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Re: Backwards brontosaur?



On 6/16/06, Andreas Johansson <andreasj@gmail.com> wrote:
I've heard alot of different versions of a story about a "brontosaur"
skeleton that was mistakenly mounted with the head attached to the
tail instead of the neck. Does anyone know if there's some true
incident behind this, or whether it's just an urban legend.

Plesiosaur (specifically _Elasmosaurus_), not "brontosaur". The mistake was made by none other than Edward Drinker Cope, and Othniel Charles Marsh pointing it out and publicizing it is supposedly what led do their feud.

Marsh was the one who mistakenly mounted a _Camarasaurus_ head on a
_Brontosaurus_ (=_Apatosaurus_) skeleton--probably the source of the
confusion.
--
Mike Keesey
The Dinosauricon: http://dino.lm.com
Parry & Carney: http://parryandcarney.com