# Ancient Whatever Discovered in Pond! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 20, 2016, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-whatever-discovered-in-pond/769150 "2016-10-20T16:12:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-whatever-discovered-in-pond/769150/1 "2016-10-20T16:12:48Z")
CNN has a headline, “Dinosaur discovered in pond.” The linked video is about a _mammoth_ skeleton found in Michigan. Mammoths were not dinosaurs! Not every old thing is a dinosaur! Minimal effort would reveal this, or ask any six-year-old. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-whatever-discovered-in-pond/769150/2 "2016-10-20T16:21:06Z")
Headline writers are notoriously bad, but that’s bad even by those already low standards. And as long as we’re being pendantic, I have to point out that the skeleton was a _Mastodon_, which isn’t the same as a Mammoth. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-whatever-discovered-in-pond/769150/3 "2016-10-20T16:23:07Z")
That’s what i get for being interrupted six times while trying to type a four-line post. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-whatever-discovered-in-pond/769150/4 "2016-10-20T17:19:46Z")
First rule of reading the paper. Headlines are never written by a journalist, nor for that matter, anyone who has even read the story carefully. I’ve seen headlines in the sports section that proclaimed that the wrong team won. Headlines are written by a person whose only talent is knowing what length words will fit in the column space. And Sailboat, what do you suppose happens when a headline writer gets interrupted? While we’re at it, where’s the linked video? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-whatever-discovered-in-pond/769150/5 "2016-10-20T17:32:12Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > Not every old thing is a dinosaur! I’ve been called a dinosaur, and I’m only 71. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-whatever-discovered-in-pond/769150/6 "2016-10-20T17:33:52Z")
Googlind, I find that in the past two years there have been at least two different stories, months apart, both proclaiming that Michiganders stumbled over prehistoric bones. One called it Mastodon, one Woolly Mammoth. There may have been more, as the ones I found were both in 2015. But it is not uncommon for the tabloid media to dig up stories from a dim past and not notice that they are old, or recycle them with a new twist to fill page space… ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-whatever-discovered-in-pond/769150/7 "2016-10-20T18:06:55Z")
I fixed the error in the title as you asked. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-whatever-discovered-in-pond/769150/8 "2016-10-20T18:22:24Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > While we’re at it, where’s the linked video? The video is [here](http://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2016/10/19/university-michigan-mastodon-zworig.cnn) ( **beware** , auto-playing video). The page and video use the correct term; it’s the link to it that is incorrect. The bad headline is currently on CNN’s [home page](http://www.cnn.com/), but it’s currently at the bottom of the Top Stories section and will probably drop off soon. ---
**Author:** ![Bumbershoot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbershoot/32/3428_2.png) [@Bumbershoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbershoot)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-whatever-discovered-in-pond/769150/9 "2016-10-20T19:36:18Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > Headline writers are notoriously bad, but that’s bad even by those already low standards. > > And as long as we’re being pendantic, I have to point out that the skeleton was a _Mastodon_, which isn’t the same as a Mammoth. Pendantic? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-whatever-discovered-in-pond/769150/10 "2016-10-20T19:52:13Z")
99% of the time, if a headline says ‘dinosaur’ the creature discussed in the article will not be a dinosaur - pterosaurs, or aquatic reptiles are…mostly forgivable, but it’s rather pain-inducing when it talks about a mammal, or a shark, or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-whatever-discovered-in-pond/769150/11 "2016-10-20T20:05:02Z")
> [@Bumbershoot](#): > > Pendantic? > > 😉 Of course. Mastodon teeth make beautiful pendants. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2016, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-whatever-discovered-in-pond/769150/12 "2016-10-21T04:41:14Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > First rule of reading the paper. Headlines are never written by a journalist, nor for that matter, anyone who has even read the story carefully. No, this is the first rule of reading the paper: “Everything you read in the newspapers is absolutely true—except for the rare story of which you happen to have firsthand knowledge.” –Knoll’s Law of Media Accuracy (Erwin Knoll, editor, “The Progressive”)