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Description

In 1867-1868, the famous American palaeontologist Edward Drinker Cope (1840 - 1897) found a strange new marine reptile in the Niobrara Formation of Kansas (USA) and named it Elasmosaurus platyurus. In 1869, he published a monograph in which he described in detail many fossil discoveries, of which the Elasmosaurus was one of them. He even published an illustration of its full skeletal reconstruction: a long and slender reptile with a short neck and very elongated tail!

Another famous American palaeontologist, Othniel Charles Marsh, examined the skeleton and saw that the interlocking vertebrae of the Elasmosaurus were reverse than those of typical vertebrae. Therefore, he pointed out to Cope that he had put the head on the wrong side of the body. The Elasmosaurus didn't had a long tail, but an elongated neck! Both men argued for a long time and eventually agreed to have Joseph Leidy, another famous American palaeontologist, examine the fossil to determine where the head should have been positioned. Soon after, he concluded that Marsh was right and that the head was on the wrong side of its body. Cope was horrified and the whole ordeal followed him for the rest of his career.

This event is commonly known as the spark that led to the famous Bone Wars , in which both palaeontologists ruthlessly competed each other fossil discoveries in North America. Each of these men used methods to outcompete the other by theft, bribery and fossil destruction.

Description

In 1867-1868, the famous American palaeontologist Edward Drinker Cope (1840 - 1897) found a strange new marine reptile in the Niobrara Formation of Kansas (USA) and named it Elasmosaurus platyurus. In 1869, he published a monograph in which he described in detail many fossil discoveries, of which the Elasmosaurus was one of them. He even published an illustration of its full skeletal reconstruction: a long and slender reptile with a short neck and very elongated tail!

Another famous American palaeontologist, Othniel Charles Marsh, examined the skeleton and saw that the interlocking vertebrae of the Elasmosaurus were reverse than those of typical vertebrae. Therefore, he pointed out to Cope that he had put the head on the wrong side of the body. The Elasmosaurus didn't had a long tail, but an elongated neck! Both men argued for a long time and eventually agreed to have Joseph Leidy, another famous American palaeontologist, examine the fossil to determine where the head should have been positioned. Soon after, he concluded that Marsh was right and that the head was on the wrong side of its body. Cope was horrified and the whole ordeal followed him for the rest of his career.

This event is commonly known as the spark that led to the famous Bone Wars , in which both palaeontologists ruthlessly competed each other fossil discoveries in North America. Each of these men used methods to outcompete the other by theft, bribery and fossil destruction.