Sunday, February 23, 2014

Dinosaur lesson for today: Monospondylus Gigas Vs. Tyrannosaurus Rex

Dharma is talking and she's talking and she's talking and every few minutes I say, "Mmm Hmmm" or "Yep."  Then suddenly she replies with the dreaded, "Well?"

Uh oh.  I am supposed to answer a question here.  "Uuummmmm."

She's looking at me.  I need to think of something to say....and fast.  "I thought I knew, but I don't remember."

She looks at me.

"What was the last thing you said again?  Maybe it would help me remember."

She picks up a dinosaur and asks, "What is this dinosaur?"

OH!  Well that's easy!!  "That's Tyrannosaurs Rex."  I reply, quite happy with myself.

"No," she retorts, "It.  Is.  Not."

I look around.  I am quite certain that is a T-Rex.  So I don't really know what to say here.  So I say nothing.

"It's a Manspindus" (sic)  she says back like I should have known that.

I am positive that the dinosaur she is holding is a Tyrannosaurus Rex.  Positive.  100%.  So I turn to the internet.  Turns out (don't we just learn something new about dinosaurs everyday around here) that in the late1800's they discovered a dinosaur they named Manospondylus Gigas.  In the early 1900's they named the Tyrannosaurs Rex.  Both dinosaurs being part of the Tyrannosaur family.  Then, in 2000 they were found to be the same dinosaur (for those who grew up learning about the Brontosaurus, the same thing happened with him and Apatasaurus and thus, Brontosaurus is now an obsolete name).

So where she heard the term 'Manospondylus' and why she decided to pull it out of a hat today is beyond me.  I am just here to pass on the information.

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