The Discovery of T. Rex: Monster Bones

For my birthday this year, my daughter Lorin gave me the book “Monster’s Bones: The Discovery of T. Rex and How it Shook Our World” by David K. Randall because of my life-long fascination and love of dinosaurs. Neither of us realized, however, that this book would chronical the journey of the first dinosaur which led me to my early discovery of dinosaurs. In 1964, my family visited the World’s Fair in New York City (I was 4) and seeing the image of a life-size replica of a Diplodocus for the first time is still present in my mind. My Dad bought me a green, plastic souvenir of my new obsession!

In addition, to add to my extreme delight of receiving this treasure, one of the main professors highlighted in Monster’s, Richard Owen,  was the assistant to Jean-Léopold-Nicholas-Frédéric [George] Cuvier, the “Father of Comparative Anatomy and Paleontology”. Cuvier established the concept of extinction in a 1796 lecture in Paris after examining bones found in Siberia which corresponded to no living animal.  

I was first introduced to Cuvier’s work in Nina Burleigh’s Mirage: an investigation of Napoleon’s Scientist and the Unveiling of Egypt. Bonaparte took 151 savants–astronomers, engineers, naturalists, physicists, doctors, chemists, botanists, poets, and musicologists– on his expedition of Egypt in 1798 to classify everything they found and map the land [see post]. Cuvier and his partner Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire, who would procure collections of flora and fauna and would install this data and specimens in the Jardin des Plantes, La Galerie de Paléontologie et D’Anatomie Comparée.

My second encounter with Cuvier was from Melville’s research for Moby-Dick. Melville studied Cuvier’s De L’histoire Naturelle Des Cétacés (the Natural History of Whales) and soon obtained a facsimile of this work for my own study of whales.

My third encounter with Cuvier was in 2012-2013 when I lived right behind the Jardin des Plantes in Paris and spent many hours strolling through these incredible botanic gardens which Cuvier developed with specimens from all over the world and the museum of paleontology which he cultivated. This has been my first stop in Paris on subsequent visits!

So Fun, So Fun. I love when my random worlds of French History, Paleontology, collide!

Back to Monster’s Bones.

Randall’s story is mostly about the discovery of the world’s most iconic dinosaur, T. Rex, and of Barnum Brown’s pursuit of fossils to add to his museum collection. Randall describes in great detail the major discoveries of dinosaurs around the world and focuses on the greatest find, in 1900, of the first partial skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex. This find was a great commercial appeal and began the race for philanthropists and millionaires to establish a great museum in which to house these finds as well as to benefit financially from the exhibitions.

Carnegie would exhibit the first Diplodocus, named Diplodocus carnegii in his honor,  in his American Museum in Philadelphia. After this exhibit became famous world-wide, Carnegie was asked to send plaster copies to King Edward VII in London, now known as “Dippy”, and in Paris, which is today in the Galerie de Paléontologie.

Randall points out the profound impact that the finding of these “monster’s bones” has had on our concept of the history of life on Earth and the fascination it has brought to young and old alike. My grandsons could say the names of their favorite dinosaurs within their first year. This fascination has built and incredible bond between us as we explore these “monsters” together during “Grammar School”!

Randall ends Monster’s Bones at the New York World’s Fair, 1964. How cool that I was there. How often does this happen when I’m reading a book–never! How cool that this was the moment that shook my world and introduced me to a life-long obsession of dinosaurs!

This has been a great read–thank you Lorin for this gift and David K. Randall for your book!

Work Cited

David K. Randall. The Monster’s Bones: The Discovery of T.Rex and How it Shook Our World”. New York: Norton & Company, 2022.