Dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures

Started by DoomRulz, Jul 10, 2008, 12:17:08 AM

Author
Dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures (Read 280,272 times)

Vertigo

Vertigo

#810
Well, it's finally happened: we've discovered more of Deinocheirus.
That's the giant pair of arms dug up from Mongolia nearly fifty years ago -


Aside from a few ribs and vertebrae at the same site, no other evidence of it had been discovered during all that time, so it's been rather mysterious. The arms have been attributed to all kinds of creatures over the years, but for the last decade or two the consensus has been that they were attached to a gargantuan ornithomimosaur, the same family as Gallimimus.

Well, the discovery's just been announced of two new, nearly complete skeletons. Apparently the consensus was fairly accurate - it's an ornithomimosaur, though a survivor from a more basal family line than the ones we see the most of in pop culture.
And huge - 11 metres long, 5 metres tall. Unfortunately we're still missing their skulls, but there's one really weird and unexpected feature: they had some form of sail or hump above their pelvis, indicated by the presence of tall neural spines on the vertebrae. We don't see evidence of this in any other coelurosaur, so even disregarding the fact that it's vastly larger than any of its close relatives, it's a very unique animal.



The three images present appearances for whether it was scaly, partially or wholly feathered. Given its giantism, it wouldn't have needed much in the way of insulation, so I'd imagine it'd be somewhere between the first two.


More info:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/11/131104-dinosaur-hands-arms-body-mongolia/
http://chasmosaurs.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/svp-dispatches-body-of-deinocheirus.html

OmegaZilla

OmegaZilla

#811
That's absolutely fantastic.

Greedo

OMG ! thats fantastic indeed :)

King Rathalos

Quote from: Vertigo on Nov 06, 2013, 09:32:08 AM
Well, it's finally happened: we've discovered more of Deinocheirus.
That's the giant pair of arms dug up from Mongolia nearly fifty years ago -
http://31.media.tumblr.com/6dab1b37032a06bd12a55bcacec77cf7/tumblr_mubjq9oOpz1qckhr6o1_400.jpg

Aside from a few ribs and vertebrae at the same site, no other evidence of it had been discovered during all that time, so it's been rather mysterious. The arms have been attributed to all kinds of creatures over the years, but for the last decade or two the consensus has been that they were attached to a gargantuan ornithomimosaur, the same family as Gallimimus.

Well, the discovery's just been announced of two new, nearly complete skeletons. Apparently the consensus was fairly accurate - it's an ornithomimosaur, though a survivor from a more basal family line than the ones we see the most of in pop culture.
And huge - 11 metres long, 5 metres tall. Unfortunately we're still missing their skulls, but there's one really weird and unexpected feature: they had some form of sail or hump above their pelvis, indicated by the presence of tall neural spines on the vertebrae. We don't see evidence of this in any other coelurosaur, so even disregarding the fact that it's vastly larger than any of its close relatives, it's a very unique animal.



The three images present appearances for whether it was scaly, partially or wholly feathered. Given its giantism, it wouldn't have needed much in the way of insulation, so I'd imagine it'd be somewhere between the first two.


More info:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/11/131104-dinosaur-hands-arms-body-mongolia/
http://chasmosaurs.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/svp-dispatches-body-of-deinocheirus.html

So goddamn cool.

DoomRulz

Quote from: Vertigo on Nov 06, 2013, 09:32:08 AM
Well, it's finally happened: we've discovered more of Deinocheirus.
That's the giant pair of arms dug up from Mongolia nearly fifty years ago -
http://31.media.tumblr.com/6dab1b37032a06bd12a55bcacec77cf7/tumblr_mubjq9oOpz1qckhr6o1_400.jpg

Aside from a few ribs and vertebrae at the same site, no other evidence of it had been discovered during all that time, so it's been rather mysterious. The arms have been attributed to all kinds of creatures over the years, but for the last decade or two the consensus has been that they were attached to a gargantuan ornithomimosaur, the same family as Gallimimus.

