Bone Wars facts for kids

The rivalry between Othniel Charles Marsh (left) and Edward Drinker Cope (right) sparked the Bone Wars

Marsh (back row and center), surrounded by armed assistants for his 1872 expedition. Marsh spent little time in the field himself, leaving the work to his agents

Marsh's 1896 illustration of the bones of Stegosaurus, a dinosaur he described and named in 1877

The Bone Wars was an exciting time of fossil hunting in the U.S.A. It happened in the late 1800s. Most of the action took place in Colorado, Nebraska, and Wyoming.

This period was famous for a big rivalry. Two scientists, Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh, competed fiercely. Cope worked for the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. Marsh was from the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale.

They both wanted to find the best dinosaur fossils. They even tried to trick each other to get ahead. Each scientist would write articles to make the other look bad. They wanted to stop their rival's funding.

Hunting for Fossils

Their search for fossils took them to the western U.S. There were many places with lots of bones, called "bone beds". From 1877 to 1892, both scientists used their own money. They paid for their trips and hired fossil hunters. These hunters found dinosaur bones for them.

By the end of the Bone Wars, both men had spent almost all their money. Their intense competition cost them a lot.

What We Learned

Even with their rivalry, Cope and Marsh did amazing work. They found many fossils that helped us learn about prehistoric life. They left behind many boxes of fossils that were studied later.

Together, they discovered and described 142 new species of dinosaurs. Today, about 32 of those names are still used. Their discoveries made people very interested in dinosaurs. This led to even more fossil hunting in North America.

Many books and stories have been written about this exciting time.

Important Discoveries

Cope and Marsh found some of the most famous fossil sites. One important place was the Morrison Formation at Como Bluff, Wyoming. The Morrison Formation is a huge area. It stretches across 13 states. Scientists are still looking for fossils there today.

Images for kids

• 

  Cope's "head-on-the-wrong-end" version of Elasmosaurus

• 

  Marsh and Lakota Chief Red Cloud in New Haven, Connecticut, c. 1880

• 

  The Morrison Formation at Como Bluff, Wyoming

• 

  Arthur Lakes's sketch of expedition members W.H. Reed (left) and Edward Kennedy in Como Bluff

• 

  An almost complete Allosaurus (AMNH #5753) discovered by Cope's fossil hunters at Como Bluff in 1879. The find was not unpacked until after Cope's death.

See also

In Spanish: Guerra de los Huesos para niños