DOCSLIB.ORG

The Garden Park Fossil Area Additional Information The

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

Sites Collecting Dinosaur Richest America’s Marsh C. O. by Apatosaurus of Illustration A Self Guided Tour through of one of of one of through Tour Guided Self A Program. Geocorps the through Management and the Geological Society of America America of Society Geological the and Management Depot in association with the Bureau of Land Land of Bureau the with association in Depot This project was organized and funded by the Dinosaur Dinosaur the by funded and organized was project This 5600 - 276 - (719) Sheriff County Fremont area. the call: emergency an of case In grown to appreciate the history and prehistory of of prehistory and history the appreciate to grown enjoy your visit to Garden Park and hope you you hope and Park Garden to visit your enjoy Picture Provided by the Dinosaur Depot can be better prepared for the future. We hope you you hope We future. the for prepared better be can staggering and by understanding past events, we we events, past understanding by and staggering The sheer scope and history of life on Earth is is Earth on life of history and scope sheer The 9036 - 269 (719) us. bought has animals these studying 81212 Colorado City, Cañon compared to the understanding of Earth’s past that that past Earth’s of understanding the to compared 9020 - 269 (719) Blvd. Gorge Royal 612 prehistoric girth and power is insignificant insignificant is power and girth prehistoric 81212 Colorado City, Cañon Center History and Museum dinosaurs have as flamboyant exhibitions of of exhibitions flamboyant as have dinosaurs Ave. Macon 516 Regional Gorge Royal quality, and size. However the value these these value the However size. and quality, Library Public City Cañon are virtually unmatched in terms of quantity, quantity, of terms in unmatched virtually are 6379 - 987 (800) The dinosaur skeletons found in Garden Park Park Garden in found skeletons dinosaur The 81212 Colorado City, Cañon Allosaurus. and Stegosaurus, Diplodocus, 2331 - 275 (719) #A Blvd. Gorge Royal 330 names such as Apatosaurus (Brontosaurus), (Brontosaurus), Apatosaurus as such names 81212 Colorado City, Cañon Depot Dinosaur Blvd Gorge Royal 403 dozens of specimens, including many household household many including specimens, of dozens Commerce of 8500 - 269 (719) The Garden Park fossil quarries have yielded yielded have quarries fossil Park Garden The Chamber City Cañon 81212 Colorado City, Cañon skeletons, and they have not been disappointed. disappointed. been not have they and skeletons, st. Main East 3028 come to Garden Park to search for Dinosaur Dinosaur for search to Park Garden to come Management Land of Bureau record. Scientists from all over America have have America over all from Scientists record. prehistoric life through examination of the fossil fossil the of examination through life prehistoric paleontology, which is the science that studies studies that science the is which paleontology, sources: following Area has played a critical role in the field of of field the in role critical a played has Area and Geology of the Garden Park area, contact any of the the of any contact area, Park Garden the of Geology and For over a century, the Garden Park Fossil Fossil Park Garden the century, a over For Area Fossil Park Garden The For more information about the History, Paleontology, Paleontology, History, the about information more For Paleontologists for Playground Additional Information Additional Park: Garden The Paleontologists Dall DeWeese—Dall Theropods were bipedal, predatory dinosaurs that lived and hunted DeWeese was a local throughout the Mesozoic era. Their large, powerful jaws helped Photographer Unknown Photographer Edward Drinker Cope– One celebrity of some hunt large prey such as sauropods and stegosaurus. They vary of the preeminent renown who had won drastically in size, the smallest measuring only a few inches and the paleontologists of the late fame for his exploits on largest measuring 55 feet (16 meters). Therapods from Garden Park 1800s was E. D. Cope. During hunting expeditions to include Ceratosaurus, Allosaurus, and Torvosaurus. his prolific career, Cope Africa, Alaska, and published over 1,200 scientific South America. He was papers and named over 1,000 also well known in the species. Cope was well known area for his excavation Dallas “Dall” DeWeese for his highly publicized rivalry of dinosaurs from Photo provided by the Royal Gorge Regional with Othniel Charles Marsh, Garden Park. Museum and History center Credit: Dmitry Bogdanov which was called the ―Bone Torvosaurus, a theropod found in Garden Park Frederick Kessler—Professor Kessler was another Cañon City Wars‖ in the press at the time. Edward Drinker Cope school teacher who excavated dinosaurs the area. In the late Ornithopods were dinosaurs that were common in Colorado during Oramel and Ira Lucas—In the summer of 1876 while hunting 1930s he and his students were hired by the Denver Museum of the Jurassic. The small ornithopods found in Garden Park