The Paleontology Thread

[Gawdziller1954]

What the hell are you talking about?

IIRC, Richard Lydekker named a large ichthyosaur vertebrae Ichthyosaurus Hectorii in honor of James Hector,a geologist. Now, of course, almost all the species put into Ichthyosaurus are now considered distinct. Of course, the same would be the case for this ichthyosaur if the ship transporting it hadn't sunk on it's way to America. IIRC, the vertebrae was 48CM in diameter, which is over double that of the next largest ichthyosaur, the 75 foot Shastasaurus.

[Tyrant_Lizard_King]

Never heard of that. Cool!

[master_of_monsters]

fossil record, be a bro and show me some new spinosaurus fossils

[BARAGONZILLA]

fossil record, be a bro and show me some new spinosaurus fossils

That and another carnotaurus.
I have always found it interesting that there are dinosaurs we have only found one specimen of, yet we know so much about them. And then there are others where we have several specimens, and yet don’t know as much.

Speaking of Carnotaurus, I was wondering if anyone here could help me. I am trying to put together a 6-8 minute film about a carnotaurus but there is a key thing I am missing.
I would like to include a chase sequence but I am not entirely sure what dinosaur a carnotaurus would eat. Like what would be a good dinosaur to add into the film, for a carnotaurus to hunt, and would be considered somewhat accurate?

[RamshackleRanger]

I would like to include a chase sequence but I am not entirely sure what dinosaur a carnotaurus would eat. Like what would be a good dinosaur to add into the film, for a carnotaurus to hunt, and would be considered somewhat accurate?

Sadly, we don't know many dinosaurs from the same formation as Carnotaurus - what we do know, however, is that it was built for bursts of highspeeds in open environments. it couldn't turn that sharply, so smaller prey like dryosaurus will be unlikely for a chase scene - i'd say a smaller hadrosaur or ornithopod like tenontosaurus would be a great prey item, though not necessarily accurate. (there is an indeterminate hadrosaurid from la colonia, so you could always just make a fictional or very general one).

[Gawdziller1954]

fossil record, be a bro and show me some new spinosaurus fossils

That and another carnotaurus.
I have always found it interesting that there are dinosaurs we have only found one specimen of, yet we know so much about them. And then there are others where we have several specimens, and yet don’t know as much.

Speaking of Carnotaurus, I was wondering if anyone here could help me. I am trying to put together a 6-8 minute film about a carnotaurus but there is a key thing I am missing.
I would like to include a chase sequence but I am not entirely sure what dinosaur a carnotaurus would eat. Like what would be a good dinosaur to add into the film, for a carnotaurus to hunt, and would be considered somewhat accurate?

Young sauropod or ankylosaur would be probable. Carnotaurus was a mid-tier hunter and scavenger, so i'd say if you want an adult dino then mabye an ornithopod like iguanodon.

[MoarCrossovers]

fossil record, be a bro and show me some new spinosaurus fossils

That and another carnotaurus.
I have always found it interesting that there are dinosaurs we have only found one specimen of, yet we know so much about them. And then there are others where we have several specimens, and yet don’t know as much.

Speaking of Carnotaurus, I was wondering if anyone here could help me. I am trying to put together a 6-8 minute film about a carnotaurus but there is a key thing I am missing.
I would like to include a chase sequence but I am not entirely sure what dinosaur a carnotaurus would eat. Like what would be a good dinosaur to add into the film, for a carnotaurus to hunt, and would be considered somewhat accurate?

Antarctopelta and Saltasaurus would be good candidates.

[Xx_The_Masquerade_xX]

Article - T-Rex was smarter then previously thought

link - https://www.thedailybeast.com/t-rex-was ... ref=scroll

[Gawdziller1954]

fossil record, be a bro and show me some new spinosaurus fossils

That and another carnotaurus.
I have always found it interesting that there are dinosaurs we have only found one specimen of, yet we know so much about them. And then there are others where we have several specimens, and yet don’t know as much.

Speaking of Carnotaurus, I was wondering if anyone here could help me. I am trying to put together a 6-8 minute film about a carnotaurus but there is a key thing I am missing.
I would like to include a chase sequence but I am not entirely sure what dinosaur a carnotaurus would eat. Like what would be a good dinosaur to add into the film, for a carnotaurus to hunt, and would be considered somewhat accurate?

Antarctopelta and Saltasaurus would be good candidates.

I wouldn't say either, however. Carnotaurus was not built to hunt heavy-set armored prey as it had weak jaws and a light build.

[Leviarex]

Article - T-Rex was smarter then previously thought

link - https://www.thedailybeast.com/t-rex-was ... ref=scroll

You know, I pretty much speak for everyone here when I say that I never once would've considered it's I.Q. to be on the same level as a Chimp's. And suffice it to say that I won't be looking at the tyrant king the same way after this.

