ETSU professor featured on History Channel
Patrick Hawkins
Issue date: 9/22/08 Section: The Scene
Dr. Blaine Schubert, an ETSU paleontologist specializing in ice age faunas, will be a specialist featured on two of the History Channel's new television series.
One show, Monster Quest, dives into crypto zoology, the study of animals without scientific evidence to support their existence.
Subjects covered on this program include everything from Bigfoot, the center of a recent hoax in northern Georgia, to rodents of unusual size lurking in the underbelly of New York City. The episode airs for the first time on Wednesday, Sept. 24 at 9 p.m.
The show tries to establish neutrality by interviewing alleged witnesses of monsters along with scientists who need more evidence.
Schubert, as a research scientist, will certainly be on the side demanding hard evidence. He was approached to do the show by a Canadian production company who knew of his reputation for working on short-faced bears, on which he has studied samples locally and throughout the country, including the Gray Fossil Site's own small short-faced bear.
His first response when approached was to say, "If I'm part of this episode, most likely I'm going to be your spoiler." This turned out to be exactly the input they wanted.
His task in the interview is basically to explain what a giant bear would be like and the feasibility of it surviving today from objective evidence.
Mammoth fossils from Saltville, Va., where Schubert has organized and led digs, were taken via airplane to the filming location so that he could explain the evidence of carnivore activity in the form of teeth marks on the bones.
It is easy to see how carrying giant bones wrapped in foam through airport security could end up badly, and he fully expected to be stopped by bag checkers.
However, Schubert was mostly surprised by the objections of a security guard who didn't believe in fossils.
For these television shows, interviews took place in various locations, including Alaska, Texas and the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C.
One show, Monster Quest, dives into crypto zoology, the study of animals without scientific evidence to support their existence.
Subjects covered on this program include everything from Bigfoot, the center of a recent hoax in northern Georgia, to rodents of unusual size lurking in the underbelly of New York City. The episode airs for the first time on Wednesday, Sept. 24 at 9 p.m.
The show tries to establish neutrality by interviewing alleged witnesses of monsters along with scientists who need more evidence.
Schubert, as a research scientist, will certainly be on the side demanding hard evidence. He was approached to do the show by a Canadian production company who knew of his reputation for working on short-faced bears, on which he has studied samples locally and throughout the country, including the Gray Fossil Site's own small short-faced bear.
His first response when approached was to say, "If I'm part of this episode, most likely I'm going to be your spoiler." This turned out to be exactly the input they wanted.
His task in the interview is basically to explain what a giant bear would be like and the feasibility of it surviving today from objective evidence.
Mammoth fossils from Saltville, Va., where Schubert has organized and led digs, were taken via airplane to the filming location so that he could explain the evidence of carnivore activity in the form of teeth marks on the bones.
It is easy to see how carrying giant bones wrapped in foam through airport security could end up badly, and he fully expected to be stopped by bag checkers.
However, Schubert was mostly surprised by the objections of a security guard who didn't believe in fossils.
For these television shows, interviews took place in various locations, including Alaska, Texas and the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C.
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