were in the hills above Garden Park, Oramel Lucas, a schoolteacher in Nature and Science to excavate a stegosaurus skeleton from similar to theropods in that they were bipedal, however they were Cañon City stumbled across several large dinosaur bones. When Garden Park. herbivorous. The ornithopods varied greatly in shape and size; the the discovery was reported to E. D. Cope, he immediately began small, fleet footed dinosaurs found in Garden Park stand in stark funding excavations in the area with Oramel and his brother Ira Edwin Delfs—Edwin Delfs was sent to Garden Park by the contrast with their larger, directing the work. Cleveland Museum of Natural History to search for dinosaur crested duck billed bones. Over three summers, Delfs and his students excavated the Photo by Matthew Brady or Levin 1ndy or Levin Brady byMatthew Photo relatives found in younger Othniel Charles Marsh—Professor remains of a large sauropod dinosaur near four mile creek. rocks. Some Ornithopod O. C. Marsh of Yale University was dinosaurs found in Garden well known across America during Bryan Small and Kenneth Carpenter—During a geological Park are Camptosaurus, the late 19th century for his work in survey of the Garden Park area, Carpenter and Small discovered the fossilized remains of a nearly complete Stegosaurus which Dryosaurus, and Othnielia. Othnielia, a type of small Ornithopod Paleontology and his infamous on display at the Dinosaur Depot rivalry with E. D. Cope. Although was excavated by volunteers from the Denver Museum of Nature Marsh rarely went into the field, he and Science and the Garden Park Paleontological Society. Stegosaurs were robust herbivorous dinosaurs easily recognizable had many specimens sent to his by their alternating rows of back plates and paired tail spikes. Their offices and he is responsible for plates are believed to have been used for temperature regulation or naming and describing many The Dinosaurs communication purposes and their spikes were probably used for dinosaurs, including Triceratops, defense. The stegosaurus discovered by Frederick Kessler was Apatosaurus (Brontosaurus), Othniel Charles Marsh Sauropods were a group Credit: Dmitry Bogdanov named the Colorado state fossil in the 1980s. Stegosaurus, and Allosaurus. of large, long-necked Illustration by O. C. Marsh dinosaurs that thrived Marshall P. Felch—Although O. during the Jurassic C. Marsh rarely collected in the period. They were the field, he organized and financed largest land animals to fossil quarries in the Garden Park ever live on earth, area that were overseen by a local reaching lengths of up to Brachiosaurus, a type of sauropod rancher named Marshall Felch. Grandchildren of Marshall Felch Marshall of Grandchildren 130 feet (40 meters). - Although Felch had very little These dinosaur were exclusively herbivorous and it is believed that formal training, he was able to their primary defense from predators was their sheer size. Some of send over 270 crates of fossils to the sauropods found in Garden Park include Apatosaurus Marsh in spite of obstacles such (Brontosaurus), Amphicoelias, Diplodocus, Haplocanthosaurus, as vandalism to the quarry, deaths Marshall P. Felch Camarasaurus, and Brachiosaurus. Stegosaurus, the largest known stegosaur in his family, and flooding. Background Illustration Carlby Dahlgren, 1892 Photograph provided by the Great the by provided Photograph The Garden Park Fossil Area A Self Guided Tour Dinosaur Depot—The Dinosaur Depot is a natural history museum devoted to the study of Dinosaurs and 50 Miles 1 mi 2 mi 3 mi 4 mi other prehistoric life. On display is a petrified tree, a 6 Cañon City foot long fossilized fish, fossilized bones from dozens The Garden Park Fossil Area Park GardenFossil The of dinosaur species, and a nearly complete stegosaurus skeleton. Volunteers in the Museum Preparation Cope-Lucas Quarries Laboratory can be seen carefully preparing real Dinosaur N. 5th st. dinosaur bones and other fossils. Depot High st. Marsh-Felch Quarry N. 15th st. Phelps Ave. Red Canyon Road Field Ave. Cleveland-Delfs Quarry Royal Gorge Boulevard Gorge Royal 9 Central Ave. Dozier Ave. Highway W “Cañon City Al” standing guard outside the Dinosaur Depot City/County Road S N Point of Interest The Quarries 50 E Cope-Lucas Quarries (pictured below) - In 1876 Oramel Lucas was working as a school teacher in Garden Park while taking a break from his studies at Timeline of the Excavations in Garden Park Oberlin College. While hunting in the hills above Small- Garden Park, he stumbled across several dinosaur Marsh-Felch quarries (1877, 1883-1888, 1900-1901) Stegosaurus quarry (1991) bones which he reported to the paleontologist Edward DeWeese quarry (1915-1916) Drinker Cope. Cope, eager to acquire dinosaur Cleveland-Delfs quarry (1954-1957) Cope-Lucas quarries (1877-1883) specimens, immediately began excavations at several Kessler quarry (1937) sites in the hills with Oramel Lucas and his brother Ira 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s directing the work.
Recommended publications
  • Dinosaur Wars Program Transcript

