“The man says he comes from Tenerife, that he has been to this place other times and that he liked the models that were on display and that…”
We were with a friend in the wonderful facilities of CaixaForum in Madrid, we were in a bit of a hurry because there were minutes left to board a taxi that would take us to the airport. I don't know if she did, but I felt a certain sadness for the trip that was ending; I saw the dawn of routines on the horizon.
We were leaving after seeing the magnificent exhibition entitled “Dinosaurs of Patagonia”, and before leaving a group of schoolchildren approached my companion to ask her if they could interview her.
She argued that we were in a bit of a hurry, but that surely I, who am captivated by attention and the spotlight, would agree. And yes, she was right. The first thing they asked me was where we came from, if it was the first time we had been to that place and what we thought of what we had seen.
There were three of them, and all three were taking notes, until they ran out of questions.
"And what else are you going to ask me?", I inquired, "nothing else?, what journalists you are!, I think you are a bit weak!"
They laughed, then I told them to take note, but quickly, that we were leaving.
I didn't forget about the taxi, but almost, and I began to declaim: “Tell your readers that we have been lucky enough to see a wonderful exhibition, tell them about the importance of Patagonia, an immense region of an immense country, Argentina, which gave birth to the wonders that are on display. Explain where those remains of millions of years old were discovered, of creatures as heavy as locomotives thanks to researchers gathered around the “Egidio Feruglio Museum”.
I saw them writing and, from time to time, looking at me, I knew I was going too fast, but if they aspired to be good students, they should apply speed to their skills.
At one point it seemed too much, so I asked them how things were going, and among the three of them they were able to return what I had told them moments before, translating my supposed solvency in the subject that I had just learned, with a youthful language, not even adolescent yet.
“The man who comes from Tenerife, who has been to this place other times, says that he liked the models that were on display and was surprised by the weight. Then he spoke of dinosaurs and Patagonia...”
I insisted with provocations, they responded with laughter, and before leaving I retracted all the adjectives that I had thrown at them, predicting a great future if they did not lose their curiosity. Before leaving, we greeted a teacher who, from a distance, watchful, smiled at us. “Know that you are going to participate in the history that the children are writing”, he concluded. To my joy, for once I would be in the papers.
Already in the taxi I began to think about the wonderful Argentine science, which gave to the knowledge of humanity precursor specimens of species and fossil remains that do not exist in other parts of the world.
I found out that dinosaurs hunted in teams, that some had huge claws on their front legs, in the shape of a sickle as a defense, that others, scavengers, robust, inept for hunting, located corpses kilometers away thanks to a prodigious sense of smell.
Reviewing the photo gallery of the phone I found copies of explanatory sheets, for example, the one that described theropods, dominant carnivores in the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.
I didn't know they had feathers! The largest, named gigantosaurusm and tiranotitan, made the tyrannosaurus small. I didn't know that their hollow limbs were inherited by today's birds.
I should have given the children names for their publication, but I didn't know them! Now yes, they were on the cards, such as Victorino Herrera, who in 1961 discovered the herrerasuarus; or Ricardo Martínez, who in the Valley of the Moon, San Juan (Argentina) found the most primitive ancestor, the precursor of all Patagonian dinosaurs; or Lorena de la Corte, who in 2002 discovered the leonerasaurus.
Names and more names, of people behind the knowledge, pursuing it with rigor and effort, as revealed by a short documentary, in which an official of the MEF presents the fossils that, for the first time, are exposed to the attention of the public.
Of the "boss" of all, of the largest dinosaur in the world, the patagotitan, 70% of its skeleton is available, which has allowed to make a replica that is a work of art, arranged in the heart of the Paseo del Prado. of the capital of Spain, to the amazement of passers-by.
How did they do it?, when did they do it?, how did they move such fragile pieces? The students would be amazed counting their teeth, 60!, sharp as knives to turn any piece of whatever it is into minutiae.
Other wonders do not fit in this column, I cannot mention the herbivorous dinosaurs, capable of swallowing stones to crush the ingested vegetables in the stomach, nor dozens of treasures recorded in the photos that I take, with names of people and teaching and decent institutions.
I have to finish, but before I am assailed by questions: when will those who govern realize that they cannot neglect the science that makes countries great, capable of spreading knowledge and admiration to other peoples when it is exported? When will those who govern realize that the enormous values of faculties, universities, museums, teachers, professors and researchers are species to be preserved, despite not being listed on the stock markets? When will those who govern realize that the excellence they waste with their actions should be promoted, defended, enhanced?
Of course they are not cryptocurrencies, nor are they reflected in the commercial balances, nor do they help to stop the deficit!, they are something else, a thousand times more valuable, the ones that help us to be better.
I would have loved to say all that to the children in the interview, I couldn't. I have faith that they have realized it on their own.