I’m just a simple 18 year old guy and zoology student that posts random factoids about obscure animals and general animal science/zoology/biology stuff so if you like animals this is the place for you, if you only like cute animals this is not the place for you… I also like astronomy and some weirdos from youtube called the creatures so I’m prone to reblog stuff about that too because this techically is a personal blog...
Disclamer: none of the pictures are mine unless stated
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
The Brontosaurus is a lie
The wrong head
In 1879 a paleontologist named Othniel C. Marsh uncovered a large sauropod skeleton, he dubbed it Brontosaurus which means “thunder lizard” referring to the beasts great size. This name stuck and the brontosaurus became almost as famous as its great size. But there was a problem with this skeleton it was not a real dinosaur! The skeleton that Marsh found was headless, so he simply looked for the nearest head he could find which was miles away in a different quarry. It turns out this head belonged to a different animal a Camarasaurus! This terrible mix-up lasted until 1975 when two scientists, Dr. Jack McIntosh and Dr. David Berman, proved to the scientific community that the brontosaurus was simply an Apatosaurus with a Camarasaurus head, and that day the brontosaurus died (not really it died like 65 million years ago) and the Apatosaurus took its place. But Brontosaurus was engraved into peoples heads and the term Brontosaurus is still alive and well, as people still pass on the bad information that they have been taught.
You’re welcome for ruining your childhood!
^ We had the same reaction when my mom told me :’D
One of my favorite dinosaurs as a kid and it was a lie!!!
Oh my god. I’ve been living a lie.