Dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures

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

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Dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures (Read 282,852 times)

DoomRulz

Quote from: Vertigo on Sep 04, 2014, 09:05:41 PM
Spinosaurus is still the big dog, as far as I've heard. Where'd you find the six ton estimate, Doom?

http://events.nationalgeographic.com/events/exhibits/2014/09/12/spinosaurus-lost-giant-cretaceous/

QuoteMeet Spinosaurus. At over 50 feet long, 20 feet high and weighing in at 6 tons, Spinosaurus is the largest predatory dinosaur to ever roam the Earth — even bigger than T. rex.

P.Funkei

Well, 7 tons is within the weight range found in the paper, so 7 tons probably was the average size of T. rex.

As for that list, is it based on actual published mass estimates (excluding Spinosaurus and T. rex) or is it mostly hypothetical? If it's the former, how were those mass estimates calculated? If they were calculated using different methods it may be a flawed comparison.

DoomRulz

Published mass estimates. My knowledge of determining dino-weight isn't nearly deep enough for me to make any kind of hypothetical estimates.

On another note, check out some stuff I found on Facebook this morning.
http://palaeofail.tumblr.com/post/96643332435/supposedly-a-therizinosaur
http://albertonykus.deviantart.com/art/Dinosauria-Phylogeny-179223260

Oh, and a morning dose of lunacy up in here:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-dreadnought-dinosaur-most-complete-specimen-of-a-giant/

Here's the crazy part:
QuoteIt is more than seven times as massive as a Tyrannosaurus rex.

I don't even...are people really so ignorant about dinosaurs that everything has to be compared to T.Rex? NO SHIT IT WEIGHS MORE THAN T.REX. IT'S A GODDAMN SAUROPOD. Idiots.

Hubbs

Not really prehistoric but getting there...

Something in the ocean is eating great white sharks, June 2014, really cool

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8dFMWmYuVo#ws

DoomRulz

Old news; it was another Great White doing the eating.


P.Funkei

Quote from: DoomRulz on Sep 05, 2014, 01:39:24 PM
Published mass estimates. My knowledge of determining dino-weight isn't nearly deep enough for me to make any kind of hypothetical estimates.

On another note, check out some stuff I found on Facebook this morning.
http://palaeofail.tumblr.com/post/96643332435/supposedly-a-therizinosaur
http://albertonykus.deviantart.com/art/Dinosauria-Phylogeny-179223260

Oh, and a morning dose of lunacy up in here:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-dreadnought-dinosaur-most-complete-specimen-of-a-giant/

Here's the crazy part:
QuoteIt is more than seven times as massive as a Tyrannosaurus rex.

I don't even...are people really so ignorant about dinosaurs that everything has to be compared to T.Rex? NO SHIT IT WEIGHS MORE THAN T.REX. IT'S A GODDAMN SAUROPOD. Idiots.

This is only a sample size of one, but if this is any indication... :P

Also, here's a download link to the actual paper about the new Spinosaurus material, if you can manage to glean anything from it.


DoomRulz

Quote from: P.Funkei on Sep 12, 2014, 02:33:37 AM
Quote from: DoomRulz on Sep 05, 2014, 01:39:24 PM
Published mass estimates. My knowledge of determining dino-weight isn't nearly deep enough for me to make any kind of hypothetical estimates.

On another note, check out some stuff I found on Facebook this morning.
http://palaeofail.tumblr.com/post/96643332435/supposedly-a-therizinosaur
http://albertonykus.deviantart.com/art/Dinosauria-Phylogeny-179223260

Oh, and a morning dose of lunacy up in here:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-dreadnought-dinosaur-most-complete-specimen-of-a-giant/

Here's the crazy part:
QuoteIt is more than seven times as massive as a Tyrannosaurus rex.

I don't even...are people really so ignorant about dinosaurs that everything has to be compared to T.Rex? NO SHIT IT WEIGHS MORE THAN T.REX. IT'S A GODDAMN SAUROPOD. Idiots.

This is only a sample size of one, but if this is any indication... :P

Wait, what?

Also, someone shared this on Facebook:


Poor Spino. It looks like a snake with an elongated snout and arms and legs that have been pasted on.

P.Funkei

P.Funkei

#1119
Quote from: DoomRulz on Sep 12, 2014, 11:19:15 AM
Wait, what?

Also, someone shared this on Facebook:


Poor Spino. It looks like a snake with an elongated snout and arms and legs that have been pasted on.

The facebook link was just a joke in reference to the all too prevalent comparisons between T. rex and other dinosaurs, regardless of how relevant these comparisons may be.

And there may be some "hope" for Spinosaurus yet, because it seems that Ibrahim et al. may have made an error in scaling the hips and legs in their reconstruction, resulting in legs and hips that were too small.

Also, here's a new rendition based on Scott Hartman's findings by Tomozaurus.

DoomRulz

I read that earlier on today. Eh, even with Scott's adjustments, the posture doesn't change that much. It's still a very top-heavy theropod.

Vertigo

Top-heavy, but not a preferred or obligatory quadruped like the initial reconstruction suggested. It's a good stance for occasionally using those front limbs to help drag itself out of a muddy shoreline, as suggested by one of Funkei's links a little while ago.
Kind of a shame though, a quadrupedal theropod would have been pretty damn cool.

Interesting to note, Ibrahim/Sereno etc's study states that the sail bones are poorly vascularised, and it seems they don't think it would have been used as a heat regulator.
Not sure I agree with that, the bones' solidity is part of the animal's aquatic adaptations, and we don't know enough (well, anything) about the nature of the soft tissue that surrounded the spines.

OmegaZilla

OmegaZilla

#1122
So if they are "poorly vascularized" and the thing was acquatic... that definitely drives the "hunch" theory to extinction. Right?

Vertigo

Do you mean as in the shape of the sail structure, the theory that it may be a fatty hump? In the study, they directly posit that the structure has similarities to the crested chameleon. They think the bones were "wrapped snugly in skin" and formed a sail rather than a hump.

OmegaZilla

OmegaZilla

#1124
Precisely. Thank God. I never could see the Spinosaurus with a hump, much less now.

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