Is Brontosaurus back?

[Chad]

I finally got round to listening to the interviews Bab Bakker and Matt Mossbrucker gave to palaeocast.com and, according to Mossbrucker, who was finally able to excavate the skull of an apatosaur, not only is an apatosaur different from the type specimen that was once known as brontosaurus, it's RADICALLY different, as in different snout, different teeth, different orbital bones, etc. Has anyone been following this?

(As an aside I was just at the Morrison Museum of Natural History where Mossbrucker works last month and it's a very great museum even if it's small. In addition to amazing specimens from the Morrison formation they have a slab of dinosaur tracks they interpret as baby sauropods running bipedally, not to mention lots of sculpts by Shane Foulkes. I'd check it out.)

[tyrantqueen]

Very interesting. Who's Bab Bakker, though? Bob's wife? 

*Goes to check out the site*

[Megalosaurus]

Oh yes!!!!
I'm going back to my childhood  .
Brontosaurus is going to revive!!!!

_{...at lest I hope so.}

[amargasaurus cazaui]

Oh yes!!!!
I'm going back to my childhood  .
Brontosaurus is going to revive!!!!

_{...at lest I hope so.}

yes but you know he was feathered right? (runs)

[Chad]

http://www.palaeocast.com/the-geological-society-of-america-annual-meeting/

Here's the link to the podcast with the interviews. The Bakker and Mossbrucker interviews are on Day 3. Be patient with Bakker...he goes all over the place before getting to the point at the end.

[Megalosaurus]

[...]Here's the link to the podcast with the interviews. [...]

Thank you very much.

yes but you know he was feathered right? (runs)

[Patrx]

I'd forgotten how much fun it was to listen to Bakker's rambling talk 

[Pachyrhinosaurus]

Bronotsaurus skull? Does he mean this:


I really do hope this turns out to be valid. It sounds like the new Brontosaurus excelsus skull will be very unique.

[CityRaptor]

Excelsus!

Although that is gonna create a mess.

[Seijun]

Its already confusing trying to explain to people that brontosaurus was really just an apatosaurus with the wrong head..

[tyrantqueen]

Excelsus!

Stan Lee would call it Brontosaurus excelsior

Just listened to the podcast and it was interesting. Bakker is still as...eccentric as ever

Couple of questions:
-When does the change take place? When can we start officially calling it Brontosaurus?
-That is a strange looking skull. Could it have have been covered in some kind of inflatable sac in life, or maybe even a trunk?

Also, a toy of the "new" Bronto needs to happen.

Its already confusing trying to explain to people that brontosaurus was really just an apatosaurus with the wrong head..

Ah, but it wasn't... The head confusion thing was unrelated to the naming.

[Gwangi]

Yeah, the whole ordeal is actually more complicated than just the wrong head put on the wrong body. I've read about it and even written about it but offhand I cannot remember the particulars.

[stargatedalek]

I think the skull isn't especially strange, it looks to me like a brachiosaurus skulls indent only less deep

[Chad]

I think the skull isn't especially strange, it looks to me like a brachiosaurus skulls indent only less deep

That's not the skull Mossbrucker is working on.

[DinoLord]

The pictured skull looks like a lot of it's been reconstructed.

[Pachyrhinosaurus]

The pictured skull looks like a lot of it's been reconstructed.

Yes, it is, It is a very old skull reconstruction form the YPM. Should have specified this in my earlier post.

[Brachiosaurus]

The pictured skull looks like a lot of it's been reconstructed.

Yes, it is, It is a very old skull reconstruction form the Peabody Museum of Natural History, in Connecticut (I think). Should have specified this in my earlier post, sorry.

It is from the Peabody Museum, I go there a lot when I'm at my grandma's house

[SpartanSquat]

WOW! He is really coming back? But in which family would be with the new skull?

[leidy]

that skull is a lot of plaster speculation from a time when there was very little sauropod skull material to reference.  The real-looking bit at the front end is apparently from a Camarasaurus.  Of course it was wrong, but a skeleton is much more satisfying to look at when it has some sort of skull. 

The Peabody Museum is just about my favourite dinosaur gallery.  I hope they never change things around too much.  Something very classic about the retro poses.  Modernised exhibits have become so commonplace that it's refreshing to visit a place where you can really feel the history.

Bob Bakker has never really accepted Apatosaurus.  He seems to think if he can persuade enough people by continuing to use Brontosaurus, that popularity will win out.  I like Bakker, and he's by far the most entertaining/charismatic paleontologist you'll see on tv, but after a while you realise he has a few quirks and pet theories that he pushes all the time.

[Brachiosaurus]

that skull is a lot of plaster speculation from a time when there was very little sauropod skull material to reference.  The real-looking bit at the front end is apparently from a Camarasaurus.  Of course it was wrong, but a skeleton is much more satisfying to look at when it has some sort of skull. 

The Peabody Museum is just about my favourite dinosaur gallery.  I hope they never change things around too much.  Something very classic about the retro poses.  Modernised exhibits have become so commonplace that it's refreshing to visit a place where you can really feel the history.

Bob Bakker has never really accepted Apatosaurus.  He seems to think if he can persuade enough people by continuing to use Brontosaurus, that popularity will win out.  I like Bakker, and he's by far the most entertaining/charismatic paleontologist you'll see on tv, but after a while you realise he has a few quirks and pet theories that he pushes all the time.

Hate to break it to you but they renovating the Great Hall and the Hall of Mammal Evolution, they are updating the dinosaur and adding new specimens, it will open in 2016