Early birds had dino-feet: study

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The Archaeopterx specimen in question is very contentions in paleontology right now, but not only because of it's better preservation and new insights into dino-bird anatomy, but due to it's new home, the Wyoming Dinosaur Center in Thermopolis Wyoming (total population 2,500 or so). This, being a small town museum, is arguably a horrible choice for such a precious specimen. There are security and access issues that haven't been dealt with in oh, a hundred years or so when the other dino museums were founded.The question I have is, do others see this as a problem? Having worked and researched at the museum in question since my teenage years, I have some definite opinions about the specimen's storage, but what to other's think? Do you think important specimens should be stored in the best museums, or be sold to the highest bidder?Au revoir,
Theus

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somebody better notify talkorigins.*moves one trait from the bird-pile to the dinosaur-pile*this will be yet another problem for creationists, who contend that archaeopteryx is "just a bird." i have always considered archae to primarily dinosaurian, in that it's theropodal features far outnumber it's avian features. i described it's dinosaurian features in this post some time back. that thread would be a good place for debate, should anyone want to, uh, actually answer that post about why archaeopteryx is not "just a bird."

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Some good points. I guess I don't know the answer.I think that if the Museum, or some other entity, financed the operation and the museum received permission to keep any and everything it discovered, then they have a right to the fossils - no matter how important they are. It would then be up to the Museum to decide what to do with such important finds as this newest fossil.I haven't been to Thermopolis, but I might have to make a trip up there now.

It's not just the feet, but the skull and the shape and articulation of other bones: National Geographic article: Earliest Bird Had Feet Like Dinosaur, Fossil Shows (click)
Of course we'll have to listen to rants about how it was falsly portrayed before etc....Looks like the link is pretty solid now .... therapod to archy to birds.EnjoyThis message has been edited by RAZD, 12*04*2005 03:04 PM

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RebelAAmerican.Zen[Deist
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Hi, Theus.Ideally, any important find would be in an optimal setting, accessible to the greatest number of researchers and given the best professional care.OTOH, I'd like to see major finds relevant to and persuasive of evolution in every mueseum in the country and readily viewable by the public.I fear that sometimes academic specialists' absolutist views on this matter damage both the lay public's opinion and appreciation of science. Also, viewing the actual evidence can have a profound impact.In a number of ways, then, centralizing important collections only in large city or university museums can have a counterproductive effect.If this museum's facilities are lacking, we may hope that a prize like this one will help attract funding for improvements.BTW, wasn't this archie purchased from a private collection?

Welcome to the fray theus.I trust that you have taken the opportunity to see this fossil?

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we are limited in our ability to understand
by our ability to understand

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RebelAAmerican.Zen[Deist
... to learn ... to think ... to live ... to laugh ...
to share.

Hey,Yes, the specimen was purchased from a private collection, for an absorbent sum of money. And it is being donated to the Big Horn Basin Foundation (the non-for-profit aspect of the Wyoming Dinosaur Center). I know the donator well, though I assume he wishes to remain anomynous. However, this is not the first time he's spent millions to rescue scientificly important fossils from the commercial market. And the same fortune that went to rescue the specimen will also be used to help ensure it's safety at the Thermopolis Museum.Reading more about the specimen, I am growing more angry at those who say that it shouldn't be there. In my initial post I wanted to be more reserved, however I have to speak in the donors defence, particularly after this in the Rocky Mountain News: Rocky Mountain NewsFirst off, there are many provisions guarding it. A specimen I have researched repeatedly in the past* is also under the same protective guidlines. If something should happen to the museum financially, then the specimens will all go to a fossil repository.If Mr. Goodwin feels so strongly about this issue, then I suggest that he spend his personal fortune on rescueing such specimens from the black market.P.S. I haven't seen it yet, it's still on a European tour. It won't arrive until the security systems are finished anyway.* Goodchild Drake, Brandon, 2004, A New Specimen of Allosaurus from North-Central Wyoming, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, Volume 24, Supplement to Number 3, pp. 65A*Goodchild Drake, Brandon, 2005, A Preliminary Analysis of Cranial Suture Variation in Allosaurus, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, Volume 25, Supplement to Number 3

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oh god, don't tell randman. everytime science changes a little, it's guilty of lies and deception in his eyes.of course. this time, the deception was perpetrated by creationists, in claiming that it's a bird.

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Since creationists are immune to data, they see scientists who defend their positions as dogmatic ("You take evolution on faith!"), and scientists who modify their positions as data come in ("If you had truly believed your prior stand, you couldn't have changed it!) as frauds.It's the new Scylla and Charybdis, but the same old song and dance.

I'm pretty sure you meant an exorbitant amount of money, or are you saying they were soaking them?TTFN,WK

Darn it, WK--I exercised great restraint, and you get the laughs!Malapropisms are among my favorites: totally wrong, and yet sometimes perfectly right.Edit: restrained to restraint. Ha! I actually don't exercise at all well when restrained...This message has been edited by Omnivorous, 12-05-2005 11:46 AM

Wait a second! I love Thermop, especially in winter with the steam rising from the springs! And, in any case, it's not much smaller than Drumheller, Alberta, where the Royal Tyrrell Museum has all those fantastic fossils.

double standards are fun.

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What are you talking about? Money increases in value when you marinate it, I recomend a little lemon as well. Point taken... I am sufficiently humbled

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