Embedded Files
Over the course of human history, there have been some hilarious and annoying mistakes that are made in paleontology, from professionals swapping body parts to wrong classifications. This section is going to talk about mistakes that paleontologists have made, as well as wrong ideas that are popular amongst the general public.
The Cope/Marsh Rivalry Mistakes
The Cope/Marsh Rivalry Mistakes
Both Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh made several mistakes over the course of their feud. Both were eager to point out mistakes that the other made, and they tried to humiliate each other. Edward Drinker Cope, when rebuilding the skeleton of a Plesiosaurus, put the head of the creature on its tail. Of course, no one had unearthed a creature with such a long neck before, but it was still hilarious. Many genera were named and described by both Cope, Marsh, and Leidy. It took years to clean up the taxons. Marsh named and discovered the first Apatosaurus, or "Deceptive Lizard." Later, he found a different species of that genus, and called it a new genus, Brontosaurus. It was later classified as Apatosaurus excelsus. When scientists later were examining diplodocid sauropods and fixing taxon errors, they found that Apatosaurus excelsus, according to their criteria, was too distinct to be and Apatosaurus, and therefore shall belong to a different genus. Because Brontosaurus didn't exist anymore, it was a free taxon, and was used. It was great news for "Thunder Lizard" fans everywhere!
Other Mistakes
Other Mistakes
Many other paleontologists have made ridiculous mistakes in the past. I only know of some mistakes, so I'll put them here.
The Iguanodon and the Megalosaurus
The Iguanodon and the Megalosaurus
The Megalosaurus was the first dinosaur discovered. I will insert a picture for you that shows what it looked like.
As you can see, the statues of Megalosaurus made when it was first discovered looked nothing like how we think of it now.
When Megalosaurus was originally discovered, there weren't many fossils. The imagination of the public and scientists was extremely different.
The Iguanodon Mistake
The Iguanodon Mistake
When Iguanodon was found, the discoverer put a spike on its nose. Also, it was seen as much more heavily built and slow.
As you can see, these "terrible lizards" were thought to be quadrupedal, heavy, lazy grazers, like cows today. There is a spike that appears more prominent on the Iguanodon's snout on the left. Now, we know that it was light, and could be bipedal or quadrupedal. It had spikes on its thumbs, and did not look like a lizard at all. It likely even had feathers.
This is how Iguanodon is portrayed today.
The General Public and Their Stupidity
The General Public and Their Stupidity
People who are not paleontologists have made so many mistakes about what dinosaurs are. For and example, most people think Velociraptor, and Triceratops are species, when they are genera. Also, people think of Velociraptor as a big, scaly, smart, fast lizard. Dinosaurs also roar in people's imagination. With more educated people, creatures like Deinonychus have feather-less faces, feather mohawks, and big fingers. Some pictures are below. Fossil evidence from a dromaeosaur ancestor says it had feathers up until its premaxilla. There likely were not scales, but rather lips. Some people argue that Deinonychus and other raptors may still have had bald faces, like vultures and other birds today. However, birds with bald faces have soft tissue, and generally the feathering slowly thins out, unlike many drawings and video games.
It is hard to read, but this shows the premaxilla on a Deinonychus. I think it is from the tip of the snout to the maxilla, which is also labeled in the picture. The link to the picture is below, so you can see it better.
The below shows what I think is the premaxilla. There was a border, which I coloured red over. Without the red, you can see some sort of whitish line.
For every Ark player on the Valguero map, this beast is the creature of their nightmares. It is about as tall as a player, has a scaly belly and face, and does not at all look like a bird.
Page updated
Report abuse