Category: Historical Tidbits

Posted on

O is for Origin

Darwin’s diary, speculating about species development. Wikipedia.

I hope this doesn’t burst anyone’s bubble, but Charles Darwin did not entirely invent the theory of evolution. Many biologists–or naturalists as they called them then–had an idea that life had changed over time. Darwin added his own special sauce, in his argument On the Origin of Species, but it was part of a chain of scientific proposals. Some of these proposals preceded or ignored the fossil findings. Others tried to fit them within grander narratives, despite evidence that said differently.

The origin of the dinosaurs can be considered from two frameworks. One is about the history of those who found fossils, a topic that has been brushed lightly before. The other is about the first dinosaur itself, a truth that is at the mercy of the fossils themselves. Then, there is the question of what came after, what animal origins emerged once the ruling dinosaurs were forced to bow before E.T. and his Merry Asteroid. Different kinds of origin stories.

Cuvier drawing of elephant parts, wikpedia.

The Origin of Evolution

Evolution and the resistance to evolution was not just about monkeys. The radical notion about change in general was that there had been change to live creatures, and it had lasted millions of years. The Bible had dictated different terms. Seven days. All the creatures, flora and fauna, created in just a part of that time span. As naturalists started digging up things, the idea that million of years had past didn’t fit the religious narrative.

Continue reading “O is for Origin”
Posted on

I is for Iguanodon

Author’s Note: I just realized that I have an excellent book that covers the story of Gideon Mantell and the iguanodons. This book, Terrible Lizard by Deborah Cadbury, contains all sorts of juicy details about the scientific rivalries, the tooth, and the horn. Unfortunately, I haven’t read it entirely yet, so this post will be based on bits and pieces of what I have cobbled. They’re still tasty bits. Dinosaur Cobbler.

Model of the originally envisioned Iguanodon, in a Dinosaur Museum in Colorado. Photo by kajmeister.

Gideon Mantell was thrilled to find the palm-sized rock that seemed unnaturally pointed and curved. He knew it came from an animal–probably an ancient animal. It seemed logical that it might be similar to a horn, like the one on a rhinoceros.

Oh, what a howling error! Mantell would be known forevermore for his mistake. Was it his fault, given that the foremost naturalist of his day insisted the animal was a rhinoceros? He also was pooh-poohed by the other scientists, only to have them become famous for his initial ideas. Maybe history should be kinder to Gideon. Still, he also dissed his wife. It was Mary who found the fossils, let him fill their dining room with samples, organized his papers, drew illustrations for his book, raised his children … and then was forced to move out when the house was turned into a museum. On second thought, let’s not cut him any slack.

Who Found the Tooth?

Iguanodon was only the second dinosaur to be discovered and named formally by the scientific community that runs such things, which in the early 19th century was in England. The idea of dinosaurs, the extent of dinosaurs rule over the planet, and their huge variation in function and design was all yet to be discovered in 1820. When the quarry near Gideon’s medical practice started revealing unusual fossil bones, there was some ambiguity about what animal it might have come from.

Continue reading “I is for Iguanodon”
Posted on

D is for Diplodocus

Diplodocus casts in the Carnegie Museum, photo from Carnegie museum.

Diplodocus was one of the oldest dinosaurs discovered. Language is so imprecise, though. Were they the bones of a 120-year-old? Was he from the Triassic, the earliest dino-era? Nope. He was among the first dinosaurs found by the dinosaur hunters during the late 19th century. So Dippy–that’s what that first skeleton came to be known as–Dippy was famous because he was one of the first, but he became more famous for a bigger reason. Dippy was copied.

Diplodocus was one of those “big” dinosaurs I mentioned back with the letter “B.” He is classified as one of the sauropods, those giant, the huge, long-necked, long-tailed dinos who were vegetarian and too humongous to be messed with. The family tree of the Diplodocus, (or the clade called Diplodocidae) groups the Apatosaurs with the Diplos. Both groups had long necks and tails, but the Apatosaurs were stockier, whereas the Diplos tended to be skinny in the front and all the way to the back, with an almost whip-like tail. (Like Anne Elk said, if you remember *ahem* Anne Elk, they were thin to start with, then much much thicker, then thin again. *ahem*.)

diplo (double) + docus (beam)

Continue reading “D is for Diplodocus”