Dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures

[Immortan Jonesy]

Their closest widely-known relatives are actually plesiosaurs. Sauropterygians were a diverse group, lots of odd critters lurking in that tree.

Anyway plesiosaurs (the long neck) are like turtles crossed by snakes. Henodus other hand, looks like a cross between a turtle and platypus.

Here other sea monsters





and apparently the long necks began in the Triassic, as in the case of Pistosaurus

http://nisachar.deviantart.com/art/CHASMOSAURUS-BELLI-461731654

Amazing peace of art...

By the way, all of you must see toys from Sideshow, which in my opinion are very realistic

[OmegaZilla]

That Mosasaur looks slick as hell. Love it.

[DoomRulz]

That Protoceratops vs. Velociraptor one looks incredible! *sigh* why must they be so pricey...

[OmegaZilla]

Question: when did we actually discover that bipedal Dinosaurs did not walk upright and instead walked with the body parallel to the ground?

[Vertigo]

That's a good question. It's a development that came out of the dinosaur revolution, and gained traction throughout the 1980s (though you still see some vertical/diagonal theropods in early '90s palaeoart).
I don't know exactly when it started, but may have come out of studying Deinonychus, with a tail that was so obviously intended for balancing a lengthy body. You can see that Bakker and Ostrom reconstructed it with horizontal body posture as early as 1969.



However, it was still contentious in the late '80s, when a number of studies were published on the capabilities of dinosaur hip regions.

[OmegaZilla]

Thank you. I had no idea Bakker had already 'got' it in the late 60s -- always thought it was something that came out during the late 80s.

[DoomRulz]

As I understand things, what really confirmed the idea that they walked with their tails held out for balance was the fact that not a single trackway shows tail dragging marks behind the footprints.

[DoomRulz]

Vertigo, have you seen this?

http://www.slate.com/blogs/wild_things/2014/07/15/largest_flying_dinosaur_four_wings_on_changyuraptor_kept_it_from_crash_landing.html

[Vertigo]

Nope, that's a new one for me. Just speculating, but those super-long tail feathers (for adjusting course mid-flight) might suggest that it flew over longer distances than its relatives.

[DoomRulz]

Speaking of dinosaurs and birds, you're gonna love this.

http://io9.com/real-life-dinosaurs-are-way-scarier-than-the-movies-1608044920

I wouldn't rank these feathered critters ahead of T.Rex or Titanis, but the point is still well-made.

[Vertigo]

"A face perpetually frozen in an expression resembling that of a frat bro who just challenged you to a bar fight"


Bird-related tidbit from my reading today, a Mongolian troodontid may have been a nest parasite, like a cuckoo. Two very young trooies (copyright pending) were found in an oviraptorid nest.
This may be an example of predation by the ovis, bringing their catches back to the nest. But there's no evidence of other small animals in ovi nests, and their feeding strategies aren't well known. Furthermore, it would have been tricky for one oviraptorid to carry two intact prey animals in one trip.
Troodontids were better-adapted for sneaking into nests than oviraptorids, because they were nocturnal specialists - they could approach unnoticed when the oviraptorids were sleeping or just couldn't see well enough.

[DJ Pu$$yface]

Saw a Dinotopia dvd the other day, kinda wish I bought it. God I loved it as a kid, I found it so dramatic, exciting and scary and times.

I was dino obsessed as a lad. Still am, I suppose. Tyrannosaurus Rex will always be the king to me

[DoomRulz]

"A face perpetually frozen in an expression resembling that of a frat bro who just challenged you to a bar fight"


Bird-related tidbit from my reading today, a Mongolian troodontid may have been a nest parasite, like a cuckoo. Two very young trooies (copyright pending) were found in an oviraptorid nest.
This may be an example of predation by the ovis, bringing their catches back to the nest. But there's no evidence of other small animals in ovi nests, and their feeding strategies aren't well known. Furthermore, it would have been tricky for one oviraptorid to carry two intact prey animals in one trip.
Troodontids were better-adapted for sneaking into nests than oviraptorids, because they were nocturnal specialists - they could approach unnoticed when the oviraptorids were sleeping or just couldn't see well enough.

Ever since Oviraptor was labeled a brooder instead of an egg thief, is there still evidence of egg consumption amongst small theropods? I don't hear much about it anymore. Since the Oviraptor revelation, it's sort of dropped off the map.

[Vertigo]

Saw a Dinotopia dvd the other day, kinda wish I bought it. God I loved it as a kid, I found it so dramatic, exciting and scary and times.

I highly recommend getting hold of the books. James Gurney's artwork is beautiful, even for people who aren't big dinosaur fans it's quite mesmerising. And if you are a fan, Gurney's also a proper palaeo-artist, so the animals all look authentic (for the time - the original Dinotopia is 22 years old and the science has come a long way since then), human interactions and ornamentation notwithstanding.

Ever since Oviraptor was labeled a brooder instead of an egg thief, is there still evidence of egg consumption amongst small theropods? I don't hear much about it anymore. Since the Oviraptor revelation, it's sort of dropped off the map.

As far as I'm aware, the only signs of inter-species nest interaction are the little troodontids in the oviraptorid nest, and a snake eating sauropod eggs. Theropods are occasionally found not far from ornithischian nest sites, but we're generally talking about predators big enough to take on juveniles or even adults.

[DoomRulz]

Going after a hatchling would make for an easy treat though. I liked seeing the Ornitholestes in WWD devour a sauropodlet.