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The Bone Wars were an infamous period in the history of paleontology when the two pre-eminent paleontologists of the time, Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh, were competing to see who could find the most, and most sensational, new species of dinosaur. This competition was marred by bribery, politics, violations of American Indian territories, and virulent personal attacks. The feud probably originated when Marsh publicly pointed out that Cope's reconstruction of an Elasmosaurus skeleton was flawed; Cope had inadvertently placed the plesiosaur's head at what should have been the animal's tail end. The fight between the two scientists lasted for over 30 years, ending in 1897 when Cope died after spending his entire fortune on the dinosaur hunt.
Source: Wikipedia
Gideon Algernon Mantell (February 3, 1790 – November 10, 1852) was an English obstetrician, geologist, and palaeontologist. He is credited with discovering the first fossils identified as originating from a dinosaur, teeth belonging to an Iguanodon. The discovery took place in 1822 when Mantell recognized similarities between his fossils and the bones of modern iguanas. He tried in vain to convince his peers that the fossils were from Mesozoic strata, but they were dismissed as belonging to a fish or mammal, and from a more recent rock layer than the other Tilgate Forest fossils. It was not until 1825, when Mantell published Notice on the Iguanodon, a Newly Discovered Fossil Reptile, from the Sandstone of Tilgate Forest, in Sussex that he gained the credibility that he deserved. The paper was presented at a meeting of the Royal Society, and was met with acclaim. As a result, Mantell was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and an honorary member of the Institute of Paris. He was also awarded the Wollaston Medal by the Geological Society of London and a Royal medal by the Royal Society.
Source: Wikipedia
Dinosaur (2000) (animation): directed by Eric Leighton and Ralph Zondag. Tagline: You have never seen anything like this. Plot Outline: An orphaned dinosaur raised by lemurs joins an arduous trek to a sanctuary after a meteorite shower destroys his family home.
Source: IMDb
The therizinosaurus ("scythe lizards"), from the late Cretaceous period in Mongolia, had the largest claws ever known. In the case of Therizinosaurus cheloniformis, the claws measured up to 91 cm (36 in) in length.
Source: Guinness World Records
Pangaea was a super-continent that comprised all of the land masses which today form the different continents in the world. The fact that numerous fossils of the same dinosaur species have been found on completely different continents corroborates the generally-accepted theory that this super-continent called existed. Pangaea began to break apart during the Triassic period roughly 230 million years ago.
Source: Wikipedia
Walk the Dinosaur by Was
See lyrics
White Chocolate Baby Dinosaur Egg
See recipe
Dinosaur names:
Serendipaceratops arthurcclarkei (Cretaceous ceratopsian dinosaur from Australia) Named for sci-fi author Arthur C. Clark.
Arthurdactylus conandoylensis (Brazilian pterosaur) Named after Arthur Conan Doyle in honor of his story The Lost World, which is set in jungle similar to where the fossil was found, and in which a living pterosaur is brought back to London.
Bienosaurus crichtonii (small biped dinosaur) Named after Jurassic Park author Michael Crichton
Elvisaurus (Antarctic dinosaur) so called for it's 'pompadour-like' crest.
Masiakasaurus knopfleri (theropod dinosaur) Named after Dire Straits singer/songwriter Mark Knopfler. Sampson said, "Whenever we played Dire Straits in the quarry, we found more Masiakasaurus, and when we played something else, we didn't." Knopfler replied, "The fact that it's a dinosaur is certainly apt, but I'm happy to report that I'm not in the least bit vicious." ("Masiaka" is Malagasy for "vicious.")
Utahraptor spielbergi (theropod dinosaur) Named after Jurassic Park director Steven Spielberg. The raptors in the movie were larger than any then known, until this raptor was announced the week the movie premiered.
Confuciusornis sanctus (feathered dinosaur) "holy Confucius' bird".
Bambiraptor (theropod dinosaur) after Disney's Bambi, because of its small size.
Qantassaurus (Ornithopod dinosaur) Named after Qantas Airlines
Tianchiasaurus (ankylosaurid dinosaur) After Jurassic Park stars "Sam ill, Laura rn, Jeff ldblum, Sir Richard ttenborough, Bob ck, Martin rero, Wayne night, Ariana Rchards, & Joseph zzello". The name was proposed by Steven Speilberg, who donated money for Chinese dinosaur research. The genus was originally named Jurassosaurus before it was formally described.
Source: Curiosities of Biological Nomenclature
The Lost World is a 1912 novel by Arthur Conan Doyle concerning an expedition to a plateau in South America where prehistoric animals (dinosaurs and other extinct creatures) still survive. The character of Professor Challenger was introduced in this book. Interestingly, for a seminal work of dinosaur-related fiction, the reptiles only occupy a small portion of the narrative. Much more time is devoted to a war between early human hominids and a vicious tribe of ape-like creatures.
Source: Wikipedia
Dinosaurs are nature's Special Effects. ( Robert T. Bakker)
Trilobites and dinosaurs, who were each around for more than a hundred million years, might be amused at a species here only a thousandth as long deciding to appoint itself the guardian of life on Earth. (Carl Sagan)
The dinosaur's eloquent lesson is that if some bigness is good, an overabundance of bigness is not necessarily better. (Eric Johnston)
Those who admire the massive, rigid bone structures of dinosaurs should remember that jellyfish still enjoy their very secure ecological niche (Beau Sheil)
Smallest Brained Dinosaurs: The smallest brained dinosaurs are Stegosaurus ("plated lizard"), measuring 9 m. (30 ft.) in length but with a walnut-sized brain. They roamed across Colorado, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyoming, USA, 150 million years ago. The most distinctive feature of Stegosaurus was a row of large, triangular, bony plates along its back. It's thought these plates may have had a defensive purpose, others have suggested they served as body-temperature regulators.
Source: Guinness World Records
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