G4 – The Bone Wars – Approaching – 05

Cope’s blunder tells us much about how scientific understandings are formed. Evidence and conclusions are not the same things. Evidence is a piece of information deemed important. In Science, these bits of information, or facts, are gained from observations. In contrast, conclusions are the formation of understandings. These understandings come from analyzing evidence. What scientists know can change with new evidence. It can also change by looking at the same evidence in a new way.

Through the many trips out west to find fossils, much was learned about Earth’s past. With every piece of fossilized evidence, a better understanding was gained. This rivalry prompted many new dinosaur species to be found. It also helped to place American Science as a leader in the world. Unfortunately, tactics such as those used by Cope and Marsh brought much criticism from the global scientist community.

A Coelophysis dinosaur skeleton found by Cope in 1887