In 1931 Barnum Brown discovered a new type of small, meat-eating dinosaur. He named it Daptosaurus, meaning “active lizard”. Problem is, Barnum Brown really loved field work. He wasn’t so much about the paperwork that followed.

According to the rules of paleontology, you get to name any dinosaur you discover, but to make it stick you have to write about it. You have to publish. Barnum never got around to publishing anything about the Daptosaurus, and the dinosaur went nameless until 1969 when he was baptized as Deinonychus.

Publishing, of course, was a much bigger pain in the ass in 1931 than it is now. For example, this grammatical nightmare will get published by pressing a button at the bottom of this form. And I’m hoping that this post serves me as a reminder that I really should write more, because I typically enjoy the field work more, but there’s a lesson to be learned from Barnum Brown and his Daptosaurus.

I’d also like to thank Henry for bringing the Daptosaurus to my attention. We’re all up in dinosaurs this weekend.

Tweet | Written by Mike Monteiro on March 4, 2007 |