Posted on 05/25/2006 4:58:18 PM PDT by peyton randolph
Dracorex hogwartsia is Tribute to J. K. Rowling Series
HARRISBURG Visitors to the State Museum can get a taste of Harry Potter and brush with prehistoric America with a newly discovered dinosaur species that got its name thanks to the help of a Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission paleontologist.
PHMC paleontologist Robert M. Sullivan helped world-renowned paleontologist Robert T. Bakker come up with the name Dracorex hogwartsia in honor of the fictional Hogwarts Academy from the popular books and films based on Harry Potters adventures by British author J. K. Rowling. The scientific name Dracorex hogwartsia means dragon king.
A cast of the skull of the dragon-like, spiked-headed dinosaur found in South Dakota in 2003 is on display at The State Museum of Pennsylvania starting today.
The naming of Dracorex hogwartsia is easily the most unexpected honor to have come my way since the publication of the Harry Potter books, Rowling said.
Having the skull replica in the State Museum will capture childrens imaginations and encourage them to learn more about the dinosaurs that walked the earth millions-of-years ago, said PHMC Executive Director Barbara Franco.
The 66-million-year-old reptile is a pachycephalosaurid dinosaur whose skull is covered with knobs and spikes. This species of plant-eating dinosaurs lived in Asia and North America during the late Cretaceous Period, 96 to 65 million years ago.
A paper by Sullivan and Bakker on the find was released today in the New Mexico Museum of Natural History Bulletin. Sullivan, Bakker, et al., could name the dino because they did the research and wrote the scientific paper about the discovery. The unveiling of the original dinosaur skull takes place today at the Childrens Museum of Indianapolis.
Sullivan, senior curator of paleontology at the State Museum, was amazed by the condition of the skull. It is truly a magnificent specimen that is rarely found in such a complete state, he said.
The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission is the official history agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
"dragon-like, spiked-headed"..........
....sounds like your ex-girlfriend.
Crevoter thread... Creation/Evolution/Potter, all wrapped up in one. I need to copyright that term. Now, where is my popcorn. *snicker*
Ah. Guess I'll ping PH. Let's see if he's interested in it.
* PING *
Cool!
And it's right in my neighborhood!
I am always amazed at the number of different dinosaurs that once roamed the earth...the variety is so amazing, and I expect as more and more exploration around the world is done, we will be finding more and more different dinosaurs...
yes it does.
Actually he would probably be thrilled that the scientific community decided equate a dinosaur with a dragon.
They did fill a huge chunk of the ecological niches now filled by modern mammals and birds...
Indeed they did...my question to the creationists tho, is this...for those of them, that actually believe that Noah took all those baby dinosaurs on board the Ark, do they actually believe Noah took two of each variety, which explains the variety we see today, or do they maintain, that the Noah took only two main dinosaurs, and that they bred such great variety in just a few thousand years?
If one read any book about fossils, and sees the absolute great variety among dinosaurs, based on fossil skeletons, how does one explain this great variety...I would truly be interested in seeing this explained from a strictly creationist viewpoint, a 6 day creation time frame, from just 6000 yrs ago...
When I was a kid and first started getting wrapped up in paleozoology there were only about 300 known species of dinosaurs. Now there are more than a thousand and more are being discovered every year. The biggest finds are being done in Patagonia and North Africa.
Wow...I knew the numbers of varieties of dinosaurs was huge, but I did not realize it was that big...
There are many more places in the world being opened to exploration, for both living species of animals, and in time, more fossils...I take note of Laos and Tibet, where new species of living animals have been found in the last few years...how long before more expeditions go there, in quest of newer fossils...as more and more countries open up to scientific exploration, I believe we will truly be amazed at what we find...
You've got to remember the dinosaurs were around for more than 140 million years. That's more than twice as long as they've been gone (65 million years), and look at the diversity of life that has grown up to fill their ecological niches. Mammals were small and relatively few in number in the age of the dinosaurs. Even after the dinosaurs shuffled off this mortal coil it took a while for mammals to find their footing -- birds actually dominated the world for a couple of million years. All the mammal life you see around you is only the result of about 50 million years of evolution. And the mammal life we see today barely holds a candle to the massive mammalian megafauna that lived at one time -- the largest mammal (Indricotherium) rivaled the dinos in size at 20 tonnes and six meters at the shoulders.
Here's some reading material for you. :)
http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2001/dinos_on_ark.asp
http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v19/i2/animals.asp
...and some bonus material...
http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs/2.asp
http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/dinosaurs.asp
http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/young.asp
I had to look up that Indricotherium...what a monster...thanks for mentioning that...it was great reading...
Answers in Genesis, Huh?...these articles better be good, and not a waste of time, as the last bunch of articles from AIG were, that were recommended to me by someone else on these threads...
I will eventually read these articles, tho I am not optimistic, as I have read a number of things from AIG and have found them, well poor...nonetheless, I will read these articles(tho not tonite), and see what I think...
I take it that you found them poor as in...conflicting with what you've been taught in the public education system/college. :)
I too, at one time, fell for the "evolution" stories but after years of research on my own I've come to the conclusion that evolution isn't a proven scientific fact.
Evolution doesn't explain simple things...such as...
* Of all the insects and animals how did the male and female of each species develop at the same time in the exact same place in order to propagate? On top of that, if the first gereration of a mating species didn't have parents how did they come into existence?
* I'd really be impressed of anyone could explain how by way of evolution the very first animal survived while it's heart, brain, blood, veins, and so on...were all developed in slow tiny steps over time.
* How did life develop from absolutely nothing or better yet...how did all of the insects, animals and us Humans all come from a puddle amino acids?
* OH...and my personal favorite question that love I ask evolutionists...Where are the millions, billions or trillions of fossils of such transitional forms?
:)
That stuff simply is not millions of years old.
You think Doc Dino is upset, think about this guy!
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