Prompt Cast
The Bone Wars: A Rivalry that Shaped Paleontology in America
TLDR The Bone Wars, a bitter rivalry between paleontologists Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope, led to a frenzy of sloppy work, underhanded tactics, and the rush to name species. Despite the chaos, their rivalry sparked America's interest in dinosaurs and paleontology in the 19th century.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
The Bone Wars sparked America's interest in dinosaurs and paleontology in the 19th century.
05:12
The first documented paleontological expedition in North America was carried out by Lewis and Clark in 1822, before the word paleontology was even coined.
10:15
The rivalry between Marsh and Cope in the field of paleontology led to a lot of sniping and both of them ended up bankrupt due to their efforts to outdo and undermine each other's work.
15:13
Marsh and Cope were initially good friends and had a common interest in paleontology, but their careers took different paths, with Marsh becoming the first professor of paleontology at Yale and Cope becoming a professor of zoology at Haverford College.
20:23
Cope and Marsh were initially friends and colleagues, but their friendship began to deteriorate when Marsh betrayed Cope by secretly bribing workers to send him fossils from a dig site they had discovered together.
25:23
Marsh betrayed Cope by pointing out a mistake in a paper Cope published, causing Cope to be humiliated and try to cover up his mistake, ultimately leading to the end of their friendship.
30:36
After becoming bitter rivals, the opening of the West by the Transcontinental Railroad forced Cope and Marsh to take different approaches to their careers, with Cope funding his own expeditions and amassing his own collection, while Marsh relied on Yale and government funding, leading to Marsh considering the entire western United States his turf.
35:44
The Bone Wars led to a lot of sloppy work in paleontology, with both Cope and Marsh rushing to name species and make discoveries, resulting in confusion and the need for decades to undo the mistakes made in the field.
40:55
The Bone Wars led to a lot of underhanded tactics and rivalry between Cope and Marsh, including sabotage, theft, and smashing fossils, but it is unclear how much of it was exaggerated for dramatic effect.
45:41
Both Marsh and Cope continued to work through the winter of 1877 in order to prevent their rival from discovering all the valuable fossils, resulting in the discovery of triceratops, stegosaurus, and apatosaurus, among others.
50:35
In the end, Marsh is credited with 80 species and Cope with 56, but Cope has 1400 papers under his belt.
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