Well, the discovery's just been announced of two new, nearly complete skeletons. Apparently the consensus was fairly accurate - it's an ornithomimosaur, though a survivor from a more basal family line than the ones we see the most of in pop culture.
And huge - 11 metres long, 5 metres tall. Unfortunately we're still missing their skulls, but there's one really weird and unexpected feature: they had some form of sail or hump above their pelvis, indicated by the presence of tall neural spines on the vertebrae. We don't see evidence of this in any other coelurosaur, so even disregarding the fact that it's vastly larger than any of its close relatives, it's a very unique animal.



The three images present appearances for whether it was scaly, partially or wholly feathered. Given its giantism, it wouldn't have needed much in the way of insulation, so I'd imagine it'd be somewhere between the first two.


More info:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/11/131104-dinosaur-hands-arms-body-mongolia/
http://chasmosaurs.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/svp-dispatches-body-of-deinocheirus.html

Well it's about damn time. I was thinking Deinocheirus was the forgotten dinosaur. 33 feet long, and 18 feet tall, f**k me. It's big enough to rival the larger theropods like T.Rex and Giganotosaurus.

I'm surprised it's being described as a more basal type of ornithomimid. Given that it's a Late Cretaceous theropod, I would think it's place in the Mesozoic timeline would dictate it's a more evolved form of one.

Ratchetcomand

Ratchetcomand

#815
Any love for the Permian period? I love all of the weird animals that exist back then and seeing what life was like before the Dinosaurs.

Xenodog

Quote from: Hellspawn28 on Nov 06, 2013, 05:10:06 PM
Any love for the  Permian period? I love all of the weird animals that exist back then and seeing what life was like before the Dinosaurs.

Gorgonopsids are pretty cool.

And that Deinocheirus find is so awesome.

DoomRulz

Quote from: Hellspawn28 on Nov 06, 2013, 05:10:06 PM
Any love for the Permian period? I love all of the weird animals that exist back then and seeing what life was like before the Dinosaurs.

Always; Dimetrodon, man <3

Ratchetcomand

Ratchetcomand

#818
I never like how Dimetrodon is always mistaken for a Dinosaur. As a kid, I keep on telling people that and they never listen.

Blacklabel

!!! Finally! :) Remember reading about Deinocheirus when i was a kid and wondering what he really looked lilke. :P

King Rathalos

http://bit.ly/1c085Je

T-Rex's oldest know relative Lythronax argestes (king of gore).

Xenodog

Quote from: King Rathalos on Nov 07, 2013, 03:05:30 AM
http://bit.ly/1c085Je

T-Rex's oldest know relative Lythronax argestes (king of gore).

So cool, but what an odd name.
Awesome discovery.

DoomRulz

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/11/new-dinosaur-siats/

So it seems the legendary T.Rex has yet another rival. A juvenile weighing four tons is a scary prospect though I imagine a juvy T.Rex wasn't that far removed in terms of weight.

Xenodog

Quote from: DoomRulz on Nov 22, 2013, 03:11:05 PM
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/11/new-dinosaur-siats/

So it seems the legendary T.Rex has yet another rival. A juvenile weighing four tons is a scary prospect though I imagine a juvy T.Rex wasn't that far removed in terms of weight.

Awesome discovery - seems they're making a lot of theropod discoveries!

Vertigo

Interesting. In the Nature Communications study, the researchers place it in the poorly-known Neovenatorid group - making it the first of its kind to be found in North America. They've been found pretty much everywhere else, except Africa (I expect they'll be found there eventually too, the dates of known fossils and land bridges suggest they could have emigrated there).
Unfortunately, it looks like the remains of Siats are highly fragmentary - part of the hip, a few vertebrae, a handful of hindlimb bones. I can't access the main body of the study, but apparently the authors posit that adult Siats would grow to around the size of Acrocanthosaurus.

Anyway, a 4-ton Tyrannosaurus would be close to the end of its growth period - they spent the first half of their lifespan attaining sizeable length on a fairly light frame, then suddenly put on the majority of their adult weight at a phenomenal rate during their teens.

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