Comments on: Tendaguru’s Lost World http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/2011/07/tendagurus-lost-world/ Where Paleontology Meets Pop Culture Sat, 22 Dec 2012 16:48:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4 By: Heinrich Mallison http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/2011/07/tendagurus-lost-world/comment-page-1/#comment-4558 Heinrich Mallison Thu, 28 Jul 2011 17:08:43 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/?p=5989#comment-4558 An amazing amount of material was found, and an nearly equal amount was later taken to the British Museum (where it has stayed practically un-sorted, un-prepared, and un-described. Sad as that latter fact is, even worse is the damage inflicted by WWII on the Tendaguru material. Overall, I guess that 60% at least have been destroyed of the German material, including the original holotype of Dysalotosaurus lettow-vorbecki, some 40 Kentrosaurus humeri (an even bigger number of femora still exists - the heavy femora were kept in the cellar and survived, the lighter humeri were lost when the paleontology collection under the roof burnt after a bomb hit), and many more important specimens. A good history of the digs and the scientific and exhibition history of the Tendaguru finds is also given in Maier (2003). Maier, G. 2003. African Dinosaurs Unearthed. The Tendaguru Expeditions (Life of the Past). Indiana University Press An amazing amount of material was found, and an nearly equal amount was later taken to the British Museum (where it has stayed practically un-sorted, un-prepared, and un-described. Sad as that latter fact is, even worse is the damage inflicted by WWII on the Tendaguru material. Overall, I guess that 60% at least have been destroyed of the German material, including the original holotype of Dysalotosaurus lettow-vorbecki, some 40 Kentrosaurus humeri (an even bigger number of femora still exists – the heavy femora were kept in the cellar and survived, the lighter humeri were lost when the paleontology collection under the roof burnt after a bomb hit), and many more important specimens.

A good history of the digs and the scientific and exhibition history of the Tendaguru finds is also given in Maier (2003).

Maier, G. 2003. African Dinosaurs Unearthed. The Tendaguru Expeditions (Life of the Past). Indiana University Press

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