[TyrantGojira]

Article - T-Rex was smarter then previously thought

link - https://www.thedailybeast.com/t-rex-was ... ref=scroll

The fact that a predatory animal that large and powerful is also that intelligent is chilling. Guess Jurassic Park wasn’t too far off with how intelligent dinosaurs were.

[BARAGONZILLA]

I read it and thought it was interesting, up until they started talking about brain to body size ratio.

Now I am not well versed when it comes to the brain, but I do know that the size of your brain has nothing to do with intelligence, it’s about how your brain is organized. It’s about how big certain parts of your brain are. Certainly a big brain can help, but it generally has nothing to do with intelligence.
And when you actually look at the brain of a dinosaur, there isn’t a lot that suggests they were that intelligent. Not to say dinosaurs were stupid, but they definitely weren’t the intelligent that is shown in the Jurassic Park movies.
Of course this could be wrong, but that is how it looks at the moment, to me at the very least.

There’s also some other claims they make in this article, that at least to my knowledge, aren’t necessarily backed up by a lot of evidence. I don’t know. A lot of claims being tossed around here.

[JAGzilla]

I suppose a decent level of intelligence does make sense for Tyrannosaurs, though. Most of their available prey would've been difficult to hunt, being either fast or well-armed/armored. A quick, agile mind would've been a valuable asset for them. Chimp intelligence does sound like an exaggeration, though.

[Demon Lord Gira]

Yeah, I don't buy the idea that T-rex was anywhere near that smart. Was it a smart creature? By the standards of its time, no doubt, but there's more to intelligence than just brain size in relation to body mass. Many modern reptiles have brains that only fill half of their cranial cavity for starters, and intelligence has to do more with folds in the brain and surface area than straight out size. Nevermind who knows how much of that brain mass was devoted to the senses for T-rex? (Which, for a predator, is highly likely to be primarily focused on sight and smell)

The tree shrew has the largest brain in proportion to body size of any mammal, but I doubt you're going to be seeing anyone claiming "Hey, tree shrews are as smart as chimpanzees or dolphins!"

[Andrew the Gojifan]

This is news to me. Latenivenatrix is a pretty cool name though.

Not to mention Stenonychosaurus is back from synonimy!
And also the supergiant 26 meter Icthyosaur.

26 meters is peace-meal. People seem to forget the largest vertebrate EVER is considered to be an ichthyosaur of 50 meters and 200-400 tons.

Ah, yes, Hector`s Icthyosaur. We tend to be skeptical of that one. For the record it seems that 4 can be confused with 1 pretty often in old papers (it was described in 1884) so, it might not be that big, probably still pretty big for an Ichthyosaur.

[Gawdziller1954]

Not to mention Stenonychosaurus is back from synonimy!
And also the supergiant 26 meter Icthyosaur.

26 meters is peace-meal. People seem to forget the largest vertebrate EVER is considered to be an ichthyosaur of 50 meters and 200-400 tons.

Ah, yes, Hector`s Icthyosaur. We tend to be skeptical of that one. For the record it seems that 4 can be confused with 1 pretty often in old papers (it was described in 1884) so, it might not be that big, probably still pretty big for an Ichthyosaur.

Well, no, the weight estimates and length estimates are from modern times based off of how fat the big ichthyosaurs are in comparison to a possibly 50 meter animal.

[Andrew the Gojifan]

26 meters is peace-meal. People seem to forget the largest vertebrate EVER is considered to be an ichthyosaur of 50 meters and 200-400 tons.

Ah, yes, Hector`s Icthyosaur. We tend to be skeptical of that one. For the record it seems that 4 can be confused with 1 pretty often in old papers (it was described in 1884) so, it might not be that big, probably still pretty big for an Ichthyosaur.

Well, no, the weight estimates and length estimates are from modern times based off of how fat the big ichthyosaurs are in comparison to a possibly 50 meter animal.

I`m not reffering to the weight or length but the vertebra size provided when it was first described

[Gawdziller1954]

Ah, yes, Hector`s Icthyosaur. We tend to be skeptical of that one. For the record it seems that 4 can be confused with 1 pretty often in old papers (it was described in 1884) so, it might not be that big, probably still pretty big for an Ichthyosaur.

Well, no, the weight estimates and length estimates are from modern times based off of how fat the big ichthyosaurs are in comparison to a possibly 50 meter animal.

I`m not reffering to the weight or length but the vertebra size provided when it was first described

Doubtful, seeing as the vertebrae was found alongside a 36cm diameter vertebrae IIRC.

[The Painkiller]

Is anyone aware of any books from the last year or two containing information about most if not all known dinosaurs, flying reptiles, and/or other animals from their era (or I suppose just a massive encyclopedia)?

[Gawdziller1954]

Is anyone aware of any books from the last year or two containing information about most if not all known dinosaurs, flying reptiles, and/or other animals from their era (or I suppose just a massive encyclopedia)?

Not really. The most recent i found (which I possess) still prints out the "25 meter Liopleurodon" myth.