The skeleton was one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. Propped up on a table in the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History’s old, dusty collections area and lit by senior collections manager Christopher Norris, the ancient alligator looked as if it had become petrified in the middle of swimming. One white skeletal hand even reached out in front, as if it were about to reanimate at any moment. This was not a new skeleton. The alligator had lived in Wyoming during Eocene time, Norris explained, back when the local climate was more amenable to such reptiles. Another reminder of how much the world has changed with time, yes, but I was stunned by the aesthetic beauty of the