What About Jane?
70-Year-Old Dinosaur Debate Reignites With Cleveland at Center

It’s been heralded as the “Mystery Dinosaur.” It’s been called “one of the most remarkable scientific finds of the last century.” The unresolved debate over this mysterious specimen has been predicted to “change paleontology forever.” And it’s right here in Cleveland.

I’m referring not to Sue – the highly publicized Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton currently on display at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History courtesy of Chicago’s Field Museum – but to Jane, the smaller juvenile tyrannosaur who shares Sue’s display space. When Sue’s traveling exhibition moves on in April, Jane becomes part of CMNH’s permanent collection, and will most likely earn a prominent spot in the museum’s lobby.

The story behind Jane’s discovery and the debate that still swirls in the scientific community over her classification has put Cleveland right in the middle of a modern-day scientific mystery. So compelling is her story that a popular documentary titled “The Mystery Dinosaur” was produced for The Discovery Science Channel (check your local listings). It gives the more casual observer – adults and children alike – a glimpse behind the scenes at the scientific process at work.

From the Montana Badlands to a tiny museum in Rockford, Ill., to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Jane’s journey has been closely watched by international scientific experts who are all searching for the answer to one question: just what is Jane?

Here is her story.

Jane’s Journey

In 2001, the tiny Burpee Museum of Natural History in Rockford, Ill., assembled a mostly-volunteer team to travel to the Hell Creek Formation of the Montana Badlands to search for fossils to add to the museum’s collection. Just as they were unearthing what appeared to be a promising collection of remains, winter encroached and they were forced to leave the site. Returning the following spring, the team quickly began to realize that they had found something quite unusual. Not only was it a carnivorous dinosaur – a highly rare find in itself – but it appeared to be a Nanotyrannus – or “pygmy tyrant” – a smaller cousin of the Tyrannosaurus Rex and one of the rarest dinosaurs ever found.

There’s only one other Nanotyrannus specimen in the world – a skull that was unearthed in 1942 by a team from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. That fossil – called “the Cleveland skull” by many scientists – has been on display here ever since and is one of CMNH’s most valuable assets. But it’s also been at the center of an ongoing debate among paleontologists for years – is Nanotyrannus a unique animal or is the Cleveland skull really just a juvenile T. Rex?

Jane’s discovery held the promise of finally resolving the decades-old controversy about whether the Nanotyrannus really existed. International scientific experts descended on the Burpee Museum to pore over Jane’s remains, comparing the Cleveland skull to hers and to known T. Rex remains. Many of the biggest names in paleontology came together in a symposium to discuss their findings, debating tooth size and quantity, skeletal differences and growth charts. They left still divided, some asserting that Jane was a Nanotyrannus and others that she was a juvenile T. Rex. And so the debate continues.

In June 2005, Jane’s mounted skeleton went on display at the Burpee Museum with the classification of juvenile Tyrannosaurus Rex. Earlier this year, CMNH acquired a full skeletal cast of Jane for its permanent collection, classifying the remains as a “juvenile tyrannosaur” – putting her in the tyrannosaur family without identifying her as a T. Rex or Nanotyrannus. Now Clevelanders have the opportunity to see the specimen that has reignited the controversy that began here more than 70 years ago.

Jane Becomes a Starlet

From the moment Jane’s bones began to come out of the ground, Dave Monk’s cameras were rolling. He’s a video producer from Chicago who stumbled onto the story while shooting B-roll at the Burpee Museum for a corporate client. Monk says he found himself caught up in this tale of “a bunch of volunteers from a tiny museum no one’s ever heard of going out there and finding the most amazing dinosaur specimen, the elusive Nanotyrannus.”

Monk invested three and a half years and his own money into bringing Jane’s story to life as the documentary “The Mystery Dinosaur.” The Burpee Museum granted Monk exclusive access to the entire process of excavating, studying, reassembling and displaying Jane’s remains. He filmed interviews with many of the scientists who came to Rockford to study this historic find. “The Mystery Dinosaur” first aired on The Discovery Science Channel in June 2006 and has returned periodically to the delight of viewers.

Yet even though CMNH’s Nanotyrannus skull factors so prominently into this debate, no one from Cleveland was interviewed for the documentary and only a photograph of the Cleveland skull appears. Opinions differ on why this omission occurred.

“They didn’t bother to come talk to us,” says Dr. Michael Ryan, CMNH’s curator of vertebrate paleontology, who says he hasn’t even watched “The Mystery Dinosaur.” Yet Monk claims he had an interview scheduled with Dr. Michael Williams, CMNH’s previous curator of vertebrate paleontology, when he died suddenly in July 2003. No one was provided as a replacement, so “The Mystery Dinosaur” continued without a Cleveland voice.

Why Do We Care?

How does it happen that a debate among scientists about the precise classification of a dinosaur fossil becomes a popular TV documentary and museum exhibition? What is it about dinosaurs – particularly meat-eaters like T. Rex and Nanotyrannus – that captures our imaginations as children and just doesn’t let go as we age?

“T. Rex was one of the first dinosaurs to be presented to the American public at the American Museum of Natural History in 1914,” says Dr. Ryan. “It has always caught the public’s imagination, it’s what every kid wanted to own a model of growing up.”

Yet Dr. Ryan displays a healthy amount of skepticism about the attention Jane’s discovery has garnered. “It’s been a big deal because everyone’s captivated by T. Rex,” he says. “But I don’t think anyone really cares whether it’s a juvenile Tyrannosaurus Rex or a Nanotyrannus. The differences are trivial to the average visitor.”

But it sure makes for compelling television. “These types of debates are important because we’re all trying to understand our ancient world,” says Monk. “It’s fun for the viewer to see how a sample is acquired and how scientists use the evidence to determine what it is.”

So perhaps the Jane controversy is nothing more than hype, or perhaps we’re witnessing a discovery process that truly will “change paleontology forever” as the documentary suggests. Either way, Clevelanders have a front-row seat for the show, as CMNH displays the Cleveland skull and Jane together for the first time.

Check them out, and decide where you stand on the Jane debate.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Jennifer Keirn jenniferkATwowway.com

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