Re: Brontosaurus/Apatosaurus (Was Re: Novel way to reconstruct a skull)

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

In a message dated 98-06-11 00:01:25 EDT, edels@email.msn.com writes:

<< Bakker says the associated vertebrae (and other bones) indicated that
 the animal was _Brontosaurus excelsus_ (or what most of us would call
 _Apatosaurus_).  He says the skull is sufficient for resurrection of the
 name _Brontosaurus_. >>

After reading about how much leeway there was in the way the skull was
reconstructed--by flexing and bending wax replicas of the individual bones
"until they fit together"(!)--I believe one could deform the
braincase--deliberately!--to make it look very different from that of
_Apatosaurus_. Doctor Bob is not necessarily above this kind of chicanery to
push forward a passionately held viewpoint. I would be surprised if the
braincases of _Apatosaurus ajax_ and _Brontosaurus excelsus_ were
significantly different, given how closely related the two species are and
given how conservative braincases are in dinosaurs. I'd like to see this
method employed by other researchers before I'd agree to its reliability.