The Paleontology Thread

[Noble Saber]

I think ernest might have saw a picture of a baryonix in a cuadrupedal stand, you know the claw of surey(I hardly remeber how to write it) in England?
Baryonix is a small spinosaurid, look at him as a smaller spinosaurus without a sail in the back

I thought he was thinking about Altispinax because it's depicted as four-legged in Carnosaur.

[Palaeogirl]

It could've been quite a few things. I'm guessing either Dimetrodon or one of the hundreds of 90's quadruped Baryonyx reconstructions myself.

[Maverick Centigrade]

Could have been based Arizonasurus.

[C-rex]

Maybe Irritator, it sufers several fan art''(aint really paleoart)despicing it as a cuadrupedal.
Or maybe a Edaphosaurus?

[Noble Saber]

Could have been based Arizonasurus.

I just wanted to say, as someone who lives in Arizona, why couldn't this be our state fossil?? Instead we got petrified wood.

[Maverick Centigrade]

Could have been based Arizonasurus.

I just wanted to say, as someone who lives in Arizona, why couldn't this be our state fossil?? Instead we got petrified wood.

Fellow former Arizonian here!

Yeah it's a shame that Arizonasaurus doesn't get more attention. Unfortunately the only prehistoric animals that get glory is Dinosaurs.

[Palaeogirl]

Mammoths, Smilodon, and Dire Wolves too. Smilodon is usually portrayed as a literal sabre toothed tiger though, which really undermines how montrously built it was. Dire wolves get it even worse because most people don't even realize they're real. Nobody cares about Brontotheres, Nimravids, Toxodonts, or Gomphotheres which are all really cool.

[Noble Saber]

I'd say the most well known prehistoric creatures besides dinosaurs are the mammoths, the saber-cats, Dimetrodon, Pteranodon, and the cave bear.

[Godzillasaurus]

I do not support the idea of large theropods sporting any large quantities of feathers. There has been evidence of filaments in many dinosaur groups, even ornithischians, but there is yet to be conclusive evidence of feathers in large theropods

I am not going to talk about dinosaurs here though. I would rather do that at an animal forum

[atomiccrusader]

I do not support the idea of large theropods sporting any large quantities of feathers. There has been evidence of filaments in many dinosaur groups, even ornithischians, but there is yet to be conclusive evidence of feathers in large theropods

I am not going to talk about dinosaurs here though. I would rather do that at an animal forum

(...well this is a dinosaur and prehistoric animal forum....)

I agree, until there is actual fossil evidence that large Theropods had feathers, I won't believe it. Besides, aren't there fossils of Carnotaurus skin?

[Palaeogirl]

Yutyrannus had a thick coat of feathers and weighed something like 1-2 tons. Therizinosaurus could've been anywhere from 4-7 tons and it almost certainly had feathers. Why wouldn't any large theropods have them? Feathers aren't like fur. Fur can only insulate, but feathers can insulate or cool. A big theropod in a warm climate wouldn't lose its feathers, it'd have feathers adapted to cool itself down.

There are scaly impressions for Carnotaurus, but it's scales seem to be of the same type that we see on avian dinosaurs. These aren't the same structure that lizards have, they're essentially feathers repurposed as scales. This implies that an ancestor of Carnotaurus (however far back said ancestor was) had feathers in some form. Either way, though, we know that Carnotaurus was scaly but Yutyrannus was around the same size and it had a lot of feathers.

[atomiccrusader]

Ah, I see, I always forget that Therizinosaurus was a Theopod.

How early did feathers develop in theropods? It seems that only theropods in the cretaceous eras had them.

[Palaeogirl]

Feathers were probably present on the very first dinosaurs, since we find both ornithischians and theropods with the same type of feathers. Skin impressions are extremely rare, we don't have any from Triassic dinosaurs. We do have Jurassic dinosaurs with feather impressions though. Epidexipteryx, Archaeopteryx, and Juravenator are the most notable ones. Juravenator is especially interesting because it has a nearly 50/50 mix of scales and feathers. Modern flight feathers evolved in the Jurassic, I doubt they were around in the Triassic. Early dinosaurs almost certainly had fuzzy fur-like feathers or quills along with scales. Later dinosaurs seemed to mix it up more, with some having full body coverings (owls) or near it (dromaeosaurs and most birds) and others having very little if any remnants aside from feather-derived scales (Carnotaurus and Brachylophosaurus).

