18 Topic: The Bone Wars - Lecture notes 18 PDF

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Brad Buerer...

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18 Topic: The Bone Wars last time… -dinosaur discoveries! -Buckland: Megalosaurus (1824) -mantell: iguanodon (1825), hylaeosaurus (1832) -owen: dinosauria (1842) -the first american dinosaur: hadrosaurus (1858) edward drinker cope (1840-1897) -american paleontologist -born to a wealthy family -student of joseph leidy (the Hadrosaurus guy) -very eager to publish new dinosaur discoveries othniel charles marsh (1831-1899) -american paleontologist -nephew of multimillionaire philanthropist George Peabody -Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale… Marsh became chair of paleontology -wanted to build world’s best collection -mostly hired workers to find things for him friendly beginnings -first met at Berlin National History Museum in 1864 -Marsh gave Cope a tour -maintained correspondence… shared notes and fossils and photos -Cope: rich, not educated -Marsh: educated, not rich the first shots fired -worked together well -Cope collected from bone fields in New Jersey, where Leidy’s Hadrosaurus had been found… -until Marsh paid Cope’s workers to deliver fossils to Marsh -Marsh started naming and publishing Cope’s fossils -Laelaps? dryptosaurus -1866, New Jersey: “the carnivorous enemy of the great herbivorous Hadrosaurus” -Cope rushed to publish… names Laelaps -name already taken… 1877, Marsh renames cope’s dinosaur Dryptosaurus (tearing lizard) Elasmosaurus

-1868: Cope’s rush to publish led him to reconstruct Elasmosaurus wrong… he put the head on the tail! -Marsh and Leidy called out the error, humiliating Cope The wild, wild west -a dinosaur rush began (1870s) -new finds in Colorado, Wyoming, Dakotas -Cope joined the United States Geological Survey (USGS), later Army Corps of Engineers (gov jobs) -Marsh used resources to hire workers Uintatherium -Cope and Marsh competed to outdo each other -often sloppy, rushed work -Uintatherium: Eocene Mammal -originally discovered by Leidy -“re-discovered” and renamed 22 times by Cope and Marsh como bluff -1877, teacher Arthur Lakes finds large fossils in WY; contacts both Marsh and Cope -Marsh paid $100 for fossils and rights to quarry -Cope shut out -Morrison Formation: Late Jurassic mudstone, sandstones -one of best places to find fossils in North America Apatosaurus -late jurassic Sauropod: 70 ft long -named by Marsh based on near complete skeleton, no skull -also named Brontosaurus… which was the same animal cañon city -Cope worked another nearby outcrop of Morrison Formation in CO/WY -bigger sauropods than Marsh’s -Marsh sent workers to stake out a claim; ended up working for Cope Camarasaurus -late jurassic sauropod -bigger and better: 75 ft long -Marsh tried to name same species Morosaurus the como bluff dinossaurs -stegosaurus -triceratops -allosaurus the bone wars

-openly criticizing in scientific articles -spying on opposing camps -bribing each others workers -sending thieves to sneak in and work other claims -destruction of unsalvageable fossils the destruction of cope -cope exhausted his wealth -Marsh became head of paleontology at United States Geological Survey (USGS) in 1882 -decreed that all gov discoveries were published through him -Marsh tried to seize Cope’s works, claiming they were gov funded -Cope kept detailed receipts the destruction of Marsh -cope published front page article in New York Herald exposing Marsh’s errors -dinosaurs with wring parts -dinosaurs named twice -dinosaurs poorly described -plagiarism -mismanaged gov funds the destruction of paleontology -entire profession mortified -ruined reputation of American paleontology -gov quit funding paleontology; fired Marsh; cut USGS funding in half -gov seized Marsh’s USGS-era collection -poor quality work by both men took decades to sort out Cope’s legacy -56 new dinosaur genera -plus mammals -American Museum of Natural History, New York Marsh’s legacy -80 new dinosaur genera -birds descended from dinosaurs -Peabody Museum of Natural History...