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The Bone Wars is the name given to a period of intense fossil speculation and discovery during the Gilded Age of American history, marked by a heated rivalry between Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh. Each of the two paleontologists used underhanded methods to out-compete the other in the field, resorting to bribery, theft, and destruction of bones. The scientists also attacked each other in scientific publications, attempting to ruin the other's credibility and cut off his funding. Originally colleagues who were civil to each other, Cope and Marsh became bitter enemies after several personal slights between them. Their pursuit of bones led them west to rich bone beds in Colorado, Nebraska, and Wyoming. From 1877 to 1892, both paleontologists used their wealth and influence to finance their own expeditions and to procure services and fossils from dinosaur hunters. By the end of the Bone Wars, both men exhausted their funds in fueling their intense rivalry. Cope and Marsh were financially and socially ruined by their efforts to disgrace each other, but their contributions to science and the field of paleontology were massive; the scientists left behind tons of unopened boxes of fossils on their deaths. The feud between the two men led to over 142 new species of dinosaurs being discovered and described. (Read more...)
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From The Fossil Wiki's newest articles:
- ... that in 2005, an Acrocanthosaurus skull (pictured) was CT scanned, proving that Acrocanthosaurus was a carcharodontosaurid?
- ... that Irritator is only known from a skull that was badly obscured by plaster which was added by the commercial fossil-collecting fossil-poachers who illegally sold it in hopes of making the fossil look more complete and valuable?
- ... that rhynchosaurs had unique teeth that were modified into broad tooth plates?
- ... that a trackway produced by an unknown crocodyliform that measured approximately 12 meters in length was uncovered in the Galve region of Spain?
- ... that Loxommatids are possibly the first tetrapodomorph group to actually spend substantial time on land.?
- ... that Zuniceratops was discovered by 8 year old Christopher James Wolfe, son of paleontologist Douglas G. Wolfe?
Paleontologist of the Month
Paul Sereno is an American paleontologist who is the discoverer of several new dinosaur species on several continents. He has conducted excavations at sites as varied as Inner Mongolia, Argentina, Morocco and Niger. He is a professor at the University of Chicago and a National Geographic "explorer-in-residence." Sereno's most widely publicized discovery is that of a nearly complete specimen of Sarcosuchus imperator (popularly known as SuperCroc) at Gadoufaoua in the Tenere desert of Niger. Other major discoveries include Eoraptor - the oldest known dinosaur fossil, Jobaria, the first good skull of Carcharodontosaurus iguidensis, Afrovenator, Suchomimus and the African pterosaur. (Read more...)
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==Explore the prehistoric world==
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4567.17 Ma - Precambrian era - 542 Ma | |||||||||||||
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3800 Ma - Archean eon - 2500 Ma | 2500 Ma - Proterozoic eon - 542 Ma | ||||||||||||
3800 Ma - Archean eon - 2500 Ma | 2600 Ma - Paleoproterozoic era - 1600 Ma | 1600 Ma - Mesoproterozoic era - 1000 Ma | 1000 Ma - Neoproterozoic era - 542 Ma | ||||||||||
Eoarchean | Paleoarchean | Mesoarchean | Neoarchean | Siderian | Rhyacian | Orosirian | Statherian | Calymmian | Ectasian | Stenian | Tonian | Cryogenian | Ediacaran |
542 Ma - Phanerozoic eon - Present | |||||||||||
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542 Ma - Paleozoic era - 251 Ma | 251 Ma - Mesozoic era - 65 Ma | 65 Ma - Cenozoic era - Present | |||||||||
Cambrian | Ordovician | Silurian | Devonian | Carboniferous | Permian | Paleogene | Neogene | Quaternary |
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Paleontology links
Palaeos • Understanding Evolution • University of California Museum of Paleontology • The Paleobiology Database • Mikko's Phylogeny Archive • The Fossil Forum
Elasmo • Paleoanthropology Society • The Virtual Fossil Museum • The Fossil Record