Skeleton

42' l x 10' w
[ 12.8m l x 3m w]

(Late Cretaceous, Logan County, KA)

Discovered in 1867 by a passing pioneer and collected the following year by an army surgeon stationed at Fort Wallace, Kansas, this huge Elasmosaur is famous for the role it played in the "Fossil Wars" of the latter part of the 19th Century. Dr. Cope’s description of the animal placed the head at the tip of the tail, and it was published before he could stop the presses. Dr. Marsh publicly pointed out this mistake to the great embarrassment of Dr. Cope, and their bitter rivalry began. For over 20 years, their field teams explored the West in an intense competition for the most spectacular new fossils.

The original skeleton of the Cope Elasmosaur is part of the collections of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Offered exclusively by TPI

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