WEBVTT - Did the Brontosaurus Exist?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from how Stuff Works. Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>it's Christian Seger. So our question for the day is

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<v Speaker 1>did the Brontosaurus exist? And the short answer, yeah, sure did.

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<v Speaker 1>But like so many answers, this one spawns a lot

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<v Speaker 1>more questions. Is that really its correct name? How is

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<v Speaker 1>it related to the apatosaurus? Wasn't it given the wrong skull?

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<v Speaker 1>And if it did exist, was it delicious? Let's back up,

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<v Speaker 1>We're gonna go to eighteen seventy seven. The confusion over

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<v Speaker 1>the Brontosaurus stems partially from confusion in biological taxonomy, but

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<v Speaker 1>also from a bitter rivalry of paleontologists. That's right, a

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<v Speaker 1>rivalry between friends turned enemies whose battle for fame and

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<v Speaker 1>power destroyed them. Both meet oath Neil Charles Marsh and

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<v Speaker 1>Edward Drinker Cope everything about giving your kid a middle

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<v Speaker 1>name like drink. They became good enough friends while studying

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<v Speaker 1>natural history together that in the eighteen sixties they even

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<v Speaker 1>named newly discovered fossils after each other. But Marsh was ambitious,

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<v Speaker 1>like Slytherin, ambitious. When Cope showed him around a fossil

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<v Speaker 1>quarry in camaraderie, Marsh struck a deal with the quarry

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<v Speaker 1>owner behind Cope's back. All the fossils found there and

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<v Speaker 1>the profits attached to them went straight to March, and

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<v Speaker 1>it sparked what history calls the bone Wars. This was

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<v Speaker 1>a fiery race to find and published papers about new

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<v Speaker 1>ancient creatures. One of these creatures was the Apatosaurus A Jacks,

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<v Speaker 1>a huge plant eater with a long neck and tail

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<v Speaker 1>that Marsh discovered in eighteen seventy seven. The skeleton was incomplete,

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<v Speaker 1>but Marsh wanted the credit for finding it, so he

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<v Speaker 1>slapped on the head of another dinosaur found nearby, a Chimarasaurus,

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<v Speaker 1>in his published reconstruction. Then in eighty five, Marsha's fossil

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<v Speaker 1>collectors sent him a set of bones belonging to a larger,

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<v Speaker 1>long necked, long tailed herbivore, a more complete set. Marsh

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<v Speaker 1>decided it was a different animal and published his discovery

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<v Speaker 1>of the Brontosaurus excels Us. His illustration of its skeleton

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<v Speaker 1>was the first dinosaur sketch to receive wide lay circulation,

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<v Speaker 1>and it caught the public's imagination. His haste was understandable.

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<v Speaker 1>Cope was battling Marsha's superior connections by practicing what's been

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<v Speaker 1>called taxonomic carpet bombing. He would publish four hundred articles

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<v Speaker 1>in his fifty six years. The two former buddies slandered

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<v Speaker 1>and sabotaged each other into financial and reputational ruin. Our

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<v Speaker 1>friends over at stuff you missed in history class. Actually

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<v Speaker 1>did a whole podcast to part in it if you

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<v Speaker 1>want a deeper dive. But back to the Brontosaurus. Shortly

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<v Speaker 1>after Cope and Marsha's deaths, a paleontologist studying Marsha's work

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<v Speaker 1>noticed that the Apatosaurus and the Brontosaurus skeletons were really similar,

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<v Speaker 1>so similar that the scientific community deemed the Brontosaurus Excelsus

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<v Speaker 1>an adult specimen of the Apatosaurus genus. So in nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>o three, Brontosaurus lost its official status, but museums, it seems,

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<v Speaker 1>didn't get the memo. Starting in nineteen o five, the

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<v Speaker 1>sauropods started seeing display around the world labeled Brontosaurus excelsus,

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<v Speaker 1>sometimes with a Camarasaurus head. It wasn't until the nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>nineties that these pervasive mistakes were corrected at large. But

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<v Speaker 1>the story doesn't end there. In April of fifteen, a

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<v Speaker 1>group led by paleontologist Emmanuel Chop published a study analyzing

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<v Speaker 1>eighty one sauropod specimens, including precise measurements of four hundred

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<v Speaker 1>and seventy seven different physical features. According to their findings,

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<v Speaker 1>they reported not only that Marsha's Brontosaurus excelsis skeleton had

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<v Speaker 1>enough differences to be considered its own species, but that

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<v Speaker 1>there should be two additional specimens in the Brontosaurus genus.

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<v Speaker 1>For now, the Brontosaurus isn't back for sure. It's up

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<v Speaker 1>to the scientific community to come to a consensus on

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<v Speaker 1>whether Brontosaurus and a Patosaurus deserve their own separate genera.

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<v Speaker 1>But the thunder lizard certainly wasn't a fake. Marsh was

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<v Speaker 1>just kind of a jerk. Check out the brainstuff channel

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<v Speaker 1>on YouTube, and for more on this and thousands of

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<v Speaker 1>other topics, visit how stuff works dot com.