This year marks THEMUSEUM’s third annual Beer + Series, where we pair unique topics with local breweries and industry professionals to deliver fun, exciting events. This year’s first event, Beer + Dinosaurs, features Dustin Growick, AKA The Dinosaur Whisperer. Dustin is known online for his YouTube Channel, The Dinosaur Show, and his Instagram account, where he has over 24K followers. On Wednesday, October 28, he is coming in from New York to engage with young adults and share his love of dinosaurs.
What sparked your initial interest in dinosaurs?
Growing up—like most kids—I had a healthy love for dinosaurs. In college I studied human evolutionary biology, and then worked in education at the American Museum of Natural History. While at AMNH, I fell in love with dinosaurs all over again. These animals simply look incredible, and I love the mystery and intrigue of using scant information as clues to solve puzzles that are millions of years old. The scientific endeavor can reveal so much, you’ve just gotta be down for the adventure.
What prompted you to start The Dinosaur Show?
There’s been a big push in the last few years with respect to the popularization of science education and science communication, and it’s coincided with the explosion of self-published content on the internet. I found it soooo surprising that there was little to nothing out there that was both entertaining and educational about what is—almost inarguably—the most popular group of animals to ever grace the planet. Do dinosaurs really need a hype man? I dunno. But I’m happily making it my mission to find out.
Why do you think paleontology is important?
I think studying life is important. The more we understand about the living world, the better we’ll understand both ourselves and our incredibly important place on this planet. Paleontology is a great in-roads to get people talking about the sheer amazingness of life itself, because who in their right mind doesn’t like dinosaurs?!
What dinosaur do you think deserves more attention and why?
Parasaurolophus! It’s def one of my faves, and not enough people nerd-out about these amazing hadrosaurs. They boasted enormous head crests that housed more than a meter long looping nasal passages that were probs used for long distance vocalizations, or to scare away predators, or to court mates, or maybe ALL OF THE ABOVE?!
Who would win in a fight: a Triceratops or a T. rex?
T. rex FO SHO. We have some great evidence of T. rexes preying upon Triceratops in the form of bite marks and tooth grooves on fossilized Triceratops frills. And these markings exactly match the size and shape of T. rex teeth. In fact, in a couple of years when the Smithsonian in D.C. opens their new fossil halls, they’ll be featuring a T. rex skeleton standing over and on top of a felled Triceratops. The mock-ups look BADASS.