    Dinosaur Wars Program Transcript

    Page 1 Dinosaur Wars Program Transcript Narrator: For more than a century, Americans have had a love affair with dinosaurs. Extinct for millions of years, they were barely known until giant, fossil bones were discovered in the mid-nineteenth century. Two American scientists, Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh, led the way to many of these discoveries, at the forefront of the young field of paleontology. Jacques Gauthier, Paleontologist: Every iconic dinosaur every kid grows up with, apatosaurus, triceratops, stegosaurus, allosaurus, these guys went out into the American West and they found that stuff. Narrator: Cope and Marsh shed light on the deep past in a way no one had ever been able to do before. They unearthed more than 130 dinosaur species and some of the first fossil evidence supporting Darwin’s new theory of evolution. Mark Jaffe, Writer: Unfortunately there was a more sordid element, too, which was their insatiable hatred for each other, which often just baffled and exasperated everyone around them. Peter Dodson, Paleontologist: They began life as friends. Then things unraveled… and unraveled in quite a spectacular way. Narrator: Cope and Marsh locked horns for decades, in one of the most bitter scientific rivalries in American history. Constantly vying for leadership in their young field, they competed ruthlessly to secure gigantic bones in the American West. They put American science on the world stage and nearly destroyed one another in the process. Page 2 In the summer of 1868, a small group of scientists boarded a Union Pacific train for a sightseeing excursion through the heart of the newly-opened American West.
  • Florida State University Libraries

    Florida State University Libraries

    Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2017 Fossil Excavation, Museums, and Wyoming: American Paleontology, 1870-1915 Marlena Briane Cameron Follow this and additional works at the DigiNole: FSU's Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES FOSSIL EXCAVATION, MUSEUMS, AND WYOMING: AMERICAN PALEONTOLOGY, 1870-1915 By MARLENA BRIANE CAMERON A Thesis submitted to the Program in the History and Philosophy of Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts 2017 Marlena Cameron defended this thesis on July 17, 2017. The members of the supervisory committee were: Ronald E. Doel Professor Directing Thesis Michael Ruse Committee Member Kristina Buhrman Committee Member Sandra Varry Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the thesis has been approved in accordance with university requirements. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ iv Abstract ............................................................................................................................................v 1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................1 2. THE BONE WARS ....................................................................................................................9
  • Science, Sovereignty, and the Sacred Text: Paleontological Resources and Native American Rights Allison M

    Science, Sovereignty, and the Sacred Text: Paleontological Resources and Native American Rights Allison M

