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The Bone Wars were an infamous period in the history of paleontology when the two pre-eminent paleontologists of the time, Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh, were competing to see who could find the most, and most sensational, new species of dinosaur. This competition was marred by bribery, politics, violations of American Indian territories, and virulent personal attacks. Every once in awhile a dig turns up stones that are dimonds. This is a financial win for all and the money earned is usually thrown back into the researchers dig.

By most standards, Marsh won the Bone Wars. Both made finds of incredible scientific value, but while Marsh discovered a total of 86 new species, due in part to his discovery of the Como Bluff site, near Medicine Bow, Wyoming (one of the richest source of fossils known), Cope only discovered 56. Many of the fossils Cope unearthed were of species that had already been named, or were of uncertain origin. And while the species Marsh discovered include household names, like the Triceratops, Allosaurus, Diplodocus, and Stegosaurus, even Cope's most famous discoveries, like the Dimetrodon, Camarasaurus, Coelophysis, and Monoclonius were more obscure. But their cumulative finds defined the field of paleontology; at the start of the Bone Wars, there were only nine named species of dinosaur in North America; and some of their theories — like Marsh's argument that birds are descended from dinosaurs; or "Cope's law", which states that over time species tend to get larger — are still referred to today.

Cope is widely regard as the more brilliant scientist, but more brash and careless. He was so prolific, publishing more than 1,200 scientific papers, that he set a record he still holds to this day. Marsh in turn was colder, more methodical; but the better politician — he moved easily among the members of high society, including President Ulysses S. Grant and the Rothschilds. He even befriended Buffalo Bill Cody and the Lakota Indian chief Red Cloud.

Their rivalry lasted until Cope's death in 1897, but before the end, they both ran out of money. Marsh got Cope's federal funding cut off (including his funding from the U.S. Geological Survey), and Cope had to sell part of his collection. Marsh in turn had to mortgage his home, and ask Yale for a salary to live on.

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Tyrannosaurus Rex

Tyrannosaurus Rex (ty-RAN-o-sawr-us) meaning "tyrant lizard" because of its size and large teeth and claws (Greek tyrannos = tyrant + sauros = lizard), also known colloquially as T. rex and The King of the Dinosaurs, was a giant carnivorous theropod dinosaur from the Upper Maastrichtian, the last stage of the Cretaceous period, 65–66 million years ago.

Its fossil remains are relatively rare; as of 2005 only 30 specimens had been found, including three complete skulls. The first specimens found played an important role in the Bone Wars. T. rex is the best known carnivorous dinosaur, particularly because it was regarded as the largest to have ever existed for a long time. While evidence indicates that Giganotosaurus was probably larger, T. rex will very likely remain a subject of ongoing scientific research and popular culture.

Over 12 m (40 feet) in length, 6 m (20.4 feet) tall and 4 tonnes in weight, T. rex was one of the largest land carnivores of all time. Compared to other carnivorous dinosaurs, the skull of Tyrannosaurus is heavily modified. Many of the bones are fused together, preventing movement between them. The bones themselves are much more massive than is typical of a theropod, and the serrated teeth, far from being bladelike, are massive and oval in cross-section. Heavy wear and the bite marks found on bones of other dinosaurs indicate that these teeth could bite into solid bone. The teeth are often worn or broken at the tips from heavy use but, unlike mammals, were continually grown and shed throughout the life of the animal. Compared to other giant carnivorous dinosaurs such as Allosaurus, Tyrannosaurus appears to have had a sizeable brain, but was probably not particularly intelligent by mammalian standards.

The neck was short and musclular, to support the head. The arms of T. rex were very small, perhaps to make up for the weight of its enormous head, but were very sturdy. They may have been used for grasping during mating or as aids in standing. The legs were relatively long and slender for an animal of its size. To compensate for its immense bulk, the interior of many bones were hollow. This considerably reduced the weight of the skeleton while maintaining much of the strength of the bones.

North America and China/Central Asia in the times of the tyrannosauids had both familiar and strange elements. The soft-shelled turtles, crocodiles, pike (Esocidae), and gar (Lepisosteidae) alive at the time are quite similar to those living today. Frogs and monitor lizards were other familiar animals. Ferns, palms, and shrubs were some of the dominant plants; grasses had evolved but were possibly not yet widespread. Conifers such as sequoias were common.

