Dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures

[DoomRulz]

Giga, to the audience, will look like a gigantic T.Rex. The Spinosaurus was not only bigger, but has a very unique, what with the sail.

[TITANOSAUR]

yeah its bigger, but the fight would never have realy happened in real life. T-Rex and Spino (as well as Gigs) lived on diffrent continants as well they lived millions of years apart.

[Noir-Gojira]

*now initiating the countdown until this degenerates into a "T. rex vs. Giga vs Spino" argument*

G'night everybody!

[Noir-Gojira]

Horner's lecture at the museum tonight was extremely fascinating.

Spoiler

He was talking about first, actually eliminating at least 1/3 of known dinosaurs on record by looking more closely at the bones themselves. Instead of naming new dinosaurs every time scientists discover something new, they should be looking more closely at what species they really have. He showed us examples of Edmontosaurus and Anatotitan, Pachycephalosaurus, Dracorex, and Stygimoloch, Triceratops and Torosaurus, and T.Rex and Nanotyrannus. On examining the bones via CAT scans, the fossils of the supposed smaller dinosaur is in fact just a younger version of the fully grown dinosaur (Nanot is just a young T.Rex, Edmontosaurus a young Anatotitan, etc...) He was literally cancelling out these other dinosaurs, it was nuts.

And the second half of the lecture was about hatching a chickenosaurus, if you will, from a chicken egg. By stopping the genes at the stages of chicken's embryonic development which allow for the growth of wings and instead letting them grow into arms, and stopping the gene which allows for tail reabsorption, let the tail grow much longer. In essence, you'd hatch out a chicken that looks more like an actual dromaeosaurid. Oh, and it would have teeth as well because chickens have teeth.

[close]

It sounds like a good time just to hear him in person, but I really wish he had some newer things to share.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091031002314.htm

The reduction of dinosaur species and genera has been going on for some months now.  A lot of us actually came to the same conclusion about chickenosaurus before reading his "How to Build a Dinosaur" a while back.  Goes to show how a degree in paleontology can affect your credibility as a mad scientist.

[Puks]

He was talking about first, actually eliminating at least 1/3 of known dinosaurs on record by looking more closely at the bones themselves. Instead of naming new dinosaurs every time scientists discover something new, they should be looking more closely at what species they really have.

Nothing new, really. Nevertheless, would love to hear it from a famous paleontologist.

[DoomRulz]

First I'd hear about it, so to me it was pretty exciting.

[Basher917]

you've guys already heard that alot of scientists are suggeting that the T-Rex is a scavenger right?

[Noir-Gojira]

To the point where anyone who brings it up now sounds borderline retarded.

[Puks]

 

[chupacabras acheronsis]

FLAWLESS. VICTORY.

[urban_predator83]

Why are predators (real predators aka carnovors) always protrayed as being evil in hollywood? Predators are an important part of the eco-system and food chain.

[DoomRulz]

Depends on the film. In The Land Before Time, the idea was to sympathise with Little Foot because his mother was dead and by having the herbivores speak, it's a sort of "p-correctness" because the speaking ability shows them as being noble. The carnivores however, are evil because they exist only to wreak havoc and f**k everyone's day up.

To the point where anyone who brings it up now sounds borderline retarded.

Pretty much. It's been proven T.Rex was primarily a hunter. Someone asked Horner that very question, and he said he believes the T.Rex was an opportunistic eater, which makes sense. His view is that based on the censuses he's taken of all Cretaceous dinosaurs he's discovered, T.Rex is 2nd most common, in between Trike at 1 and Anatotitan at 3rd. In Africa, hyenas which are primarily scavengers, are the seocnd most common animal, while the actual predators like lions aren't as common. His feeling is, with T.Rex fossils being that common in the rock formations, he feels they were more scavenging creatures.

[Puks]

All large terrestrial predators are both hunters and scavengers, the same can be applied to predatory dinos.

[DoomRulz]

T.Rex would already win. It's going to eventually come down to who has the strongest jaw power, combined with the keenest senses.

[DoomRulz]

Absolutely it can. Any top predator must be ready to both, and do them well, in order to survive. Lions and hyenas both actively hunt and scavenge.