STL Science Center

STL Science Center

28 January 2016

Retaining Fame

How does a dinosaur once famous for anomalous anatomy retain its wonder and fame with the populace when they are told that the anatomy was false? In the case of Tsintaosaurus the anatomical description may have failed the dinosaur in the long run, but the incorrect description was around long enough that the dinosaur gained some fame simply from having been described as an oddity. It is remembered as such in numerous erroneous statues and displays. Skeletal mounts may appear to be incorrect, but they are merely displaying the skeletal morphology that was preserved during fossilization and cannot, therefore, be faulted. Instead, simply enjoy the dinosaur in its many representations, correct or otherwise, and try not to hold the old descriptions against it. Those old descriptions will continue to lurk in the background and spread the fame of the animal and short of eradicating all of the fossils and texts that described them, there is nothing we can do about them anyway.
User CaptMondo

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