The Paleontology Thread

[NSZ]

What dinosaurs would be most useful to wage war with? If you thought T. rex, then think again: http://www.tor.com/2015/08/17/one-two-t ... -dino-war/

I think a swarm of Meganula is what I would use for war. They are actual bugs.

Actually, they're fictional.

Meganeura on the other hand...

[Kaijunator]

What dinosaurs would be most useful to wage war with? If you thought T. rex, then think again: http://www.tor.com/2015/08/17/one-two-t ... -dino-war/

I think a swarm of Meganula is what I would use for war. They are actual bugs.

Actually, they're fictional.

Meganeura on the other hand...

I could've sworn I have a specimen of Meganula at my local natural history museum...

[Noble Saber]

Actually, they're fictional.

Meganeura on the other hand...

I could've sworn I have a specimen of Meganula at my local natural history museum...

If it's a dragonfly, then it's Meganeura.

[G2000]

A bump for 2004.

[Noble Saber]

A new genus of Sauropod from South Africa, Pulanesaura - https://matthewbonnan.wordpress.com/201 ... opod-kind/

[M.U.T.O.]

We need more sauropods! This is a good 'un.

[RamshackleRanger]

What dinosaurs would be most useful to wage war with? If you thought T. rex, then think again: http://www.tor.com/2015/08/17/one-two-t ... -dino-war/

Im midway through this book. its fucking great.

[M.U.T.O.]

Seeing that I'm heading to New Mexico soon, I'd like to let y'all know I plan to visit Ghost Ranch while I'm there. It's the home of several dinosaur fossils, like Coelophysis.

EDIT: Currently jumping up and down with joy; we booked spots on a Paleontology tour!
</dinosaurs>

[Noble Saber]

So has there been any more conclusive news on Spinosaurus? I heard a lot of heresay about the quadropedal stance being B.S and related back-and-forth.

Short answer: We need more fossils

Slightly longer answer:
Old post, but right now, the most universally accepted reconstruction of Spinosaurus posture would be this:

[g2vd]

Largest carnivorousness Dinosaur ever found in Australia dubbed Lighting Claw.

http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/ ... -carnivore

[Jiragozira14]

New Cretaceous Chinese oviraptorid, Huanansaurus ganzhouensis.
Three new Triassic pterosaur genera; Arcticodactylus cromptonellus, Austriadraco dallavecchiai and Bergmanodactylus wildi.
The wooly mammoth's genome has been completely sequenced!
New short-armed, feathered Chinese Cretaceous dromaeosaurid, Zhenyuanlong suni.
The new Middle Jurassic thlattosuchian Stenosaurus edwardsi is the largest Middle Jurassic crocodylomorph so far.
New Cretaceous eusuchian, Albertosuchus knudsenii, new Cretaceous chelonid turtle Kimurachelys slobodae and new Cretaceous anuran Tyrellbatrachus brinkmani.
New Late Cretaceous plesiosaur, Brachauchenius lucasi.
New Triassic sauropodomorph, Eucnemesaurus entaxonis.
New lagerpetid dinosauromorph from Argentina, Dromomeron gigas.
Rhamporynchus soft tissue discovered, alongside coplorites and stomach contents.
New Jehol enantornithine bird, Pterygornis dapingfangensis.
New Cretaceous brachiosaurid from Colombia, Padillasaurus leivaensis

[TyrantGojira]

A juvenile Allosaurus Skeleton is on sale in the UK. It would be an awesome living room decoration, and one hell of a conversation starter.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/rare-a ... &ocid=iehp

[Tyrant_Lizard_King]

I understand many Theropods were probably feathered but this penchant for artists to cover gigantic predators like T.Rex or Allosaurus in them is getting a little annoying. All the major large Theropod skin impressions we known show absolutely no sign of feathers what so ever. Sure feathers in mating season is highly probable bit many modern artists go way overboard with it. Even the smaller predators it's quite possible that at least the heads were naked.

[TyrantGojira]

I understand many Theropods were probably feathered but this penchant for artists to cover gigantic predators like T.Rex or Allosaurus in them is getting a little annoying. All the major large Theropod skin impressions we known show absolutely no sign of feathers what so ever. Sure feathers in mating season is highly probable bit many modern artists go way overboard with it. Even the smaller predators it's quite possible that at least the heads were naked.

