John Harold Ostrom was an Americanpaleontologist who revolutionized modern understanding of dinosaurs in the 1960s. As first proposed by Thomas Henry Huxley in the 1860s, Ostrom showed that dinosaurs were more like big non-flying birds than they were like lizards. The first of Ostrom's broad-based reviews of the osteology and phylogeny of the primitive birdArchaeopteryx appeared in 1976. His reaction to the eventual discovery of feathered dinosaurs in China, after years of acrimonious debate, was bittersweet.
In the field of paleontology, Ostrom is responsible for the following key discoveries:
Warm-blooded ''Deinonychus''
His 1964 discovery of additional Deinonychus fossils is considered one of the most important fossil finds in history. Deinonychus was an active predator that clearly killed its prey by leaping and slashing or stabbing with its "terrible claw". Evidence of a truly active lifestyle included long strings of muscle running along the tail, making it a stiff counterbalance for jumping and running. The conclusion that at least some dinosaurs had a high metabolism, and were thus in some cases warm-blooded, was popularized by his student Robert T. Bakker. This helped to change the impression of dinosaurs as the sluggish, slow, cold-blooded lizards which had prevailed since the turn of the century. This changed how dinosaurs are depicted by both professional dinosaur illustrators, and in the public eye. The find is also credited with triggering the "dinosaur renaissance", a term coined in a 1975 issue of Scientific American by Bakker to describe the renewed debates causing an influx of interest in paleontology, which has lasted from the 1970s to the present and has doubled recorded dinosaur diversity.
''Archaeopteryx'' and the origin of flight, and hadrosaur herds
Ostrom's interest in the dinosaur-bird connection started with his study of what is now known as the HaarlemArchaeopteryx. Discovered in 1855, it was actually the first specimen recovered but, incorrectly labeled as Pterodactylus crassipes, it languished in the Teylers Museum in the Netherlands until Ostrom's 1970 paper correctly identified it as one of only eight "first birds". Ostrom's reading of fossilized Hadrosaurus trackways also led him to the conclusion that these duckbilled dinosaurs traveled in herds.
Cultural Influence
of dinosaurs found that the claws and tendon scars in the tail would indicate a running position. And so the whole posture of bipedal dinosaurs changed to one of agile, fast-running, fearsome predators. This inspired a new generation of dinosaur movies and also museums worldwide changed their dinosaur bone displays. In 1966 John H. Ostrom was instrumental in the establishment of Dinosaur State Park in Rocky Hill, Connecticut.
Dinosaur Dig Sites
John Ostrom set up a full-time in the 1960s, as well he spent a lot of time digging at Rocky Hill.
Scientific classification
In 1970 John Ostrom gave Microvenator celer its formal name.
Also in 1970 he named Tenontosaurus tilletti.
In 1993 James Kirkland, Robert Gaston, and Donald Burge named a fossil Utahraptor ostrommaysorum for John Ostrom and Chris Mays. The largest discovered example of this species is 23 feet long and had an estimated live weight over 1000 pounds.
In 1998 Catherine Forster named a fossil Rahonavis ostromi in honour of John Ostrom. The fossil is that of a primitive winged creature with a two-foot wingspan, feathers and a sickle-shaped claw on its second toe designed for slashing prey, similar to Deinonychus and Archaeopteryx.
