Leonard R. Brand - Scientific Research

Scientific Research

Brand began his scientific career in the study of small mammals. In 1968, Brand and Raymond Ryckman studied the systematics of deer mice (specifically the mainland cactus mouse and two related species isolated to nearby islands, the San Lorenzo and Angel Island mice. This was also the topic of Brand's masters. They confirmed the accepted taxonomy of these species, and showed that these species are still able to interbreed.

Starting in 1970, Brand reported on the tree nests and vocalisations of California chipmunks. This was also his PhD topic. Along with many other scientists, his reported methodologies and observations have added to the accumulating scientific knowledge of these mammals.

From 1999, the fossil remains of hundreds of whales (including the "Leviathan") were discovered as part of the Pisco formation in Peru. Brand and his associates studied the taphonomy of these well-articulated skeletons, and concluded that the burial of the whales in diatom sediment had been a very rapid event.

In 2000, Brand et al. have conducted field research on fossil turtles in the Bridger Formation of Wyoming. He has also been involved in taphonomy experiments using modern animal carcasses, particularly intended to aid understanding of the features of fossil turtles.

In the field of ichnology, Brand, along with Thu Tang, Andrew Snelling, and Steven Austin has proposed that fossil tracks in the Grand Canyon's Coconino Sandstone point to underwater deposition, rather than desert wind deposition of dry sand. Brand and Tang studied western newts walking on sand under 4 cm of flowing water in an aquarium tank. By analogy, they concluded that at least part of the Coconino Sandstone was deposited under water. This hypothesis has been criticized by geologists who interpret evidence supporting sub-aerial formation.

Geologist Martin Lockley describes Brand's Salamander trackway study as "seriously flawed" and notes that Brand links the underwater tracks theory to the idea that the whole Grand Canyon was entirely formed by a catastrophic, biblical-style flood, a view which Lockley calls geologically naive and disingenuous. He criticizes Brand's book, Faith, Reason and Earth History, for "leaving out any discussion of the objections published by geologists to his interpretation." Lockley praises Brand for admitting that creationists have made mistakes and that science-bashing can be counter-productive, for advocating respectful engagement, and for raising some thought-provoking philosophical questions regarding evolution and sociobiology.

A number of studies have found evidence contradicting Brand and Tang's conclusions and Lockley and Hunt's 1995 book Dinosaur Tracks and Other Fossil Footprints of the Western United States suggests an alternative explanation with the tracks being made in air by extinct mammal-like reptiles called caseids. Inconsistencies that contradict the underwater hypothesis include:

• tracks demonstrating various running gaits impossible under water, at various angles to the slope;
• tracks made by many forms of invertebrates which would not leave prolific underwater tracks, including some which could only be made on completely dry sand; and
• raindrop impressions.

Apart from the controversy, his observations of underwater foot prints have been cited in peer-reviewed journals.

In his report on laboratory controlled simulations of dinosaur footprints in sand, Simon J. Jackson cites eight scientists, including Brand. He says,

Experimental studies with live animals have greatly contributed to our understanding of track formation and preservation. Several authors (e.g., Padian and Olsen, 1989; Farlow, 1989; Farlow and Pianka, 2000) have focused on how the gait and behavior of the trackmaker affects the resultant track and trackway morphology. Other studies (e.g., McKee, 1947; Brand, 1979, 1996; Gatesy et al., 1999; Milan 2006) have investigated how a range of media conditions, such as the moisture (i.e., water) content, interacts with the movement of the foot to produce a spectrum of footprints.

Brand has also been involved in research not published in mainstream scientific journals. In 1970 Berney Neufeld, Brand and Art Chadwick studied the controversial Paluxy tracks and, contrary to many creationists at that time, concluded that those tracks did not provide valid evidence for the coexistence of humans and dinosaurs.