Just out of the oven, our latest #research: a review about the scientific utility of #sauropod skeletal mounts through the years. If you can't access it, DM me.
link.springer.com/article/10.100… #thread I'll try to summarize it in a quick #thread Here we go! 1/n
link.springer.com/article/10.100… #thread I'll try to summarize it in a quick #thread Here we go! 1/n
As @Bhmllr will tell you much better than I could (in his highly recommended blog), skeletal mounts have been a slightly divisive subject among scientists ever since the first mounts were erected: do they hold scientific value? The answer, is not a simple yes or no 2/n
The first skeletal mounts of which we have historical record, such as Bru's Megatherium (still mounted @MNCNcomunica in Madrid) or Peale's Mastodon, were assembled with different purposes: scientific research and show business. Both, however, tried their best at accuracy 3/n
These mounts soon were seen as an attraction, and some were exhibited at touring fairs, such as the infamous #hydrarchos: a forged creature from actual cetacean fossils and sculpture, with no care for accuracy. This was seen harmful to paleontology by Richard Owen and kin 4/n
However, some scientists would use mounts to spread their scientific discoveries. One would be Joseph Leidy and his Hadrosaurus mount, crafted by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins! With it, they showed at a glance not just the size of the creature, but the fact that it was bipedal 5/n
The case for #sauropod #dinosaurs is a curious one. Ever since the first reasonably complete sauropod specimen (#Cetiosaurus) was found, two main hypothesis were presented: sauropods walked with their limbs erect rather than sprawling and that they were aquatic. 6/n
Within a few months, ED Cope published the #sauropods #Camarasaurus and #Amphicoelias from Garden Park (Colorado). The stout limbs of the first made Cope think of a fully terrestrial animal, while the slender limbs and thin vertebrae of the second of a fully aquatic animal 7/n
While OC Marsh, ED Cope, HF Osborn or E Riggs all had different hypotheses on whether sauropods were terrestrial, amphibious or fully aquatic, they all agreed on one aspect: they were graviportal animals with an erect gait. Eureka! Consensus! 8/n
This consensus would not last much longer. As soon as the first sauropod mounts were unveiled in New York (an indeterminate #Brontosaur) and London (#Diplodocus) to popular acclaim, controversy regarding this stance would arise for a few years in scientific circles 9/n
O Hay and G Tornier claimed the erect limbs of #Diplodocus to be inaccurate: since it is a reptile, it should sprawl. Hay commissioned Mary M. Mitchel "The form and attitudes of Diplodocus", while Tornier crafted a skeletal reconstruction to illustrate their hypotheses 10/n
W Holland, director of @CarnegieMNH at the time, used a full size cast of #Diplodocus to refute, once and for all, the sprawling sauropod hypothesis. Given B) The deep ribcage, and C-E) dislocated joints, the sprawling posture was deeped impossible to adopt for a sauropod 11/n
However, a different problem, commonplace in all early to mid XX century dinosaur mounts, was never corrected until the 1970s #DinosaurRenaissance: the dragging tails. 12/n
Dragging tails in dinosaurs were achieved by dislocating the caudal vertebrae (A, #Diplodocus classic mount at @MNCNcomunica), to replicate the posture of the high walk of crocodiles. If the vertebrae are articulated, tails are subhorizontal (B, #Diplodocus at @CarnegieMNH)13/n
This was noticed already in the 1930s by CW Gilmore, when mounting a different specimen of #Diplodocus @NMNH (recently remounted). He actually compared his mount with those from @CarnegieMNH, noticing plenty of differences, among them, the curvature of the tail 14/n
So, these two examples are pretty clear on how sauropod skeletal mounts have popularized ideas both correct (erect limbs) and wrong (dragging tails) which are still all over our cultural perception of dinosaurs. How many plastic dinosaur toys still drag their tails? ;) 15/n
Physical mounts have served a role in testing scientific hypotheses as much as in spreading hypotheses. Now, enter the late XX century and the advent of virtual mounts. The first virtual dinosaur was a #Triceratops composite by Ralph Chapman and his team from @NMNH 16/n
However, the first virtual mount stemming from (mostly) a single specimen, thus representing the capabilities of an actual individual, was that of #Plateosaurus. This mount was used by @H_Mallison a few years ago to test the multiple existing hypotheses regarding its gait 17/n
This mount of #Plateosaurus allowed to refute all hypotheses of gaits proposed for this animal except one: an obligatory biped with grasping hands. Plateosaurus was not a facultative quadruped nor could it gallop on all fours 18/n
This work on #Plateosaurus set also a series of criteria and protocols to standarize the process of mounting (and posing) virtual skeletons. This protocols are important, since they allow a much better comparative framework for virtual (and physical) mounts 19/n
The history of skeletal mounts of sauropodomorph dinosaurs show that 1) mounts are more than just attractions, 2) preconceived notions can be a big caveat, 3) replicable mounting criteria are essential, 4) virtual skeletal mounts are key in paleobiology and exhibit crafting 20/n
Finally, I would like to thank everybody involved with the organizing committee of the XVII EJIP conference at Nájera (Rioja, Spain).The subject of this thread was first presented as a talk there and it could be published thanks, in great part, to their effort. Thank you. 21/21
EXTRA: Entrevista (en Castellano) con los colegas de @pcoffeebreak para quienes les interese saber un poquito de qué va este trabajillo y alguna cosilla más en profundidad :)
