A few nice articles on palaeoart and the life appearance of dinosaurs.

http://www.palaeontologyonline.com/a...-lost-reality/

http://markwitton-com.blogspot.co.uk...t-and-new.html

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/...-of-dinosaurs/

A couple more thoughts on Dreadnoughtus.

As I suspected along with the media hoopla that accompanies every new giant sauropod find it was not amongst the very largest dinosaurs - it's actually the completeness of the skeleton that makes it so very special.

At around 26 metres it's big but not that big as sauropods go.

For example its' femur is 1.9 metres - huge but far smaller than the around 2.5 metre femur of the new Titanosaur dug up earlier this year (when that material is finally published we really will see a contender for the largest dinosaur we know from existing skeletal remains).

http://svpow.com/2014/09/11/how-mass...dreadnoughtus/

http://markwitton-com.blogspot.co.uk...l#comment-form

Actually this happens a lot every time a gigantic new carcharadontosaurid like Giganotosurus is discovered they are all claimed to be bigger than T.rex but after the hype (and documentaries die down) this turns out not to be the case - they were as long or slightly longer but not as robustly built ('brick shithouse' is a term that comes to mind when thinking about Tyrannosaurus).

T. rex may soon be toppled as the heaviest carnivorous dinosaur when the new Spinosaurus material is published today (and please forget all about JP3 bullshit about this animal).

We shall see.

Scott Hartman does it again with a nice size comparison with some of the larger sauropods and a Blue whale. For the moment the whale is still the all-time mass champion unless we ever find the bones of the sauropods that left some truly gigantic footprints in some locations around the world.

See below (there is the possibility of 150-200 ton behemoths).

http://svpow.com/2009/10/13/how-big-...d-trackmakers/

From left to right giant Alamosaurus tibia, Giraffatitan (HMN SII), Supersaurus (WDC) and Diplodocus (NMMNH).

http://static.squarespace.com/static.../?format=1500w

Huge news!

A century old mystery has finally been solved.

At long last we know the true size form and lifestyle of Spinosaurus aegyptiacus - it turns out is was almost fully aquatic, very front heavy with solid (as opposed to hollow) bones and very short hind legs (rather like a hippo).

It does make perfect sense for a piscivore to have these adaptations.

At 15.2 metres it was by far the longest of the theropods - but not the heaviest at 'only' 6-7 tons (the latest estimate for Giganotosaurus carolinii is 8.2 tons and for 'Sue' theTyrannosaurus rex specimen between 8.4 and 9.5 tons).

I have been waiting ages for this research to come out and I have not been disappointed.

The National Geographic has everything you want to know about this remarkable beast - but the story is all over the web tonight - and I will post more links later.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/20...s/mueller-text

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/20...er-photography

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/20.../beast-graphic

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/20...puzzle-graphic

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/20...dators-graphic

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/20...-monster-video

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...osaur-science/

...or, in other words, the development of the human species:

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind - Yuval Noah Harari's groundbreaking account of our history - from apes to world dominance.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006...guide#b04g8s9y

More news on Spinosaurus.

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic....w-spinosaurus/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-29143096

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/scienc...952679/?no-ist

http://www.livescience.com/47797-swi...atic-life.html

http://news.discovery.com/animals/di...er-1409111.htm

Such bad news

Why - you are not a Jurassic Park 3 fan are you?

I will also never ever ever accept that T-Rex may have had feathers.

Bloody people spoiling my child hood ideas.

Never mind - at least you will always have One Million Years BC and Raquel Welsh to watch!

Even more on Spinosaurus to bore everyone with.

The first article notes that the skeleton is scaled as an 11 metre sub adult - nowhere near the 15.2 metres of the adult animal.

I am wondering about the 6-7 ton weight estimate on the National geographic scale chart - it seems far too light for such a monstrous theropod - I will be checking up on this.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/12/sc...inosaurus.html

http://www.science20.com/news_articl...inosaur-144684

I love an archaeopteryx me.....

Not in the biblical sense I hope!

Have you ever tried typing 'archeopteryx bible/religion' into google? Interesting reading.

Bullshit...... But interesting.

In every single article on Palaeontology there is on the web in the comments section there is always at least one creationist mouth-breather spouting utter cobblers!

I bought my nephew a book on dinos for his birthday this year. You should have seen the feathered raptors......

The 'optryx is a particular problem. Because, even if it's subsequently proven false, it suggests the ability to evolve from one animal type to the other.

Religious ****-nuts, no likey.....

Is is no longer that special anymore there are so many avian bird/dinosaurs that are being discovered every year now.

In a paper this week (too detailed to go into) it has been suggested that it may even have lost it's breastbone and become flightless once again - very ironic.

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/20...2-6063160e0f8e

Evolution can occur very quickly indeed in the right circumstances - this has been proved in several recent studies.

The discoveries come thick and fast - far too many to keep up with to be honest.

I've always like archie's. Every since I was a kid. They look so striking. A bit creepy.....

A couple of great size comparisons.

Very impressive artwork indeed and I love the feathered rex.

Spinosaurus, Giganotosaurus, Tyrannosaurus and Suchomimus (I think - have not found the link listing the last smaller spinosaurid's name yet).

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3ks8NFKqcr...03%2Bcopia.jpg

Sub-adult Spinosaurus, fully mature adult and puny human.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6o9s0PuVxA...A/s1600/07.jpg

A feathered raptor might make a good pet. Wonder if it would eat pit bulls? Realistically they're no bigger than a GSD, so probably no more dangerous.

I take it this is no longer accurate then?
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/attachm...hmentid=270780

...and let's not even speak about this: http://www.jplegacy.org/jpencycloped.../SpinoTurn.jpg

Depends what species though.

Crichton called Deinonychus antirrhopus -Velociraptor antirrhopus because of Gregory S. Pauls controversial (and discredited) classification in his famous masterwork 'Predatory Dinosaurs of the World' (1988).

Which Crichton had used as a source material for the book.

Hence all the confusion.

Try Utahraptor, Achillobator or Austroraptor - all Dromaeosaurids far larger than Jurassic Park's 'Velociraptors'.

They would eat pitbulls alright - or lions and tigers for that matter!

Indeed.

Spino in JP3 was just an exercise in Horner trying to discredit rex.

As the last two decades have proved - all of the theropods hyped to be larger than T.rex since the discovery of Giganotosaurus in 1995 have proven to fall short - at least in mass although Spino is now the longest without a doubt.

The debate about the new Spinosaurus material is already starting on Scott Hartmans blog - I knew it would.

http://www.skeletaldrawing.com/home/...osaurus9112014

And sadly for all the Spino fanboys it was not actually Godzilla and would quickly be a tasty meal for rex (in my humble opinion) if the two had ever met.

Here is a nice video and then radio interview.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoeA6xaVdZo

http://www.npr.org/2014/09/11/347488...ger-than-t-rex

Were all Dinosaurs Bird like? Were any reptiles/lizards?