Changes

==History==

==History==

[[Image:Osborn.jpg‎‎|thumb|right|[[Henry Fairfield Osborn]] was president of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City from 1908 to 1935.]]

[[Image:Osborn.jpg‎‎|thumb|right|[[Henry Fairfield Osborn]] was president of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City from 1908 to 1935.]]

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark found the skeleton of a "monsterously large fish" in what is now Gregory County, South Dakota in 1804.<ref>Hunter, Francis, [http://franceshunter.wordpress.com/2010/01/13/lewis-clark-and-the-monstrous-large-fish/ Lewis & Clark and the “Monstrous Large Fish”]", January 13, 2010.</ref> The skeleton is over 45 feet long. It was later identified as that of the aquatic dinosaur ''plesiosaur''. Clark also collected bones at the [[Hell Creek Formation]] in Montana, which later became the most renowned of all paleontology sites. The first scientifically described dinosaur was ''Megalosaurus'', reconstructed by William Buckland in 1822. It is a large carnivorous reptile of the Middle Jurassic Period, and was found in Britain.

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark found the skeleton of a "monsterously large fish" in what is now Gregory County, South Dakota in 1804.<ref>Hunter, Francis, [http://franceshunter.wordpress.com/2010/01/13/lewis-clark-and-the-monstrous-large-fish/ Lewis & Clark and the “Monstrous Large Fish”]", January 13, 2010.</ref> The backbone of this skeleton is over 45 feet long. It was later identified as that of the aquatic dinosaur ''plesiosaur''. Clark also collected bones at the [[Hell Creek Formation]] in Montana, which later a renowned a paleontological sites. In 1824, William Buckland published a paper on ''Megalosaurus'', the first scientifically described dinosaur. It is a large carnivorous reptile of the Middle Jurassic Period, and was found in southern England. The following year, Gideon Mantell described ''Iguanodon'', found in Tilgate Forest, Sussex. ''Hylaeosaurus'' was discovered in Brighton in 1832.

By 1842, two more skeletons of the same type, ''Iguanodon'' and ''Hylaeosaurus,'' had been discovered. All three beasts had upright legs that did not sprawl like those of modern reptiles. Each one had three vertebra to support a hipbone. These two characteristics justified the creation of a new biological category, and Richard Owen gave it the name "dinosaur." The three dinosaurs were reconstructed and displayed at the Crystal Palace in London as part of the Exhibition of 1851.

All three beasts had legs that stood under them like columns, as elephants do. In contrast, the legs of modern reptiles sprawl. Each had five vertebra to support the hipbone. (Modern lizards have only two.) These two characteristics justified the creation of a new biological category, and Richard Owen gave it the name "dinosaur" in 1842. The three dinosaurs were reconstructed and displayed at the Crystal Palace in London as part of the Exhibition of 1851. In 1878, several dozen ''Iguanodon'' fossils were discovered in the course of mining operations at a coal mine in Bernissart, Belgium. This find suggested that dinosaurs could travel in herds.

In 1858, ''Hadrosaurus'', the so called "duck-billed dinosaur", was found in a mineral pit in New Jersey. It was put on display at the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences in 1868. In 1869, Edward Drinker Cope (1847-1897) reconstructed ''plesiosaur''. Othniel Charles Marsh (1831-1899) was able to establish that Cope had put the skull on the wrong end of the skeleton, humiliating Cope. The long and bitter rivalry that followed attracted great public attention. While previous skeletons had been discovered by accident, Cope and Marsh went on expeditions to arid parts of the American West. The two found numerous fossils in Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. Their museums worked out the techniques for mounting and displaying them. The feud between them reached a climax in 1890 as letters containing bitter recriminations were published in ''The New York Herald''. Congress responded by dismissing Marsh and revoking funds for his entire department.

In 1858, ''Hadrosaurus'', the so-called "duck-billed dinosaur", was found in a mineral pit in New Jersey. It was put on display at the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences in 1868. In 1869, Edward Drinker Cope (1847-1897) reconstructed ''plesiosaur''. Othniel Charles Marsh (1831-1899) was able to establish that Cope had put the skull on the wrong end of the skeleton, humiliating Cope. A long and bitter rivalry that followed. While previous skeletons had been discovered by accident, Cope and Marsh went on expeditions to arid parts of the American West. The two found numerous fossils in Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico as they competed to find and name as many species as they could. Their museums worked out the techniques for mounting and displaying them. The feud between Cope and Marsh reached a climax in 1890 when letters containing bitter recriminations were published in ''The New York Herald''. Congress responded by dismissing Marsh and revoking funds for his entire department.

In 1905, [[Henry Fairfield Osborn]] applied the name ''Tyrannosaurids rex'', meaning "“king of the tyrant lizards" to a fossil recently discovered at Hell Creek. This fearsome predator, perhaps 21 feet tall, would capture public imagination. In 1909–23, 350 tons of dinosaur bones were removed from what is now Dinosaur National Monument in Colorado under the direction of paleontologist Earl Douglass of the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

 

In 1905, [[Henry Fairfield Osborn]] applied the name ''Tyrannosaurids rex'', meaning "“king of the tyrant lizards" to a fossil recently discovered at Hell Creek. This fearsome predator, perhaps 21 feet tall, would capture public imagination. In 1909–1923, 350 tons of dinosaur bones were removed from what is now Dinosaur National Monument in Colorado under the direction of paleontologist Earl Douglass of the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

==Dinosaur species==

==Dinosaur species==