The North American T. rex probably lived in many different habitats because of its broad range, but many of the fossil sites in which it is commonly found appear to have been humid subtropical forests. Birds with beaks were already around, including waterfowl. Other inhabitants of the landscape are more unfamiliar. There were birds with teeth, and birds had by then replaced most of the pterosaurs. Some giant pterosaurs still thrived, like Pteranodon and Quetzalcoatlus, which had an estimated wingspan up to 12 m, possibly 18 m.

Herds of Triceratops and duck-billed dinosaurs (hadrosaurs) roamed the land. Mammals (predominantly multituberculates and marsupials) were mostly small, shrew- to rat-sized nocturnal animals. There were some mammals up to the size of a medium modern dog, as shown by recent fossils in China. Such mammals presumably lived in swamps or very heavy vegetation for cover as they could not run fast. Primitive primates may have been around (this issue is open to debate). Snakes had evolved by this time, very similar to some snakes today.

Dinosaurs: Raptor, Rex, Stego, Mammals

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Prehistoric Life

Prehistoric life is a term used to refer to diverse organisms that inhabited Earth from the origin of life about 3.5 billion years ago to the time when humans began to keep written records, about 3500 BC. During the course of evolution, new forms of life developed and many other forms, such as the dinosaurs, became extinct.

Prehistoric life evolved over this vast timespan from simple bacteria-like cells in the oceans to algae and protozoans and complex multicellular forms such as worms, molluscs, crustaceans, fish, insects, land plants, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. On a geological timescale humans evolved very recently, about 4 million years ago at the earliest, although the exact dating is a matter of some debate.

A few forms of prehistoric life like some plants and notable animals such as the coelacanth are ancient life forms and still exist today, making them living fossils. Others, like sharks, have changed little over eons. For most forms of prehistorical life that became extinct, the only record of them ever existing that remain today are fossils or rock imprints.

See individual entries for the following groupings of prehistoric species:

- Dinosaurs
- Fossils
- Prehistoric amphibians
- Prehistoric birds
- Prehistoric fish
- Prehistoric insects
- Prehistoric primates
- Prehistoric plants
- Prehistoric reptiles
- Trilobites

Fossils: Collect, Living, Record, Trace, Transition
Micropaleontology: Paleobotany, Paleoecology, Paleostatistics, Stratigraphy
ProFigures: Anning, Cope, Cuvier, Darwin, Marsh, Smith
Timelines: Evolution, Geography, Evolution, TimeScale,

Mammals

The mammals are the class of vertebrate animals characterized by the presence of mammary glands, which in females produce milk for the nourishment of young; the presence of hair or fur; and which have endothermic or "warm-blooded" bodies.

The brain regulates endothermic and circulatory systems, including a four-chambered heart. Mammals encompass some 5500 species, distributed in about 1200 genera, 152 families and up to 46 orders, though this varies depending on the classification scheme adopted.

Phylogenetically, Mammalia is defined as all of the descendants of the last common ancestor of monotremes (e.g., echidnas) and therian mammals (marsupials and placentals), including humans.

Cercopithecus sclateri, Sloths

Lakes

A Lake is a body of water surrounded by land. The majority of lakes are fresh water, and most lie in the northern hemisphere at higher latitudes. Large lakes are sometimes referred to as "inland seas" and small seas are sometimes referred to as lakes.

The term lake is also used to describe a feature such as Lake Eyre, which is dry most of the time but becomes filled under seasonal conditions of heavy rainfall. Many lakes are artificial and are constructed for hydro-electric power supply, recreation (swimming, wind surfing,...), water supply, etc.

Finland is known as The Land of the Thousands Lakes (actually there are 187,888 lakes in Finland, 60,000 of them are big ones) and Minnesota is known as The Land of Ten Thousand Lakes. The Great Lakes of North America originated in the ice age. Over 60% of the world's lakes are in Canada; this is because of the deranged drainage system that dominates the country.

Lake names: A, J, M (Madagascar)

Eponyms

An eponym is a person, whether real or fictitious, whose name has (or is thought to have) given rise to the name of a particular place, tribe, discovery or other item. An eponymous person is the same as an eponym. In contemporary English, the term "eponymous" is often used to mean "self-titled." The word eponym is often used for the thing titled.

In different cultures, time periods have often been named after the person who ruled during that period.

