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

[Jonathon Woolf <jwoolf@erinet.com>]

Dinogeorge@aol.com wrote:

> 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.

No matter how much anyone dislikes Bakker and his antics, publicly accusing him
of deliberate fraud is far beyond the realm of acceptability.