    Maryland Law Review Volume 55 | Issue 1 Article 5 Science, Sovereignty, and the Sacred Text: Paleontological Resources and Native American Rights Allison M. Dussias Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/mlr Part of the Indian and Aboriginal Law Commons Recommended Citation Allison M. Dussias, Science, Sovereignty, and the Sacred Text: Paleontological Resources and Native American Rights, 55 Md. L. Rev. 84 (1996) Available at: http://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/mlr/vol55/iss1/5 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Academic Journals at DigitalCommons@UM Carey Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Maryland Law Review by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UM Carey Law. For more information, please contact [email protected]. SCIENCE, SOVEREIGNTY, AND THE SACRED TEXT: PALEONTOLOGICAL RESOURCES AND NATIVE AMERICAN RIGHTS ALLISON M. DussIAs* Land is the only thing in the world that amounts to anything... for 'tis the only thing in this world that lasts.... 'Tis the only thing worth working for, worth fightingfor-worth dying for.' -Gone with the Wind You have driven away our game and our means of livelihood out of the country, until now we have nothing left that is valuable except the hills that you ask us to give up.... The earth is full of minerals of all kinds, and on the earth the ground is covered with forests of heavy pine, and when we give these up to the Great Father we know that we give up the last thing that is valuable either to us or the white people.2 -Wanigi Ska (White Ghost) We believe that at the beginning of all things, when the earth was young, the thunderbirds were giants.
  • Defining the Mesozoic

    Defining the Mesozoic

    DEBRA LINDSAY THE MESOZOIC/DEFINING DISCIPLINES: LATE NINETEENTH- CENTURY DEBATES OVER THE JURASSIC–CRETACEOUS BOUNDARY DEBRA LINDSAY Department of History and Politics University of New Brunswick, Saint John, NB, Canada E2L 4L5 [email protected] ABSTRACT The last two decades of the nineteenth century were exciting times in American paleontology, with disputes over Jurassic dinosaurs between Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh appearing in the press. Less well known is the dispute over defining the Mesozoic that began in 1888 when Marsh invited Lester Frank Ward, a colleague with whom he had been working on the Potomac Formation for the United States Geological Survey, to speak on the plant fossils found there. Initially agreeing with Marsh that the Potomac was a Jurassic formation, work on fossil cycads led Ward to conclude that the Potomac was Lower Cretaceous. As Ward and Marsh grappled with the question of how to determine the age and identity of Mesozoic systems, they joined other paleontologists and Earth Sciences History geologists such as William J. McGee, Albert Charles Seward, and Samuel W. Williston in 2011, Vol. 30, No. 2 a debate that often reflected scientific training and sub-specializations as much as pp. 216–239 stratigraphic principles, becoming caught up in a trans-Atlantic dispute in which their reputations were on the line as they claimed that ‘their’ fossils were key determinants of Mesozoic systems. In the end, Marsh’s reputation as a paleontologist was far better established than that of Ward, who moved on to another career as a sociologist at Brown University, but cycad discoveries from Maryland, Colorado and Wyoming, and fieldwork, trumped laboratory studies—even when performed by a master systematist—as the Potomac Formation proved to be Lower Cretaceous.
  • A New Camarasaurid Sauropod Opisthocoelicaudia Skarzynskii Gen

    A New Camarasaurid Sauropod Opisthocoelicaudia Skarzynskii Gen

    MAGDALENA BORSUK-BIALYNICKA A NEW CAMARASAURID SAUROPOD OPISTHOCOELICAUDIA SKARZYNSKII GEN. N., SP. N. FROM THE UPPER CRETACEOUS OF MONGOLIA (plates 1-14) Abstract. - An almost complete postcranial skeleton lacking cervicals of Opisthocoelicaudia skarzynskii gen. n., sp. n. (Sauropoda, Camarasauridae) from the Upper Cretaceous Nemegt Formation, Gobi Desert , is described and figured. The reconstruction of the muscle system and sternum as well as the restoration of the whole animal is made. It is shown that Opisthocoelicaudia was a straight backed sauropod with the tail carried in a horizontal position. The neck is supposed to have been of medium length (about 5 m) and was carried low. The possibility of habitual assuming a tirpodal position is suggested by the opisthocoelous structure of the ant erior caudals. The importance of some osteologic features of sauropods for the understanding of their attitudes as well as for the systematics is discussed. It is argued that the length of neural spines depends on both the curvature of the back-bone and the length of the neck and tail in sauropods. Forked neural spines are indicative ot the habitual lowering of the neck, or even of the low carrying of the neck, if the anterior dorsals lack traces of the nuchal ligament insertion. Some titanosaurid characters of Opisthocoelicaudia are regarded as progressive ones in sauropods, whereas its camarasaurid features seem to indicate a true relationship in spite of their highly behavioural character. CONTENTS Page Introduction. 6 Description ... 8 Vertebral column 9 Thoracic ribs . 18 Sternum . 19 Pectoral girdle 22 Fore limbs . 24 Pelvic girdle . 32 Hind limbs .
  • George P. Merrill Collection, Circa 1800-1930 and Undated