Not to be a stick in the mud, but what about Yutyrannus?

[Tyrant_Lizard_King]

It's only like 20ft isn't it that's still relatively small. But an animal as huge as T.Rex or Giganotosaurus, being heavily feathered would be counter productive wouldn't it. There's a reason rhinos and elephants are so sparsely furred. Heavy feathering in juveniles of course is highly likely as is display plumage in mating season. It's just some artists I feel go way overboard with it. Also as far as we know at least the larger Ceratosaurians were almost completely devoid of visible feathers.

[Kaijunator]

It's only like 20ft isn't it that's still relatively small. But an animal as huge as T.Rex or Giganotosaurus, being heavily feathered would be counter productive wouldn't it. There's a reason rhinos and elephants are so sparsely furred. Heavy feathering in juveniles of course is highly likely as is display plumage in mating season. It's just some artists I feel go way overboard with it. Also as far as we know at least the larger Ceratosaurians were almost completely devoid of visible feathers.

Maybe the feathers helped them camouflage? Maybe they didn't blend well with the environment and the feathers were used help blend in much better?

[MoarCrossovers]

I wonder if you guys could help me. I'm trying to find this documentary I watched years ago but can't remember what it was called. My memories of it are vague but I remember it had a scene where a big cat killed a glyptodont.

EDIT: I found it. It's called Wild New World, or Prehistoric America if you live in the US.

[TyrantGojira]

I wonder if you guys could help me. I'm trying to find this documentary I watched years ago but can't remember what it was called. My memories of it are vague but I remember it had a scene where a big cat killed a glyptodont.

EDIT: I found it. It's called Wild New World, or Prehistoric America if you live in the US.

I have that on DVD.

Also, I see your point Tyrant_Lizard_King. I thought Yutyrannus was areound 30 feet long. Go figure. I kinda agree with you that the larger predators are less likely to be covered in feathers. But I think some larger therapod be covered in small feathers in some areas, mainly the tyrannosaurids.

[Jiragozira14]

It's only like 20ft isn't it that's still relatively small. But an animal as huge as T.Rex or Giganotosaurus, being heavily feathered would be counter productive wouldn't it. There's a reason rhinos and elephants are so sparsely furred. Heavy feathering in juveniles of course is highly likely as is display plumage in mating season. It's just some artists I feel go way overboard with it. Also as far as we know at least the larger Ceratosaurians were almost completely devoid of visible feathers.

Yutyrannus is 30 feet long, actually; only 10 feet shorter than Sue, the largest known Tyrannosaurus. So it's not all that pathetic next to Tyrannosaurus. Not to mention Hell Creek's environment was only relatively subtropical and had a ample amount of percipitation, so it's not like a feathered T.rex would boil in Hell Creek. :p

And a lot of people overestimate how cold the Yixian was in comparison to Hell Creek; the most accurate comparison would be to think of Hell Creek as Florida and the Yixian as Virginia. The Yixian's average yearly temperature was 10 degrees Celsius, similar to the Mid-West of the US. And generally people don't call the Mid-West US "cold" all year round. :p

On that other point;
Feathers don't work like hair, and the two animals have vastly different builds, so the elephant/rhino comparison doesn't quite work.
The reason an elephant or rhino has sparse hair is because they're essentially big bricks of meat, bones and skin, which means it's more beneficial to have less fur because of their more compact surface area so they don't die from heatstroke, because funnily enough, mammals aren't all that efficient when it comes to dispersing heat.

Dinosaurs don't have that issue because they all have long tails and are generally not as brick-like as elephants, not to mention that dinosaurs most likely shared the same thermoregulatory methods as birds do. This is the one comparison that needs to die, because it's not accurate.

Also, even the ceratosaurs are being considered to have possibly had primitive feathers, thanks to discoveries like Kulindadromeus and Tianyulong. :p

[Tyrant_Lizard_King]

You know what's awesome? In Dougal Dixon's alternative evolution pioneering book The New Dinosaurs he surmised that some Pterosaurs could have eventually evolved into land based forms that almost completely abandoned flight. With all the recent discoveries concerning Quetzalcoutlus and it's relatives it seems his theory may have had some weight behind it afterall.