The All American Dinosaur
Searching the Wild Wild West
In the mid 1800's there was a rush to the gold mines of the badlands, the gold mines that gleamed with fossils. In the American west and in southern Alberta the harsh climate and rugged terrain leaves many fossils uncovered and free for the taking. Paleontologists such as Marsh, Cope and Brown braved the heat, scorching sun and rugged terrain to reach the well preserved skeletons of many dinosaurs: Tyrannosaurs Rex, Apatosaurus (formerly Brontosaurus), and Triceratops. The scientists competed with each other to see who could bring in the most and the best fossils. Most of the dinosaurs that we know today are a result of these fossil wars. News of their discoveries was published worldwide in newspapers and scientific journals. (below) picture from newspaper circa 1900, click image for full front page
By the end of the "fossil wars" Marsh, Cope and Brown had discovered representatives from every dinosaur species. (Explore Berkeley/UCLA to learn more on the different dinosaur species) The flood of new dinosaur discoveries led to an increase in the knowledge about the anatomy of the dinosaur. Old stereotypes were replaced by modern and accurate scientific evidence. Iguanadon was remounted to show it as a bipedal animal. It no longer sprawled out like a lizard on the ground but stood on it's two back legs, supported by it's tail (see background image).. The view of Apatosaurus as a low to the ground lizard was also quelled. Marsh proved that the animal would have left a huge rut in the ground if it dragged it's deep ribcage along the ground (Bakker). He reconstructed Apatosaurus with it's legs firmly beneath it like a long-necked hippo. These bone-hunting paleontologists still clung to the orthodox idea that dinosaurs, especially large plant eaters like Apatosaurus, would have needed to spend most of their time in the water to support their immense weight. Scientist saw the dinosaur's long neck as an adaptation which allowed it to forage deeper underwater or to snorkel air when at the bottom of a deep pond.
(drawing of apatosaurus before Marsh's reconstruction)
While Marsh and his colleagues changed many views of the dinosaur, it was impossible to change them all. Even though these scientists saw many similarities between birds and dinosaurs (particularly carnivores), their ideas of bird-dinosaur links were quickly dismissed after their deaths. People believed it was impossible for such large animals with such small brains to possibly be warm-blooded. Their sheer mass kept dinosaurs alive and moving, said most. They would have required a slow-blooded metabolism in order to not ravage their food sources, argued others. With the focus shifting from dinosaur family lines to human history following the Scopes Monkey Trial, the dinosaur-bird controversy was set aside. Dinosaurs were instead confined to the swamps, a safe place for ancient animals that couldn't evolve fast enough to keep up with mammals.
(Warm-blooded, birdlike reconstruction by Charles Knight)
Even the discovery of Archaeopteryx (a feathered dinosaur) would offer no hope for the larger dinosaurs. It was considered a missing link by Darwinism, but that missing link applied only to small dinosaurs and excluded anything larger than a few feet long. After the time of the great fossil hunters, scientists still continued to see the dinosaur as a slow green monster. After the discovery of dinosaur eggs in the desert, scientists believed that they had even more reason to classify the dinosaur as a reptile. The mother had buried the oblong eggs in the sand and left them to fend for themselves when they hatched. The evidence was all there: an omnivorous egg thief (Oviraptor) was found on top of the nest pilfering the eggs. No mother bird would allow that. The only solution was for dinosaurs to be reptiles.
(Sluggish Tyrannosaurus)
It would take a generation of new paleontologists with the focus and drive of Marsh and Cope to lead the dinosaur out of the swamp and into the mainstream again. In the early 1960's, when most traditional ideas were being questioned, some people began to also question the "dinosaurian orthodoxy" that dinosaurs were "swamp-bound monsters of sluggish disposition" (Bakker 15). Revolutionary paleontologists such as Bakker and Horner who used new technologies to redefine the dinosaur, recall old ideas of bird links and start a Dinosaur Renaissance.
Bacsk to Early Dinosaurs.......forward to The Dinosaur Renaissance