    George P. Merrill Collection, Circa 1800-1930 and Undated

    George P. Merrill Collection, circa 1800-1930 and undated Finding aid prepared by Smithsonian Institution Archives Smithsonian Institution Archives Washington, D.C. Contact us at [email protected] Table of Contents Collection Overview ........................................................................................................ 1 Administrative Information .............................................................................................. 1 Historical Note.................................................................................................................. 1 Descriptive Entry.............................................................................................................. 2 Names and Subjects ...................................................................................................... 3 Container Listing ............................................................................................................. 4 Series 1: PHOTOGRAPHS, CORRESPONDENCE AND RELATED MATERIAL CONCERNING INDIVIDUAL GEOLOGISTS AND SCIENTISTS, CIRCA 1800-1920................................................................................................................. 4 Series 2: PHOTOGRAPHS OF GROUPS OF GEOLOGISTS, SCIENTISTS AND SMITHSONIAN STAFF, CIRCA 1860-1930........................................................... 30 Series 3: PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES (HAYDEN SURVEYS), CIRCA 1871-1877..............................................................................................................
  • The Fighting Pair

    The Fighting Pair

    THE FIGHTING PAIR ALLOSAURUS VS STEGOSAURUS — Allosaurus “jimmadsoni” and Hesperosaurus (Stegosaurus) mjosi Upper Jurassic Period, Kimmeridgian Stage, 155 million years old Morrison Formation Dana Quarry, Ten Sleep, Washakie County, Wyoming, USA. THE ALLOSAURUS The Official State Fossil of Utah, the Allosaurus was a large theropod carnosaur of the “bird-hipped” Saurischia order that flourished primarily in North America during the Upper Jurassic Period, 155-145 million years In the spring of 2007, at the newly-investigated Dana Quarry in the Morrison Formation of Wyoming, the team from ago. Long recognized in popular culture, it bears the distinction of being Dinosauria International LLC made an exciting discovery: the beautifully preserved femur of the giant carnivorous one of the first dinosaurs to be depicted on the silver screen, the apex Allosaur. As they kept digging, their excitement grew greater; next came toe bones, leg bones, ribs, vertebrae and predator of the 1912 novel and 1925 cinema adaptation of Conan Doyle’s finally a skull: complete, undistorted and, remarkably, with full dentition. It was an incredible find; one of the most The Lost World. classic dinosaurs, virtually complete, articulated and in beautiful condition. But that was not all. When the team got The Allosaurus possessed a large head on a short neck, a broad rib-cage the field jackets back to the preparation lab, they discovered another leg bone beneath the Allosaurus skull… There creating a barrel chest, small three-fingered forelimbs, large powerful hind limbs with hoof-like feet, and a long heavy tail to act as a counter-balance. was another dinosaur in the 150 million year-old rock.
  • The Fragile Legacy of Amphicoelias Fragillimus (Dinosauria: Sauropoda; Morrison Formation – Latest Jurassic)

    The Fragile Legacy of Amphicoelias Fragillimus (Dinosauria: Sauropoda; Morrison Formation – Latest Jurassic)

    Volumina Jurassica, 2014, Xii (2): 211–220 DOI: 10.5604/17313708 .1130144 The fragile legacy of Amphicoelias fragillimus (Dinosauria: Sauropoda; Morrison Formation – latest Jurassic) D. Cary WOODRUFF1,2, John R. FOSTER3 Key words: Amphicoelias fragillimus, E.D. Cope, sauropod, gigantism. Abstract. In the summer of 1878, American paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope published the discovery of a sauropod dinosaur that he named Amphicoelias fragillimus. What distinguishes A. fragillimus in the annals of paleontology is the immense magnitude of the skeletal material. The single incomplete dorsal vertebra as reported by Cope was a meter and a half in height, which when fully reconstructed, would make A. fragillimus the largest vertebrate ever. After this initial description Cope never mentioned A. fragillimus in any of his sci- entific works for the remainder of his life. More than four decades after its description, a scientific survey at the American Museum of Natural History dedicated to the sauropods collected by Cope failed to locate the remains or whereabouts of A. fragillimus. For nearly a cen- tury the remains have yet to resurface. The enormous size of the specimen has generally been accepted despite being well beyond the size of even the largest sauropods known from verifiable fossil material (e.g. Argentinosaurus). By deciphering the ontogenetic change of Diplodocoidea vertebrae, the science of gigantism, and Cope’s own mannerisms, we conclude that the reported size of A. fragillimus is most likely an extreme over-estimation. INTRODUCTION saurs pale in comparative size; thus A. fragillimus could be the largest dinosaur, and largest vertebrate in Earth’s history Described by Edward Drinker Cope in 1878, the holo- (the Blue Whale being approximately 29 meters long [Reilly type (and only) specimen of A.
  • The Dinosaurs of North America