One of the first cases of eponymity occurred in the second millennium BC, when the Assyrians named each year after a high official (limmu).
In ancient Greece, the eponym archon was the highest magistrate in Athens. The Archon of Athens had a yearly charge and each year was named after the elected one (e.g., the year 594 BC was named after Solon).

In Rome, the two annual consuls, as formal chief magistrates of the Roman republic (never constitutionally abolished, so still formally the joint heads of government even under the 'political' reality of empire, both principate and dominate) gave both their names -regardless whether either one was reelected- to the year they were in office, this being the formal way of dating, alongside the 'Ab Urbe Condita' continuous year ordinal (starting from the mythical date of the founding of Rome), the Greek Olympiad or even the rather pointless fiscal indiction (yet a tradition long surviving the Roman empire).

Adam, Eve, LSU
More: Bones, Dendro, HumanEvolution, Jurassic, Lucy, SingleOrigin

Horror Films

In film, the horror genre is characterized by the attempt to make the viewer experience dread, fear, terror, disgust or horror. Its plots often involve the intrusion of an evil force, event, or personage, sometimes of supernatural origin, into the mundane world.

Some of the most common elements include vampires, zombies (and other forms of resurrected corpses), werewolves, ancient curses, ghosts, demons and/or demonic possession, Satanism, evil children, 'slasher villains', vicious animals, inanimate objects brought to life by black magic or twisted science, haunted houses, cannibals, and malicious extraterrestrials. The serial killer movie is sometimes regarded as part of the horror genre.

Specific stories and characters, often derived from classic literature, have also proven popular, and have inspired many sequels, remakes, and copycats. These include Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Wolf Man and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Dorumon, Leormon, Vikemon

Disney Films

Walt Disney Pictures is a United States-based movie studio, and is a division of The Walt Disney Company. It maintains Disney's family-friendly image and generally only releases G and PG rated films except 2003's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, which were handed a PG-13 rating.

Candy, Calculator, Calendar Man, Carom, Casey Coot, Catman, Catspaw, Chameleon Boy, Changeling, Cheetah, Chelsea, Chemical King, Chernabog, Cheshire, Chief Epsilon, Chip, Chip&Dale, Chisel McSue, Christopher Robin, Chroma, Chronos,

Walt Disney Pictures was established as a Disney division in 1983; prior to that Disney films were released under the banner of the parent company, then named Walt Disney Productions.

Captains: Atom, Boomerang, Carrot, Excellent, Gantu, Hook, Loyal Hawk, Marvel, Marvel Jr, Metropolis, Nazi.
Corinthian, Cornelius Coot, Cosmic Boy, Count Vertigo, Crazy Jane, Crimesmith, Crimson Avenger, Crimson Fox, Croc, Crowbar, Cruella De Vil, Cruella DeVil, Cubbi, Cuthbert Coot, Cyborg, Cyborg Superman, More, Some more, Newton Gearloose, Sonar, About, Watchmen.

Walt Disney Pictures includes Walt Disney Feature Animation and DisneyToon Studios, and is a part of the Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group.

Cinderella, Clara Cluck, Clarabelle Cow, Clayface, Clayton, Clinton_Coot, Clio, Clock_King, Clovis, Cluemaster, CM3, Cobweb, Cody, Cogsworth, Colonel Grogg, Colonel Hathi, Color Kid, Colossal Boy, Comet, Commander Steel, Commissioner James Gordon, Composite Superman, Conduit, Copperhead,

Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics, NYSE: MVL (AKA Marvel Entertainment Group, Marvel Characters, Inc., and Marvel Enterprises, Inc.) sometimes called by the nickname The House of Ideas, is an American comic book company.

Its best-known comics include The Fantastic Four, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, and X-Men. Since the 1960s, it has been one of the two largest American comics companies, along with DC Comics.

Marvel Comics was founded by established pulp magazine publisher Martin Goodman in 1939 as an eventual group of subsidiary companies under the umbrella name Timely Comics. Its first publication was Marvel Comics #1 (Oct. 1939), featuring the first appearance of Carl Burgos' android superhero, the Human Torch, and the first generally available appearance of Bill Everett's mutant anti-hero Namor the Sub-Mariner. The contents of that sales blockbuster were supplied by an outside packager, Funnies, Inc., but by the following year Timely had a staff in place.

Mindworm, Scooby-Doo