FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

The Ajax Project:

Digging a REALLY big dinosaur

Morrison, Colorado—The Morrison Natural History Museum has launched a major new dinosaur excavation under the title “The Ajax Project.” Apatosaurus ajax is one of the largest of the long-necked dinosaurs, and the only known specimen was found in the prehistoric mudstone overlooking the historic town of Morrison (see photo of reconstruction at end of this article).

Leading the project is the museum’s curator of paleontology, Dr. Robert T. Bakker, the colorful TV personality known for his white cowboy hat and long beard. Excavation of Ajax began in 2002, but will intensify as Dr. Bakker supervises a team of paleontology and geology students from the Colorado School of Mines. Preparation of the bones will be done at the Morrison Natural History Museum by specially trained volunteers and student interns.

            Dinosaurs from Morrison made their "modern" debut in 1877 when a local teacher named Arthur Lakes found bones in a local hillside. The fossil-bearing rocks have been named the Morrison Formation, and stretch almost the length of the Rockies. The formation remains one of the most famous and productive dinosaur localities in the world. Among those first bones encountered by Prof. Lakes were specimens of Ajax. Yale’s Prof. Othniel Marsh described the fossil in 1877. Ajax was the largest of the warrior Titans of Greek mythology.

            It was Ajax that first was given the name Apatosaurus by Prof. Marsh. The following year, Marsh found named similar bones that he thought were a different species. He named the second batch Brontosaurus, but the rules for naming animals insist that the first name is the correct name, hence the official elimination of Brontosaurus for these long-necks. Dr. Bakker, though, has studied long-necks for many years, and has suggested that Brontosaurus may yet prove to be a distinct animal worthy of resurrecting the more familiar name.

            Study of Ajax’s bones will form an important part of Dr. Bakker’s long-time research into the giant dinosaurs, and results from the Ajax Project will be incorporated into a comprehensive publication on the longnecks. The museum's curator of herpetology (living reptiles) is also working on a book about revised views of how long-necked dinosaurs lived, based on extensive physiological studies of living animals. The forthcoming book, Sauropod Biology: The Lives of Long-Necked Dinosaurs Revisited should be completed by mid 2004.

To raise funds to support this research, the Morrison Natural History Museum will be selling Ajax shirts and specially commissioned comic books; Click here for ordering information. 

            The Morrison Natural History Museum is located south of Morrison on Highway 8. It is open to visitors from noon until 4 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday. For further information, please call (303) 697-1873.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Sally White, Museum Coordinator, P.O. Box 564, Morrison, CO 80465

(303) 697-1873.

Photo taken at Morrison Natural History Museum
by Dr. Robert Sprackland.