A while back, Ben Miller reminded me that when I posted about the old Yale “ Brontosaurus ” skull, I promised: So how did the YPM come to make such a monstrosity? What was it based on? Tune in next time for the surprising details! I told him at the time that I’d soon get around to writing a post. But before I did, he wrote a post on this himself: Bully for Camarasaurus . And it’s excellent.

We all remember Upchurch and Martin’s (2002) description of the Rutland Cetiosaurus , which remains by some distance the best British sauropod specimen in the literature; and the same authors’ (2003) survey of the genus Cetiosaurus . They concluded that nearly all of its many named species are either nomen dubia or misassigned, and that only C . oxoniensis is a valid, diagnosable species.

How can it be? {.aligncenter .size-full .wp-image-10065 loading=“lazy” attachment-id=“10065” permalink=“http://svpow.com/2014/04/15/horrible-sauropod-skulls-of-the-yale-peabody-museum-part-2-brontosaurus-and-no-i-do-not-mean-apatosaurus/img_0517/” orig-file=“https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/img_0517.jpg” orig-size=“2000,1332” comments-opened=“1” image-meta=“{"aperture":"4","credit":"","camera":"Canon PowerShot

Last time, we took a very quick look at YPM 1910, a mounted skeleton that is the holotype of Camarasaurus (= “ Morosaurus ”) lentus , in the dinosaur hall of the Yale Peabody Museum. Here’s the whole skeleton, in various views. Skip down to the bottom for the science; or just enjoy the derpiness. First, in anterior view: Here’s a more informative right anterolateral view.

Matt’s harsh-but-fair “Derp dah durr” / “Ah hurr hurr hurr” captions on his Giraffatitan skull photos reminded me that there is a sauropod with a much, much stupider head than that of Giraffatitan . Step forward YPM 1910, a mounted skeleton that is the holotype of Camarasaurus (= “ Morosaurus ”) lentus , in the dinosaur hall of the Yale Peabody Museum. Full details on this specimen next time!

Another extraordinary specimen from the wonderful Oxford University Museum of Natural History: the skeleton of a goliath frog Conraua goliath , the largest extant anuran, which comfortably exceeds 30 cm and 3 kg in life: {.aligncenter .size-full .wp-image-6785 attachment-id=“6785”

Back when we were at Cambridge for the 2010 SVPCA, we saw taxidermied and skeletonised hoatzins, and were struck that the cervical skeleton was so very much longer than the neck as it appears in life — because necks lie.

Secretary bird: {.alignnone .size-full .wp-image-6405 loading=“lazy” attachment-id=“6405” permalink=“http://svpow.com/2012/06/19/eyelashes-of-the-harvard-museum-of-natural-history/secretary/” orig-file=“https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/secretary.jpeg” orig-size=“1280,960” comments-opened=“1” image-meta=“{"aperture":"4.5","credit":"","camera":"Canon PowerShot

Check this baby out: {.alignnone .size-full .wp-image-6401 loading=“lazy” attachment-id=“6401” permalink=“http://svpow.com/2012/06/17/sperm-whales-of-the-harvard-museum-of-natural-history/img_0313/” orig-file=“https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/img_0313.jpg” orig-size=“2000,1332” comments-opened=“1” image-meta=“{"aperture":"2","credit":"","camera":"Canon PowerShot

More from my flying visit to the Harvard Museum of Natural History. I found this exhibition of bird eggs very striking. In particular, it was shocking how much bigger the elephant-bird egg is than that of the ostrich.