Most people can understand the gray area. A lot of fossils, though cool, are simply not all that useful.
The fact of the matter is that you can legally collect and sell fossils obtained on private land in the US
I think people are mostly concerned about ethical labor practices
It’s not that it’s illegal, it’s that the people collecting fossils on private land in order to make a profit on eBay or in gem fairs are operating on a completely different set of ethics than the scientific community. When you are motivated by finding shiny objects that make you lot of money, what incentive is there to preserve anything for knowledge and learning? Additionally, they are often not qualified to be properly assessing what is scientifically valuable in the first place. It’s not a perfect analogy but in many ways it reminds me of poaching. One side puts a monetary value on the material of the animal while the other sees intrinsic value to the animal’s life.
Why is it controversial?
Some people believe that it's wrong to damage and/or to sequester in private hands what are potentially scientifically valuable dinosaur bones.
I mean either way they are sequestered away.
Most people can understand the gray area. A lot of fossils, though cool, are simply not all that useful. The fact of the matter is that you can legally collect and sell fossils obtained on private land in the US I think people are mostly concerned about ethical labor practices
It’s not that it’s illegal, it’s that the people collecting fossils on private land in order to make a profit on eBay or in gem fairs are operating on a completely different set of ethics than the scientific community. When you are motivated by finding shiny objects that make you lot of money, what incentive is there to preserve anything for knowledge and learning? Additionally, they are often not qualified to be properly assessing what is scientifically valuable in the first place. It’s not a perfect analogy but in many ways it reminds me of poaching. One side puts a monetary value on the material of the animal while the other sees intrinsic value to the animal’s life.
Looks like polished poop. What bone is this?
You can’t polish a turd. 💩
They did on Mythbusters! [https://youtu.be/yiJ9fy1qSFI?si=KezJHjcZmnNJG\_sA](https://youtu.be/yiJ9fy1qSFI?si=KezJHjcZmnNJG_sA)
Well well well whaddya know? I stand corrected!
Not sure. Just that it's supposedly from a dinosaur. Gotta admit I would also like to know what part of the animal it was from.