By Bob Gibson
Daily Progress political blogger
The West Virginia legislature committed a bit of political theft Friday.
The Associated Press reports that a long-extinct ground sloth named for Thomas Jefferson was made the official state fossil.
They have their own fossils without having to resort to stealing one of ours.
West Virginia lawmakers agreed to make the Megalonyx jeffersonii their official state fossil. The proposal was tacked onto a resolution that designated the timber rattlesnake as the state reptile.
The remains of the Megalonyx jeffersonii were discovered in Monroe County, in what was then part of Virginia, in the 18th century, the AP reports. The remains, which included a large claw and some limb bones, were named for Thomas Jefferson, who at the time was vice president.
Jefferson is ours, and the Virginia General Assembly, by virtue of its inability to finish its work on time, just is a little tardy in making official its already unofficial fossil, symbol and mascot—the sloth.
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Posted by ( ) on March 15, 2008 at 10:31 am
Come on Bob. West Virginia has so little and Jefferson was actually their governor and the sloth was found in their state. Can’t we all just get along?
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