Brontosaurus Is Back!

For more than a century, it has been claimed that Brontosaurus didn't exist; now scientists prove that previous claims were inaccurate.

12:41 08 April 2015

For more than a century, several claims were made saying that Brontosaurus didn’t exist as a species in its own right because it was part of the Apatosaurus family of dinosaurs. However, British and Portuguese scientists have challenge the claims and intend to prove that the previous claims were inaccurate. 

 

"It's the classic example of how science works", said Professor Mateus, who worked on the research. "It is possible for new finds to overthrow years of research."

 

The confusion began in 1903 when famed palaeontologists Marsh and Cop dug up and studied two long neck dinosaurs. One was called Apatosaurus ajax, which means the "deceptive lizard", whilst the other was called Brontosaurus excelsus, or the "noble thunder lizard".

 

Recent research suggests that the palaeontologists put the wrong head on the Brontosaurus that is why they concluded that the two original species were the same. 

 

"Until very recently, the claim that Brontosaurus was the same as Apatosaurus was completely reasonable, based on the knowledge we had," said Emanuel Tschopp from the New University of Lisbon in Portugal.