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| an older depiction, without the spinal fringe |
When Apatosaurus was first introduced to the
public, She immediately captured everyone’s imagination. Once called “Brontosaurus,” Apatosaurus became a familiar Dinosaur to many people, starting
with the early animated film, “Gertie the
Dinosaur” (1914) which starred an Apatosaurus.
From then on, this Dinosaur became a favorite of people. She is now a child’s toy
and the logo of the Sinclair Oil Company.
Apatosaurus
changed people’s notions of how Dinosaurs moved. Before her discovery, early
paleontologists believed that Dinosaurs walked like modern Lizards. They supposedly
spread their legs from side to side, and walked with their bellies close to the
ground. Robust Apatosaurus
demonstrated that Dinosaurs stood upright on flat-soled feet and walked like
Elephants.
Although Apatosaurus cleared up one Dinosaur mystery, She caused more confusion
in other areas of paleontology. When She was first discovered, her fossils were
mixed-up with a Mosasaurus, an aquatic Reptile. This created an odd looking
Dinosaur. After that was sorted out, paleontologists were still unsure about
what She looked like. Skulls of Sauropods, the Family that Apatosaurus belonged to, were lightweight and therefore rarely
preserved. When her skeleton was found next to a Camarasaurus, who had an intact skull, scientists thought that his
skull was hers. Although the two Dinosaurs were Sauropods, Camarasaurus was a Big-nosed Sauropod, whilst Apatosaurus belonged to the Whip-tailed sub-Family. Only recently
did scientists recognize that the skull was not hers.
During the “Bone Wars” (1877-95),
Othniel C. Marsh competed with Edward D. Cope over who discovered and named the
most Dinosaurs. In 1877, Marsh found and named Apatosaurus. Two years later, Marsh found bones of what he thought
was another Sauropod. He named this new “species,” “Brontosaurus.” In 1905, the Peabody Museum of Natural History in
New Haven (US) displayed a copy of “Brontosaurus,”
thereby cementing this Dinosaur in the public’s mind. However two years before,
another paleontologist Elmer Rigs had proved that the two Dinosaurs were the
same. But Apatosaurus continued to be
referred to as “Brontosaurus.” In
1989, the U.S. Post Office issued stamps of Dinosaurs featuring “Brontosaurus,” explaining that that is what
people called Apatosaurus.
Living in the Late Jurassic in North
America, Apatosaurus was a sturdy
Sauropod, with a medium-sized head and neck. Using her pegged teeth, She
stripped off leaves from conifers for food. Since She had no good chewing
teeth, Apatosaurus swallowed small stones
to ground up the leaves for digestion. Unlike early erroneous depictions of Her,
Apatosaurus was actually an elegant slender
Dinosaur, with spikes on her neck and tail, who held her slim tail out as She
walked.
Apatosaurus
lives at the intersection of reality and imagination. The reality is a refined Sauropod
who roamed the countryside searching for conifers to eat. The imagination is “Brontosaurus,” the Thunder Lizard,” a
stout Dinosaur who shook the ground as He walked. The Nexus holds both, who
co-exist in our lives and minds. Each Dinosaur
gives us insight into our reality and thoughts, and guides us through the multiple
dimensions of our lives. Follow both into the inner and outer reaches of the
Universe, and discover more.
