Re: STEGOSAUR TAILS (WAS DUCKBILL NECKS)

[Danvarner@aol.com]

In a message dated 98-09-03 09:11:31 EDT, Brian wrote:

<< The mounting of
 dinosaur skeletons in "the old days" was not as accurate a "science" as
 it should have been. Thus we had Dollo, who thought it was perfectly
 acceptable to actually *break* the tail of _Iguanodon_ to get the mount
 into the upright, kangaroo-like pose that he thought was right. And one
 of the most-seen dinosaur images in history is the AMNH _Tyrannosaurus_,
 which stood upright and tail-dragging until just a few years ago. >>

  The first public appearence of Tyrannosaurus rex was a skeletal mount at the
American Museum of only the hind limbs and pelvis. If you have _Discovering
Dinosaurs_ by Norell, Gaffney, and Dingus, on page 11 there is a photo of the
old mount next to a skeleton of a raitite bird (?). You can see from this
photo that they took pains to pose the tyrannosaur pelvis in the same
orientation as the bird's. Problem is, at that time they didn't take the
dinosaurs long tail into account. This was Dollo's dilemma also.
  Also interesting is the superb rendering by Erwin Christman in Osborn's 1916
paper, _Skeletal adaptations of Ornitholestes, Struthiomimus, and
Tyrannosaurus_ of the articulated spinal column and pelvis of Tyrannosaurus.
It is horizontal and I believe is totally accurate in light of "modern"
thinking. I wonder how much monetary concerns and structural and materials
problems entered into these things. They got it right on paper sometimes. Or
perhaps the boss was more interested in fossil horses and elephants! Dan
Varner.

  "Kow bisa para Kong!"