![]() It’s fundamentally impossible to verify Cope’s measurements and his interpretation of the data because that data no longer exists. Palaeontology has enough issues with incomplete and fragmentary specimens without those we do have going missing. This is, however, the problem – we are not working from the fossil anymore but the description of it alone. The latter would have been perhaps at least twice as long as this huge 25m animal. Such a fate is not uncommon for some kinds of fossils where exposure to the air or being freed from the supporting matrix can lead to specimens disintegrating but this was before the development of glues that could help consolidate and preserve fragile specimens, and it is also likely that no one immediately realised this was a risk.Ī near complete skeleton of Diplodocus, a close relative of Amphicoelias. It was extremely fragile and at some point shortly after its discovery it apparently crumbled and fell apart. ‘Was’ is critical here because the specimen is no longer in existence. Most recently a new giant from Argentina has been on show in the US that might top the lot, but even this may not have beaten a near mythical animal:a giant that was known from a single and incomplete top part of a vertebra from the middle of the spine. There are multiple credible candidates for this title on display in various museums though sadly each is inevitably represented by less than complete remains. ![]() ![]() ![]() P eriodically palaeontologists will announce a new candidate for the largest dinosaur to have ever walked the Earth with the finding of a new specimen or species. ![]()
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