Category Archives: Sauropod

Fighting apatosaur art #6: the ones that got away

Here’s the last post (at least for now) in the Fighting Apatosaur Art series — and we’re back to Brian Engh, who we started with. Early in the process of putting together artwork to illustrate our apatosaur neck combat hypothesis, … Continue reading

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How light could a giant azhdarchid be?

I imagine that by now, everyone who reads this blog is familiar with Mark Witton’s painting of a giant azhdarchid pterosaur alongside a big?giraffe. Here it is, for those who haven’t seen it: (This is the fifth and most recent … Continue reading

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Does anyone have a good scan of Hatcher 1901: plate VI?

Folks, For a forthcoming minor paper, I need a good-quality scan of Hatcher’s 1901 monograph on Diplodocus carnegii — specifically, plate VI,?the photographs of the cervicals in posterior view. Here is the best scan I have of it: (Click through … Continue reading

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Four different reasons to post preprints

Preprints are in the air! A few weeks ago, Stephen Curry had a piece about them?in the Guardian (Peer review, preprints and the speed of science) and pterosaur palaeontologist Liz Martin published?Preprints in science on her blog Musings of Clumsy … Continue reading

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My most depressing paper

I have a new preprint up at PeerJ (Taylor 2015), and have also submitted it simultaneously for peer review. In a sense, it’s not a paper I am happy about, as its title explains: “Almost all known sauropod necks are?incomplete … Continue reading

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The 14 beautiful cervicals of Kaatedocus

Well, I’m a moron again. In the new preprint that I just published, I briefly discussed?the six species of sauropod for which complete necks are known — Camarasaurus lentus (but it’s a juvenile), Apatosaurus louisae (but the last three and … Continue reading

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Why do we have so few complete, undistorted sauropod necks?

Since I posted my preprint “Almost all known sauropod necks are incomplete and distorted” and asked in the comments for people to let me know if I missed any good necks, the candidates have been absolutely rolling in: The Kaatedocus … Continue reading

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Copyright: promoting the Progress of Science and useful Arts by preventing access to 105-year-old quarry maps

In my recent preprint on the incompleteness and distortion of sauropod neck specimens, I?discuss three well-known sauropod specimens in detail, and show that they are not as well known as we think they are. One of them is the Giraffatitan … Continue reading

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Richard Butler: seeking volunteers for the SVPCA committee

Following on from his recent, and extensively discussed,?offer to host SVPCA 2017, and a plan for the future, Richard Butler is now circulating his update, soliciting volunteers for the committee?that virtually everyone agreed was a good idea. Dear SVPCA/SPPC friends … Continue reading

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