Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Triceratops is the next Brontosaurus

History Revised, courtesy of Rooster Teeth Comics. Story by Griffon Ramsey and Art by Luke McKay.

Indeed, I still remember seeing Brontosaurus in dinosaur books when I was a child. Turned out that it was just an Apatosaurus with the wrong head. Now scientists are saying that Triceratops and Torosaurus were actually the same species. A Triceratops was basically a juvenile Torosaurus. So, we can say sayonara to yet another popular dinosaur. Thanks for nothing, scientists.

Here are a couple articles about the Triceratops debacle:
Triceratops May Not Have Existed.
Has Triceratops Really Been Torosaurus All These Years?

Edit: I thought Triceratops, being the juvenile, would be replaced by Torosaurus in science. I was all ready to give Cera from the Land Before Time a sweet goodbye. But apparently scientists are killing off Torosaurus and relabeling all related fossils as Triceratops instead. The reason, as far as I can tell, is that the name Triceratops was coined three years before Torosaurus. Since Triceratops was discovered first, its name stays.

Bye bye, Torosaurus. We didn't know you well enough to realize all your babies were actually Triceratops. Ya, we didn't pay much attention to you. Sorry 'bout that.

1 comment:

  1. For a while there I knew what it felt like for Pluto fans who had their loved one ripped away. Fortunately that moment has passed.

    ReplyDelete