Dinosaur Discoveries in North AmericaEarly Dinosaur History in the United States |
What was the first mounted dinosaur cast reflecting a bipedal stance in the United States? |
In the 1860s, at the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences, a mounted cast skeleton of a Hadrosaurus was the first to reflect a bipedal stance. Named and described by Joseph Leidy (1823–1891) in 1858, this Hadrosaurus was the first cast skeleton in North America to be free-mounted. Working with Leidy on this project were paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope (1840–1897) and Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins (1807–1889), who was the sculptor of the Crystal Palace dinosaurs in England.