[Demon Lord Gira]

Feathers were probably present on the very first dinosaurs, since we find both ornithischians and theropods with the same type of feathers. Skin impressions are extremely rare, we don't have any from Triassic dinosaurs. We do have Jurassic dinosaurs with feather impressions though. Epidexipteryx, Archaeopteryx, and Juravenator are the most notable ones. Juravenator is especially interesting because it has a nearly 50/50 mix of scales and feathers. Modern flight feathers evolved in the Jurassic, I doubt they were around in the Triassic. Early dinosaurs almost certainly had fuzzy fur-like feathers or quills along with scales. Later dinosaurs seemed to mix it up more, with some having full body coverings (owls) or near it (dromaeosaurs and most birds) and others having very little if any remnants aside from feather-derived scales (Carnotaurus and Brachylophosaurus).

Yeah, I am afraid Late Triassic dinosaurs having feathers is nonsense. having a scaly body covering works alot better for the roasting desert that was Late Triassic Pangaea than a covering of feathers. Just look at most desert ecosystems today. Reptiles are among the most plentiful and diverse creatures there, while birds tend to be limited. The same would most likely be true for the Late Triassic, and the early Jurassic as well.

As for the larger therapods with feathers, uhhh, no. Yutyrannus lived in RUSSIA, a place that back during the Late Cretaceous, wasn't AS cold as it is now, but still pretty freaking cold. having a fur coating in that environment works well, but for Late Cretaceous North America, or for the more tropical South American environment for the Abeilsaurs, no way feathers on something that large is going to work. For the young, yes, but for the adults... no.

[TyrantGojira]

To be honest, I can't picture dinosaurs like Allosaurus or any other carnosaur with feathers. It's too odd for me.

[C-rex]

the thing is that some dinosaurs dont seem to have evidence of feathers, (or scales forthat mater)
But wasn't somewhere a fosilised skin print of an Hadrosaurus ?

[G2000]

Maybe Irritator, it sufers several fan art''(aint really paleoart)despicing it as a cuadrupedal.
Or maybe a Edaphosaurus?

On the subject of Ernesth thinking a Spinosaur was quadrupedal, I think I found out why.

This was posted in the "Awesome Picture Thread": http://th09.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2 ... 5ssa9k.jpg

The point of this drawing, as I understand it, was to make it look like how people used to think dinosaurs looked like when they were first discovered (you ever seen the early drawings of Iguanadon and Megalosaurus?)

Ernest evidently thought it was supposed to be accurate.

[Noble Saber]

the thing is that some dinosaurs dont seem to have evidence of feathers, (or scales forthat mater)
But wasn't somewhere a fosilised skin print of an Hadrosaurus ?

They found a mummified Hadrosaur if that's what you're talking about.

[C-rex]

Maybe Irritator, it sufers several fan art''(aint really paleoart)despicing it as a cuadrupedal.
Or maybe a Edaphosaurus?

On the subject of Ernesth thinking a Spinosaur was quadrupedal, I think I found out why.

This was posted in the "Awesome Picture Thread": http://th09.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2 ... 5ssa9k.jpg

The point of this drawing, as I understand it, was to make it look like how people used to think dinosaurs looked like when they were first discovered (you ever seen the early drawings of Iguanadon and Megalosaurus?)

Ernest evidently thought it was supposed to be accurate.

I belive it was mendel's iguanodn the one with the finger spike in the nose, and M.bucklani old representation is somehow intrigant and fearsome
Well I consider myself a paleo-enthusiast not a fully trained paleontologist (paleogirl per say) , but Yeah those kind of missconceptions are awfull.
Anyway I just remember my fanatism to the enthelodontidae, that and that the lack of Eogyrinus art is disturbing

Cant belive I wrote Hadrosaurus insteed of hadrosaurid, but yeah I was actually refering to that magnum fosil print in the edmontosaurus

[C-rex]

Yes, very interesting reconstruction