The story of the dinosaurs in 25 discoveries : amazing fossils and the people who found them Cover Image

Book

The story of the dinosaurs in 25 discoveries : amazing fossils and the people who found them / Donald R. Prothero.

Summary:

It took centuries of scientific effort--and a lot of luck--to discover and establish the diversity of dinosaur species we now know. How did we learn that Triceratops had three horns? Why don't many paleontologists consider Brontosaurus a valid species? What convinced scientists that modern birds are relatives of ancient Velociraptor? In this book, Donald R. Prothero tells the fascinating stories behind the most important fossil finds and the intrepid researchers who unearthed them. In twenty-five vivid vignettes, he weaves together dramatic tales of the dinosaur discoveries with what modern science now knows about the species to which they belong.

Record details

ISBN: 9780231186025
ISBN: 0231186029
Physical Description: xi, 472 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Publisher: New York : Columbia University Press, [2019]

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

I. In the beginning. Megalosaurus: the "great lizard," the "Scrotum humanum," and the first named dinosaur ; Iguanodon: Gideon Mantell, Louis Dollo, and the first dinosaur fauna ; Cetiosaurus: the "whale lizard," Richard Owen, and the first known sauropod ; Hadrosaurus: Joseph Leidy and the first American dinosaur ; Eoraptor: the first dinosaurs -- II. The long-necked giants: the sauropods. Plateosaurus: ancestors of the giants ; Apatosaurus and Brontosaurus: Marsh, Cope, and the Bone Wars ; Diplodocus: the real "Jurassic Park" and Carnegie's gift ; Giraffatitan: the tallest of the tall, and the Tendaguru ; Patagotitan: who's the biggest of them all? -- III. Red in tooth and claw: the theropods. Coelophysis: the little dinosaur of Ghost Ranch ; Cryolophosaurus: denizen of the polar darkness ; Spinosaurus: lost giants of Egypt ; Tyrannosaurus: king of the tyrant reptiles ; Giganotosaurus: biggest predator of all? ; Deinocheirus: "terrible hands" lead to big surprises ; Velociraptor: "terrible claws" and the dinosaur renaissance ; Sinosauropteryx: feathered dinosaurs and the origin of birds -- IV. Horns and spikes and armor and duck beaks: the ornithischians. Heterodontosaurus: the origin of ornithischians ; Stegosaurus: the "roofed lizard' and the thagomizer ; Ankylosaurus: armored dinosaurs and "Mr. Bones" ; Corythosaurus: duckbills with headgear ; Stegoceras: the "unicorn dinosaur" and the boneheads ; Protoceratops: the griffin legends and the origin of horned dinosaurs ; Triceratops: the "dinosaurian bison" and the last of the dinosaurs.