EPS SCI 15 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Crystal Palace Dinosaurs, Richard Owen, Shen Kuo
29 Apr 2018
School
Department
Course
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Lec 5: Paleontology as Science
April 17
HISTORY PALEONTOLOGY
● paleontology
: the study of prehistoric life
○ paleontology is a historical science (uncover a historical story)
○ aims to describe the past, by looking for patterns
●Ibn-Sīnā (980 - 1037)
●Shen Kuo (1031 - 1095)
○ found a belt of bivalve and ovoid rocks in a belt across the Taihang Shan
Mountains
○ similarly found petrified bamboo forests in Northern China (where they do not
currently grow)
○ geomorphology hypothesis
:
● Georges Cuvier (1769 - 1932)
- demonstrated that animals can become extinct
○ argued for cyclical creations & destructions of life forms
○ early proponent of comparative anatomy
● William Buckland (1784 - 1856)
- first to name a dinosaur (Megalosaurus
, a theropod)
and coined the term “paleontology”
○ attended Oxford University, England
○ thought the dinosaur was a giant lizard
○ taught Charles Lyell → father of modern geology
● Gideon and Mary Ann Mantell
- published a monograph of dinosaur discoveries (1822)
○ Gideon = a physician
○ named Iguanodon
(an ornithopod) and other taxa
○ initially believed to be meat-eating, later found to be herbivorous
● Sir Richard Owen (1804 - 1892)
- coined the term “Dinosauria”
○ head of the British Museum of Natural History (important anatomist)
○ recognized that dinosaurs are different from modern animals
○ Crystal Palace Dinosaurs (1851)
-
○ Dollo Iguanodons
- at least 38 individuals found in one fossil bed (ossified
tendons in tail, and short forelimbs compared to the back)
■ supervised the excavation of a coal mine in Bernissart, Belgium
● Archaeopteryx
- discovered in 1861 in Solnhofen Limestone, Germany (existed in late
Jurassic)
○ recognized as a transitional form between reptiles and birds
○ added to later editions of Darwin’s Origin of Species
(as an example of evolution)
→ demonstrates predictive power of science
● Paleontology in the U.S.
○ Exhumation of the Mastodon (1806-1808, Charles Peale)
● Dinosaur Discoveries in the Early 1900s
○ Dinosaur National Monument
○ Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry
○ Coelophysis
mass burial in New Mexico
○ Mongolia expeditions (by Roy Chapman Andrews)
● Bone Wars
: competition between Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope to
discover as many dinosaur bones as possible
○ both found the large collections of bones in the American West
○ both did much to promote dinosaur research in the late 1800s
○ Othniel Charles Marsh (1831 - 1899)
- named 26 genera of dinosaurs (including
Apatosaurus, Allosaurus, Diplodocus, Stegosaurus,
and Triceratops
)
■ helped found the Yale-Peabody Museum
■ worked at the U.S. Geological Survey and was president of the National
Academy of Sciences
○ Edward Drinker Cope (1840 - 1897)
- named more than 1,000 vertebrate species
and published over 1,400 papers
■ worked at the Academy of Natural Sciences (in Philadelphia)
○ Stegasaurus
○ Triceratops
○ Tyrannosaurus
● Charles Knight (1874 - 1953)
- new visualization of landscape during dinosaur times (not
as hellish as previous depictions)
●Deinonychus
(1969, John Ostrom)
- small, carnivorous dinosaur with similarities to
Archaeopteryx
→ reignited the hypothesis that dinosaurs & birds are closely related
○ ossified tendons running along tails
DINOSAUR RENAISSANCE
● started finding adult dinosaurs with eggs → suggests that dinosaurs take care of their
young (“dino mamas”)
○ Jack Horner
● endothermy
: idea that dinosaurs may have been warm-blooded (may have been more
like mammals than previously thought) → intelligent, warm-blooded
○ Bob Bakker
●Jurassic Park
- originally focused very much on science of dinosaur research → did a lot
for the field of paleontology
○ rise in funding for the field
○ one of first movies to incorporate computer graphics for dinosaurs (rather than
stop-motion)
MODERN ACHIEVEMENTS
● beginning of the study of paleobiology
: integrating biological research and mathematics
into paleontology field
○ more new species found in the last 25 years (than in all the years prior)
○ much new exploration in Africa, South America, and Asia
Document Summary
Paleontology is a historical science (uncover a historical story) Aims to describe the past, by looking for patterns. Found a belt of bivalve and ovoid rocks in a belt across the taihang shan. Similarly found petrified bamboo forests in northern china (where they do not currently grow) Georges cuvier (1769 - 1932) - demonstrated that animals can become extinct. Argued for cyclical creations & destructions of life forms. William buckland (1784 - 1856) - first to name a dinosaur ( megalosaurus , a theropod) and coined the term paleontology . Thought the dinosaur was a giant lizard. Taught charles lyell father of modern geology. Gideon and mary ann mantell - published a monograph of dinosaur discoveries (1822) Named iguanodon (an ornithopod) and other taxa. Initially believed to be meat-eating, later found to be herbivorous. Sir richard owen (1804 - 1892) - coined the term dinosauria . Head of the british museum of natural history (important anatomist)
