reminds us of the recent discovery of the oldest known American petroglyphs near Reno, Nevada. Clearly, however, these wood carvings are of more modern origin.