    The Dinosaurs of North America

    FEOM THE SIXTEENTH ANNUAL KEPOKT OF THE U. S, GEOLOGICAL SURVEY THE DINOSAURS OF NORTH AMERICA OTHNIEL CHARLES MARSH TALE UNIVERSITY WASHINGTON 1896 ^33/^, I/BRAKt 4 ,\ . THE DINOSAURS OF NORTH AMERICA. BY OTHNIEL CHARLES MARSH. 133 CONTENTS. Pajje. Introduction 143 Part I. —Triassic dinosaurs 146 Theropoda 146 Anchisaurida? 147 Anchisaurus 147 The skull 148 The fore limbs 149 The hind limbs 149 Anchisaurus solus 149 Amniosaurus rTT 150 Eestoration of Anchisaurus 150 Dinosaurian footprints 151 Distribution of Triassic dinosaurs 152 Part II. —Jurassic dinosaurs 152 Theropoda : 153 Hallopus 153 Fore and hind limbs 154 Coelurus _ 155 The vertebra:- 155 The hind limbs 156 Ceratosaurus 156 The skull 157 The brain 159 The lower iaws 159 The vertebra: 159 The scapular arch 160 The pelvic arch 160 The metatarsals 162 Eestoration of Ceratosaurus 163 Allosaurus 163 European Theropoda 163 Sauropoda 164 Atlantosaurus beds 164 Families of Sauropoda 165 Atlantosauridie 166 Atlantosaurus 166 Apatosaurus 166 The sacral cavity 166 The vertebra- 167 Brontosaurus 168 The scapular arch 168 The cervical vertebra.- 169 The dorsal vertebree 169 The sacrum 170 The caudal vertebra- 171 The pelric arch 172 The fore limbs 173 The hind limbs 173 135 136 CONTENTS. Part II. —Jurassic dinosaurs—Continued. Page. Sauropoda—Continued. Atlantosaurida? —Continued. Restoration of Brontosaurus 173 Barnsaurus 174 Diplodoeida? 175 Diplodocus 175 The skull 175 The brain 178 The lower jaws 178 The teeth 179 The vertebra; 180 The sternal bones 180 The pelvic girdle 180 Size and habits 180 Morosaurida? 181 Morosaurus 181 The skull 181 The vertebra? 181 The fore limbs 182 The pelvis 182 The hind limbs 183 Pleuroccelida? : 183 Pleurocoelus 183 The skull 183 The vertebras 183 Distribution of the Sauropoda 185 Comparison with European forms 185 Predentata ».
  • The Presumed Course of the Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve in Sauropod Dinosaurs

    The Presumed Course of the Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve in Sauropod Dinosaurs

    A monument of inefficiency: The presumed course of the recurrent laryngeal nerve in sauropod dinosaurs MATHEW J. WEDEL Wedel, M.J. 2012. A monument of inefficiency: The presumed course of the recurrent laryngeal nerve in sauropod dino− saurs. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 57 (2): 251–256. The recurrent laryngeal nerve is an often cited example of “unintelligent design” in biology, especially in the giraffe. The nerve appears early in embryonic development, before the pharyngeal and aortic arches are separated by the development of the neck. The recurrent course of the nerve from the brain, around the great vessels, to the larynx, is shared by all extant tetrapods. Therefore we may infer that the recurrent laryngeal nerve was present in extinct tetrapods, had the same devel− opmental origin, and followed the same course. The longest−necked animals of all time were the extinct sauropod dino− saurs, some of which had necks 14 meters long. In these animals, the neurons that comprised the recurrent laryngeal nerve were at least 28 meters long. Still longer neurons may have spanned the distance from the end of the tail to the brainstem, as in all extant vertebrates. In the longest sauropods these neurons may have been 40–50 meters long, probably the longest cells in the history of life. Key words: Dinosauria, Sauropoda, larynx, neck, neuron. Mathew J. Wedel [[email protected]], College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific and College of Podiatric Medicine, Western University of Health Sciences, 309 E. Second Street, Pomona, California 91766−1854, USA. Received 9 March 2011, accepted 19 May 2011, available online 20 May 2011.
  • Determining the Largest Known Land Animal: a Critical Comparison of Differing Methods for Restoring the Volume and Mass of Extinct Animals

