Re: What is the Daily routine of a paleontologist?

What is the daily routine of the paleontologist?

I am a paleoanthropologist, or human paleontologist, and so my case may be 
a little different, but in a general sense I suspect my example is a good 
as any.

Why did you choose this career?
I sometimes ask myself this question a lot. In my case, I started out by 
finding the dinosaur books in the library when I was in elementary school. 
Most children seem to develop a fascination for these animals, and the 
ones that become paleontologists never grow out of it. Finding these books 
opened me up to the world of biological evolution. Before I could read, I 
would take the books home and have my father read them to me. It was in 
this way that I learned that dinosaurs are just a small chapter in the 
history of life on earth. Each paleontologist finds an aspect of life’s 
history that fascinates them and follow that interest (only a few actually 
stay with dinosaurs). In my case, I became interested in human evolution. 
So, I study humans for the most part, but also the plants and animals that 
would have been around them, for no animal (not even the human animal) can 
be understood in isolation from the other living things around them.

How do you become engaged in this career?
It’s a long road of school learning and outside experiences. While in 
school you generally try to accumulate as much experience as possible in 
as many different areas as possible. You generally start by volunteering 
your services. Eventually, as your experience grows, established 
scientists will start asking you to join their projects. Then, they will 
offer to pay some or all of your expenses to gain your participation. 
Eventually, they may also pay you a salary. Somewhere along the line you 
realize that you are earning a living by “doing paleontology.” At that 
point, you start calling yourself a paleontologist. For most of us, the 
transition is gradual with a lot of false starts and failures. 

What exactly do you do?
Although I think we all went into this career with the dream of becoming 
the great field scientist, most paleontologists do not spend a lot of time 
doing fieldwork. Working in the field is where the fossils are found, but 
the real work of figuring out what they mean is done in the laboratory and 
by studying museum collections. Many of us specialize in this aspect of 
the science, and rarely go into the field. I, for example, have not done 
fieldwork in 12 years. In some ways I regret that, because fieldwork is 
fun and that was part of my “dream.” Still, you have to follow where 
opportunities present themselves. So, I try to spend a few weeks each year 
visiting museums to examine fossils and to collect measurement data on the 
fossils and on the bones of related species. The rest of the year I 
analyze these data on my computer and add additional observations from 
laboratory experiments. When I think I’ve found something worthwhile, I 
also have to write up the results for a journal article or a presentation 
at a professional meeting. Unfortunately, I don’t get paid a lot of money 
for doing any of those things, so my day-to-day work is as a college 
professor. I teach human anatomy. Other paleontologists might teach in 
geology or biology departments, or work in museums where they have to work 
in the area of public education.

What type of education did you have to go through?
Paleontology is technically a sub-discipline of geology. This is because 
you need to have a firm understanding of geological processes in order to 
know where to look and how to find fossils. However, there is also a 
significant overlap with biology. This is because you need to have a firm 
understanding of life, and all its variations, so that you can know what 
the fossils are all about once you find them. So, most paleontologists 
have degrees in either geology or biology; in either case they will have 
taken many courses in both subjects. Because I am a human paleontologist, 
I earned my main degree in biological anthropology. Still, the degree is 
just what is written on your diploma. To be successful as a 
paleontologist, you need course work or experiences in comparative 
anatomy, evolutionary biology, geology, and statistics. In addition, it is 
usually also helpful to have a firm understanding in one or more of 
mathematics, computers, basic chemistry, and basic physics. There are also 
a great deal of other skills that can be useful, but that you generally 
only learn through experience. Although there are some notable exceptions, 
to be treated seriously as a paleontologist, you need to earn a Ph.D. Some 
people earn a Ph.D. in only five years (after college), but ten years is 
more common.

On a typical day, what type of studying do you do?
Since I teach human anatomy, I need to keep current in that area. I spend 
time reading about new research and discoveries in the professional 
journals. I also spend a lot of time studying biomechanics and comparative 
vertebrate anatomy, since I like to think of myself as a functional 
morphologists (someone who figures out how the body moves in different 
types of animals). I never really thought of this as studying, since these 
are all topics I enjoy. I never really counted how much time this takes, 
but I would guess that on a typical day I spend about 2 hours reviewing 
this material. 

Is every day a new adventure?
I wish I could say yes, but the answer is no. There is a lot of drudgery 
associated with this, or any, job. All of us became scientists for the joy 
of discovery. Having an adventure generally means that you failed to plan 
properly – or that something has gone wrong. Most scientists, especially 
field scientists, go to great lengths to avoid adventures. I don’t 
remember who said it, but it seems apt here: “Scientists make discoveries, 
only fools have adventures.”

What do you like and dislike about being a paleontologist?
Without a doubt, what I dislike the most about my job is the politics. You 
have to spend time saying the right things and being nice to the right 
people in order to gain access to data or research facilities -- the 
scientific “schmooze.” Although some scientists are very good at this, I 
don’t know anyone who enjoys the fact that we have to do it. 
What do I like about this job? There is no feeling that compares with the 
sense of discovery. The awe and accomplishment of putting the pieces 
together that solves a puzzle that no one else has solved. The ability to 
say that today I have learned something new – something that no one else 
has ever known before. You can’t beat that feeling. It’s worth way more 
than money, and its the reason I stay in this job.