Natural Sciences Sympathetic Imagination

When I awoke today I found myself in some sort of development or township inhabited by the humans. There were tall buildings and the majority of the population seemed to be dressed in burnt orange. When I got over my initialfascination with the culture, I made my way toward a building called the Natural Sciences building. This museum stands as a tribute to time periods and creatures that we have some knowledge about but still want and need to know more. I imagine that the immense size of the dinosaur items is symbolic of the amount of knowledge that is yet to be discovered about the past. There is so much still unknown to the humans! Once I made my way into the museum I was drawn in by an Entelodont skull and mandible from Persidio County, Texas. The skull was eerily familiar. It resembled the skulls that our herd has in honor of our dead elders. Maybe an entelodont is a distant relative or ancestor of mine. It is my thought that this display was some sort of tribute to an entelodont elder. It did not really hit me until I reached the third floor and encountered a white-tailed deer. I felt as though I was looking into some sort of a mirror. My reflection stood frozen in time, absent of a twitch or even a breath. He was surrounded by friends, neighbors, and predators alike. A turkey vulture, rock squirrel, and ringtail all stood frozen. I tried to identify and introduce myself and there was no response. What was this? Was this some sort of funeral? Are they dead?How morbid! Horrified, I rushed to up the stairs to the fourth floor, the Hall of Biodiversity, hoping to find something less offensive. I found myself drawn to a skull of a Pakicetus, a 48.5 million year old whale. Some of its features reminded me of land mammals. Its teeth were specialized for tearing and chewing food, much like my teeth. Leaving the fourth floor, it was still unclear to me whether this museum is a tribute the humans have made or some sort of tomb? I do know that I will take this encounter as a warning and stay clear of this building in the future.