Domestipithecus

I don’t think I could let the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin pass without talking about it. After all, I am an upright ape.

So yay for the Theory of Evolution and yay for science!

I am glad that we got to see Lucy so close to Darwin Day. Kind of a nice little pairing, if I do say so. I find the entire thing amazing and utterly fascinating. I mean, who can’t look at chimpanzees/gorillas/bonobos and see similarities? Feel the connection? Sense the intelligence lurking in their minds? *sigh*

The universe is so incredible. We are so incredible. Earthlings, all of us, from the smallest single-celled organism to the biggest whale. The enormousness (is that even a word?) of it all overwhelms me and amazes me, comforts me and frightens me and makes me feel like a giant and so very small all at the same time.

Here is an added treat: Me as an australopithecus afarensis

Mr. Pithecus and I are getting on a flight headed for Seattle, WA this evening. We are going to see Lucy, an australopithecus afarensis.

There was great controversy when Ethiopia decided to let her tour the states. I am not sure I thought it was a good idea either. Her fossil is so fragile and such a treasure that it seemed risky. So risky, in fact, that The Smithsonian actually refused to host her because they were against her traveling.

Even though the outcry from the scientific community was quite loud, there were still places that were willing to take her in. She arrived in Houston, TX in August of 2007 where The Houston Museum of Natural Science let her hang out for a little over a year.

Then she traveled to Seattle, WA where she resides at The Pacific Science Center until March 8. She was then supposed to move on and enjoy a stint in Chicago, IL at The Field Museum.

Unfortunately, Seattle is losing money. They are way under the estimated attendance and are having to lay people off. Also, due to budgetary constraints, Chicago backed out.

So the next stop for Lucy may be back to her home in Ethiopia.

To me, seeing Lucy in person is a once in a lifetime chance. Something that my old physical anthropology teacher and I talked dreamily about. When I read about the possibility of Lucy coming to the states in 2006 or so, I told her about it and we talked of a road trip to visit her because we both knew it was a chance that may never again present itself.

So we are off to crazy cold Seattle and me without a winter jacket. Hopefully I will remember to take pictures at the vegan restaurants we visit while up there. I am looking forward to trying out Pan-Africa Cafe and a couple other places I have found through Happy Cow and  seattlevegan.com.