SCIENCE WITH A SOCIAL CONSCIENCE: DIGGING FOR DINOSAURS AND HELPING CHILDREN IN THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT

摘要

Madagascar has been good to us. In 1993, I led a reconnaissance expedition in search of Cretaceous dinosaurs, mammals, and other vertebrate animals to this, the fourth-largest island in the world. Not in my wildest dreams did I anticipate the fossil riches that we would find on that expedition, or on the seven field campaigns since. Many of our discoveries are documented in an article in this volume (see pp. 178—208). What we also found, however, were some of the most abandoned and destitute peopleon the planet. Many of Madagascar's citizens, particularly in rural areas, do not know how to read or write and have never been seen by a doctor or dentist. Malnutrition is ubiquitous. Children, who are otherwise rail thin, have abdomens that are visiblydistended, largely a result of protein deficiency but oftentimes also owing to endemic parasites that inhabit, multiply within, and thus enlarge spleens and livers. Malaria is rampant. Upper respiratory, diarrheal, and dental infections are common and,owing to the lack of access to basic hygiene and antibiotics, all too frequently fatal.