That TikTok about God telling an angel to make dinosaurs “meatier”, not “meteor”, has been one of the best things to pop up in the past week. Now it turns out the woman behind the video is actually an amateur paleontologist and legit obsessed with dinosaurs in real life.
In an interview with BuzzFeed News, 23-year-old Eliza Petersen said her passion for dinos in the videos was very much real.
“I think I’m around dinosaurs enough that I’ve grown this level of appreciation that most people don’t have,” she said.
“I thought about how it would be so sad to obliterate the dinosaurs, and simply by accident too, so I started to tear up.”
@lizemopeteyis this too soon…? IB climaxximus on twitter ##fyp ##dinosaur ##ThatsHot ##DinnerWithMe ##MorningCheer♬ original sound – lizemopetey
When she’s not working at a law firm, Petersen volunteers in the Natural History Museum of Utah’s paleontology department, something she’s been doing for the last five years.
Hi all my new followers!!!!! Thank you for the dinosaur love!!! Here’s some pics of me on the job, finding/prepping/plastering bones! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!! 🦖🦕🥰❤️ pic.twitter.com/Vco7svwMsH
— eliza petersen (@lizemopetey) September 10, 2020
While the original TikTok was filmed in in the office at Petersen’s day job, she’s since released a sequel shot at the museum itself and it’s tear-jerking stuff.
@lizemopeteyGod faces the aftermath…. (reposted so I have a mask this time! Even God is subject to state mandates) ##fyp ##meatiermeteor ##dinosaur♬ original sound – lizemopetey
But even before she became famous for her dinosaur puns (which she says were partially inspired by this tweet), Petersen has long been posting funny and/or informative dino content for the inner paleontologist inside us all.
For example, did you know if you lick a bone (yes, bear with us) and your tongue sticks, it’s probably a dinosaur bone? That’s the kind of top-tier educational content Petersen has been disseminating to her followers.
@lizemopeteyThis is the REAL paleo diet ???? ##fyp ##foryou ##HealthyLiving ##paleontology♬ Tomorrows Gonna Be A Brighter Day Jim Croce – lizemopetey
There’s even a dinosaur Q&A for all you fossil fiends out there. And yes, it does elaborate on why her tongue stuck to weirdly to those dinosaur bones.
Unfortunately, Petersen did not explain what the forbidden nougat tastes like.
@lizemopeteyAnswering questions about licking Dino bones pt 1!!! Lemme know what other questions you have! ##fyp ##foryou ##fy ##paleontology♬ original sound – lizemopetey
That said, maybe don’t go licking random bones to find out what they taste like, unless you’re a trained professional like Petersen is.
