In From The Cold: The Return Of Brontosaurus

I daren't let this story rumble on by without throwing in some of my own observations. Indeed, Brontosaurus was an important dinosaur during my early flirtations with dinosaurology when, perhaps, the palaeontologists of the early '80s would rather it hadn't been - or at least not by the that name. This is such a big story right now, that it's barely worth summarising it yet again, but for the benefit of someone finding this article out of the context of the media 'frenzy', we're talking about the the issue of the genus erected for a fossil sauropod discovered by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1879. In 1903 Brontosaurus was reclassified as a species of Apatosaurus, but despite this, the name Brontosaurus stuck fast. Whatever the actual reason, or reasons, it's not hard to see the appeal of Brontosaurus. It's the 'Thunder Lizard', a veritable superhero of the Mesozoic world, splitting the rocky ground upon which it walked and announcing its approach long in advance of its arrival. Apatosaurus, well, it just sounds kinda vague. Less thunder and more rain: A-pitter-patter-saurus. Apatosaurus is Betamax.

Exactly how it happened. (Copyright © 2015 Gareth Monger)

Back then, and compared with Brontosaurus, Apatosaurus lacked airtime. The authors of the kids' books I owned didn't really imbue it with any personality - if they mentioned it at all. Also discovered by Marsh, and only a couple of years earlier, Apatosaurus ajax shares the same overall 'layout' as Brontosaurus excelsus, being a heavy-set quadruped with an enormously long neck and tail. It's slightly stockier than Diplodocus and holds itself more-or-less horizontally, especially when compared with that other famous sauropod, Brachiosaurus. Certainly in the popular children's books of the '70s and '80s, Brontosaurus was depicted as Diplodocus's squatter cousin, and much of the scientific laziness can probably be attributed to their authors simply taking their lead from existing books they were hoping to emulate and, if only in terms of style, update. The reasoning behind the pair rarely receiving the same attention in the same book probably boils down to the simple reason that since both animals share very similar bauplans, why include both? After all, dinosaur-overview books tend to focus on the most famous and the most disparate forms.

Old and new (and old again). Interesting news but, unfortunately, it won't create much new work in the palaeoart community. (Copyright © 2015 Gareth Monger)

So what does this mean for Brontosaurus's future, as far as its ranking as a kids' favourite? Based on my horribly vague recollections of my friends' dinosaur knowledge in the mid-'80s, if I'd taken a poll and asked my five-year-old friends to name five dinosaurs, you'd almost certainly hear Tyrannosaurus (never "T. rex" back then), Brontosaurus, Triceratops, Stegosaurus and perhaps Diplodocus - and probably not much else. Of course, if you asked the same demographic now, there'd be a whole host of new names, minus Brontosaurus. To be fair, it's to be expected, and for all the obvious reasons: new discoveries, better restorations, better reach, and everything in between - and several years of authors honouring Brontosaurus's 1903 reclassification. But for today's younger dinosaur enthusiasts, they may only have come across Brontosaurus whilst reading about Apatosaurus. For them, Brontosaurus is just an interesting little quirk of the scientific process recorded in the footnotes of an Apatosaurus profile. Whether it recovers its position as a firm favourite with the next generation of dinosaur fans remains to be seen. Can Brontosaurus bounce back from its second extinction?

Read the paper by Tschopp, Mateus and Benson here. It's got all the science bits I ignored in it.

January's 'Bob Art Models' Contest: Winner Announced

On January 22nd I asked three questions, and from the immense pile of names of those who answered correctly, I selected a winner at random. These were the questions:

1. Which famous Hollywood adventurer is best associated with Roy Chapman Andrews? 
2. Which late Jurassic theropod was named to honour Othniel Marsh?
3. Three types of (living) animal were present at Cope's funeral. What were they?

Two people entered, and one of those answered correctly. These are the answers:

1. Henry Jones Jr.

2. Marshosaurus.

3. Tortoise, Gila Monster, Human.

And here is the winner:

A hatful of winners.

Well done to Rob J. Gay, who wins a set of three Bob Art Models greetings cards, depicting Cope, Marsh and Andrews in typical Follenesque stylings. Big thanks to all who entered the competition and shared posts through social media, and to Robert Follen of Bob Art Models for supplying the prize.

Grumpy old men, courtesy of Bob Art Models.

Coming soon: Copy, Right? Plagiarism And Palaeoart. Oh, and that Nyctosaurus book I'm working on.

WIN STUFF At Pteroformer - BAM Greetings Cards

It's January and you lot in the Northern Hemisphere are all feeling low and depleted. So I've been to the bank, rearranged funds and borrowed some cash to bring you this blog's first ever competition. Now, the car I could afford on this blog's budget wasn't really worth towing home to photograph, so I've decided on something a little less corroded and a lot less expensive.

Up for grabs, courtesy of Robert Follen at Bob Art Models, is this set of three greetings cards, each bearing a different famous dinosaur hunter. Robert has spent the last eighteen months building a small company in Todmorden, West Yorkshire, and he wiles away the hours coming up with new and hideous ways to depict otherwise beautiful specimens of celebrity, including such megaliths as Mary Berry (from some cookery show), the befezzled Tommy Cooper and Hammer hero Peter Cushing.

Now, I've known Robert for a good few years; we were in a band and attended the same art college. He eventually went the route of model-making and visual effects and I took up illustration. So I exploited our friendship and pushed him to give the palaeontology community what it so desperately needs: hideously-rendered caricatures of three of palaeontology's best-loved heroes, Roy Chapman Andrews, Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope. Given how the three characters he chose all look a bit severe to begin with, I think they'd probably not be utterly, utterly offended by his efforts.

Old rivals Cope (left) and Marsh (right) with Roy Chapman Andrews keeping them in check. (©2015 Bob Art Models)

So, all you have to do to win this set of cards is answer these three questions:

1. Which famous Hollywood adventurer is best associated with Roy Chapman Andrews?
2. Which late Jurassic theropod was named to honour Othniel Marsh?
3. Three types of (living) animal were present at Cope's funeral. What were they?

Email your answers to microraptor_at_hotmail_dot_com, and don't forget your name and address.  I'll select a winner at random. Best of luck! Closing date is Thursday February 5th.

Alternatively, buy directly from Bob Art Models. Contact BAM here.

Small print: this competition is not open to employees of Bob Art Models. Sorry, Robert.

Coming up soon: an update and brief overview (so far) of my Nyctosaurus book.