PAULA FROELICH: OK, are you just trying
to get me to lick rocks so you can make fun of me later?
[LAUGHTER]
I'm Paula Froelich.
Take a journey with me to explore the unknown
and discover the unexpected.
This is "A Broad Abroad."
The adventure starts now.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Mongolia's the funniest country.
We were just driving along those flat, grassy plains,
with herds of camels and horses, and now this.
It looks like the Badlands in South Dakota.
I went with my friend Timur to a place
called the Bayanzag, or the Flaming Cliffs,
hunting for dinosaur eggs.
Along with horses and Genghis Khan,
Mongolia is all about dinosaurs.
It's like a modern day Jurassic Park-- except, you know,
everything's dead.
So what happens if you and I are just walking along,
and I trip--
TIMUR: Yeah?
PAULA FROELICH: And it turns out it's a dinosaur bone.
Do I get to keep it?
TIMUR: No.
We have to bring it to the museum.
PAULA FROELICH: You know, it makes me sad,
because I would like a dinosaur bone.
But you know who would really love a dinosaur bone?
Carl Froelich.
[GONG]
Gnaw on it?
[LAUGHTER]
Done.
Mongolia's the epicenter of dinosaur research.
Scientists first discovered dino eggs here in 1922,
proving dinosaurs actually laid eggs instead of giving birth.
Pretty much anywhere else in the world, a site like this
would be roped off and swarming with armed guards.
But in Mongolia, you can just wander around
to get your Indiana Jones fix.
So do we think these round rocks are dinosaur bones or eggs?
TIMUR: I think I found a deposit of bones.
PAULA FROELICH: Well, this looks like a big old bone, too.
Look at it.
Like right here?
TIMUR: What about this piece?
That's yours.
PAULA FROELICH: Timur claimed there's an easy way
to tell the difference between a fossil
and a rock-- break it apart and lick.
If it's sticky, it's a bone.
If it's not, it's rock.
Of course, Timur could have just been messing with me.
He's like that, you know.
PAULA FROELICH: OK, you lick yours, too.
TIMUR: Yeah, I'll just break it. [INAUDIBLE] holding it.
PAULA FROELICH: Uh, sticky.
TIMUR: Is it sticky?
PAULA FROELICH: Ahh.
Super sticky.
Yeah.
Maybe it was a discovery.
Maybe not.
But in my mind, it was obviously two dinosaurs
in the middle of fighting each other,
and both are killed at the same moment.
It's so creepy.
It's like we're digging up an entire cemetery right now.
TIMUR: Yep.
PAULA FROELICH: And the fact that one single event
probably wiped them out.
But there's more to Mongolian wildlife
than what lived here 60 million years ago.
Next stop-- a museum with some more familiar species.
Yeah, what-- is this just a donkey, or?
TIMUR: This is the wild ass.
PAULA FROELICH: Oh, yeah.
No, there's some wild asses in New York, too.
They're just not this cute.
Trust.
TIMUR: Yeah.
PAULA FROELICH: If you like taxidermy-- and really,
how could you not?
This museum is your Valhalla.
I've never seen a snow leopard before.
Ooh, that one is mad.
Look at that.
I like its bloody tongue.
After a day of dino bones and taxidermy,
the sun set on the Flaming Cliffs, setting them on fire.
We witnessed a spectacular vision
of what was once a completely different prehistoric world.
On the next "A Broad Abroad," the Gobi Desert
has a new act in town-- the singin' sand dunes.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
