This video says about itself:
Video clip of “Walking with Dinosaurs - The Live Experience”. U.S tour 11-11-09.By Jennifer Viegas in the USA:It showcases three Utahraptors as they feed on the corpse of a fellow, unnamed, dinosaur.
The Uhtaraptors (meaning Utah thief), according to the information on their website http://www.dinosaurlive.com, are 6m (19.5 ft) in size … the largest known member of the theropod dinosaur family Dromaeosauridae.
9-Year-Old Girl Finds Bone at Maryland Dinosaur ParkThe skull of Monolophosaurus jiangi (Dinosauria: Theropoda) and its implications for early theropod phylogeny and evolution: here.Wed Nov 25, 2009 09:55 AM ET
“Dinosaur Park” in Prince Georges County, Maryland, has only been open for two weekends, but it’s already led to a probable noteworthy find.
The paleontologist in this case wasn’t a professor with multiple degrees, but rather a 9-year-old girl who happened upon a small bone that experts believe belonged to a Cretaceous era raptor.
The bone measures just about 1/2 inch long. Experts at the park think it was likely a vertebra from a raptor’s tail. The bone is now on its way to the Smithsonian, where it will undergo further examination.
According to media reports, Gabrielle Block, the fourth-grader who unearthed the bone, was with her budding paleontologist sister, Rachel, and parents. They were sifting through dirt and debris left behind by a recent rain storm when she spotted the fossil. She showed it to her mother, Karin Block, who thought she could see little holes in it, where the marrow might have been.
If the bone is verified, it probably dates to 110 million years ago, when this part of Maryland enjoyed a tropical or sub-tropical climate. Dinosaurs, crocodiles, turtles and fish all flourished under the balmy conditions.
Maryland’s Dinosaur Park sits within a 41-acre property. It’s open from noon to 4 PM the first and third Saturdays of each month. For more information about the park, please call 301-627-7755, TTY 301-446-3402.
Early interpretations of dinosaurs
by Brenda Nelson
Dinosaurs were probably first discovered by the Chinese, who at the time would have interpreted them as dragons. Due to this mistake in identity, the Chinese believed the fossils to hold great powers and would grind them up for medicinal reasons.
Ancient Romans and Greeks would used dinosaur fossils as the basis for many of their legendary monsters, and even Gods. In early England fossil finds started great tales of dragons.
The first well documented find of a Dinosaur bone, in the 1670’s, was not recognized as such. Sadly through ignorance brought about by the Christian Church (who did not believe the Earth had been in existence for more than a few thousand years), the first dinosaur bone was accredited to having belonged to a giant human, one killed during the biblical flood. Later (after other discoveries listed below), through artists rendering it has been determined that the bone was a thigh bone from a dinosaur, and was categorized as belonging to the meat eater, Megalosaurus. The original bone became the butt of ridicule after a drawing made it look like an over-sized penis, and has disappeared.
It was almost 150 years later that Dinosaurs were described somewhat more accurately, knowledge was sought after, and information was cared for.
The biggest error in dinosaur interpretation occurred in 1822. A set of teeth were discovered, either by Gideon Mantell or his wife, Mary Ann. This was one of the first dinosaurs ever discovered that was recognized as something important.
In 1834 more fossils were discovered in Maidstone, Kent, these were of the same species and were used in the process of understanding what the animal looked like.
However, the mistake took place in interpreting the build of the creature and reassembling it. Because the teeth looked a little like massive Iguana teeth, not only was it given the name Iguanodon, but its remains were assembled so it looked more or less like a giant lizard. Nobody at that time could believe anything other than the creature being a slow quadruped (not unlike an elephant), and had no idea they were millions of years old, rather than thousands. It was assumed to be an animal killed in the great flood according to Biblical legend. Igualodon was placed on four legs, given a broad head and a rather lumbering appearance. Most humiliating of all, its thumb was placed on the tip of its nose so as to be some sort of cute horn.
We now realize Iguanodon to have stood on two legs, to be able to move rather quickly, and the nose horn was actually a thumb bone. We are still learning more about the dinosaurs and old mistakes are still being corrected.
http://www.helium.com/items/1450762-early-interpretation-of-iguanodon
Comment by Administrator — December 2, 2009 @ 4:53 pm