    Determining the Largest Known Land Animal: a Critical Comparison of Differing Methods for Restoring the Volume and Mass of Extinct Animals

    ANNALS OF CARNEGIE MUSEUM VOL. 85, NUMBER 4, PP. 335–358 31 DECEMBER 2019 DETERMINING THE LARGEST KNOWN LAND ANIMAL: A CRITICAL COMPARISON OF DIFFERING METHODS FOR RESTORING THE VOLUME AND MASS OF EXTINCT ANIMALS GREGORY PAUL 3100 St. Paul Street 604, Baltimore, Maryland, 21218 [email protected] ABSTRACT Recent claims regarding what is and is not the largest known sauropod dinosaur are tested via dimensional comparisons of the most critical metrics of relative size—especially, when possible, the functional lengths of the dorsal vertebral centra and the articulated length of the combined trunk vertebrae—and analog volumetric models based on technical skeletal restorations. The Cretaceous Argentinosaurus massed 65–75 tonnes, and its dorsal vertebrae and dorsal–sacral series are much larger than those of any other described titanosaur. Specimens of Patagotitan indicate a 50–55 tonne titanosaur, and the less complete Notocolossus, Puertasaurus, and ‘Antarctosaurus’ giganteus appear to have occupied a similar size range. Paralititan weighed between 30 and 55 tonnes. The juvenile Dreadnoughtus, as well as Futalognkosaurus and Alamosaurus, were in the area of 30 tonnes, with the possibility that the last was substantially larger. Entirely analog, skillfully produced, high-anatomical-fidelity skeletal restorations and volumetric models representing a prime-lean condition are approximately as scientifically objective and accurate, as well as more realistic than, analog-digital, crudely-formed convex hull volumetric models, which are based on subjectively and often inconsistently or erroneously mounted skeletons and digitized skeletal reconstructions. The need to ensure that skeletal restorations are as anatomically correct and consistent as the data allow is stressed, which requires that researchers and illustrators be sufficiently skilled in animal and especially dinosaur anatomy, and the proce- dures and standards for achieving the best possible results are detailed.
  • Edward Drinker Cope's Law of Acceleration of Growth [1]

    Edward Drinker Cope's Law of Acceleration of Growth [1]

    Published on The Embryo Project Encyclopedia (https://embryo.asu.edu) Edward Drinker Cope's Law of Acceleration of Growth [1] By: Barnes, M. Elizabeth Keywords: orthogensis [2] The Law of Acceleration of Growth is a theory proposed by Edward Drinker Cope [3] in the US during the nineteenth century. Cope developed it in an attempt to explain the evolution [4] of genera by appealing to changes in the developmental timelines of organisms. Cope proposed this law as an additional theory to natural selection [5]. He argued that the evolution [4] of genera, the more general groups within which biologists group species, occurs when the individuals in a species move through developmental stages [6] faster than did their ancestors, but within the same fixed period ofg estation [7], and thus can undergo new developmental stages [6] and develop new traits. The Law of Acceleration compliments Cope's Law of Retardation of Growth. He described the later law as the process by which organisms revert to an ancestral stage. In these cases, forces suppress the most recent traits or stages common to the development of individuals from different species within the same genus. Cope described evolution [4] as progressive and following a predetermined path, a perspective about evolution [4] sometimes called orthogenetic. Cope's was one among many orthogenic theories in the second half of the nineteenth century. Furthermore, the theory was part of a trend in the nineteenth century in which some biologists claimed that the changes in developmental timing of organisms could explain large changes in biological forms throughout natural history [8].