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Old 14-09-2014, 01:47
Keyser_Soze1
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Were all Dinosaurs Bird like? Were any reptiles/lizards?
Dinosaurs are reptiles - Archosaurs to be precise (along with crocodilians) and birds are maniraptoran theropods.

Lizards are reptiles but are Lepidosaurs (along with the snakes and the tuataras) so they are only distantly related.

So no - none were lizard like.

Even more on Spinosaurus.

http://qilong.wordpress.com/2014/09/...-spino-saurus/

http://theropoddatabase.blogspot.co.uk/

And the palaeontologist who found the new material.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...nosaur-fossil/
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Old 14-09-2014, 17:25
RobinOfLoxley
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Thanks Keyser. The waters had become muddied for me in recent years.
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Old 14-09-2014, 19:25
Keyser_Soze1
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Thanks Keyser. The waters had become muddied for me in recent years.
You are welcome.

More thoughts of Dreadnoughtus with a beautiful scale chart of the largest Titanosaur sauropods - as you can see as big as it was (and still with plenty of growing to do) it was by no means the largest Titanosaur, let alone the largest sauropod (the largest Brachiosaurid and Diplodocid species were all contenders as well).

http://paleoking.blogspot.co.at/2014...-and-myth.html

Size comparison chart.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-geBRfemnrI...adnoughtus.jpg
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Old 15-09-2014, 21:58
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The latest by Scott Hartman on the new Spinosaurus reconstruction - the first article that I posted by him I will link to again because of the superb discussions both have underneath in the comments sections.

Part 1.

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

Part 2.

http://www.skeletaldrawing.com/home/...osaurus9132014

Luis V. Ray has updated his Spinosaurus illustration as well.

http://luisvrey.wordpress.com/2014/0...s-runs-ashore/

The debate will rage on for months to come.

*One of the linked articles a few days ago is wrong - the skeletal reconstruction is a full size 15.2 metres long.
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Old 18-09-2014, 21:28
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Nizar Ibrahim's excellent 15 minute presentation on Spinosaurus and the eco-system it inhabited.

It was not a place you would really want to visit on holiday.

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/...e=relatedvideo

There are lots of new reconstructions of the great aquatic theropod based on the new skeletal material.

Here are three of the best I have seen so far.

http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/i/20...is-d7wj1j2.jpg

http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/i/20...ed-d4r751l.jpg

http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/i/20...is-d7z799f.jpg
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Old 19-09-2014, 22:26
Keyser_Soze1
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More discussions on Spinosaurus - I think that this is the last I will post on this theropod for a while and if anyone is interested there are more than enough links on this thread for people to keep up to date on the subject.

http://www.skeletaldrawing.com/home/...esponsd9182014

http://svpow.com/2014/09/16/guest-po...urus-painting/
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Old 19-09-2014, 22:47
Keyser_Soze1
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New 'Barry Manilow' hadrosaur Rhinorex discovered!

That's some nose - I would just hate to be there if it ever caught a cold and sneezed - no doubt Snotageddon would ensue!

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic....eous-quandary/

http://phys.org/news/2014-09-hadrosa...spotlight.html

http://www.sci-news.com/paleontology...tah-02158.html
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Old 21-09-2014, 15:22
TelevisionUser
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And now for some pre-mammals...

Yes, it's Synapsid time https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=sy...ed=0CAYQ_AUoAQ, there's more about them here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synapsid and this is why they're in the news:

Mammals' reptile ancestors may have hunted at night
Talk about vibrant nightlife. We thought the threat of predatory dinosaurs forced early mammals to become nocturnal. But it looks like their ancestors were night owls long before that. We can tell when an animal is most active by looking at its eyes: big ones are a sign of nocturnal habits, while smaller eyes indicate an animal is active during the day, or diurnal. Eyes don't fossilise, but a bony ring that surrounds some animals' eyes does, revealing eye size in extinct animals and hinting at what time of day the animal was active.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/...l#.VB7cuCXwDzo

Perhaps the best known synapsid is good ol' Dimetrodon:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimetrodon

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=di...ed=0CAYQ_AUoAQ

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=di...kQ_AUoAg&dpr=1
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Old 21-09-2014, 23:45
Keyser_Soze1
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And now for some pre-mammals...

Yes, it's Synapsid time https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=sy...ed=0CAYQ_AUoAQ, there's more about them here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synapsid and this is why they're in the news:

Mammals' reptile ancestors may have hunted at night
Talk about vibrant nightlife. We thought the threat of predatory dinosaurs forced early mammals to become nocturnal. But it looks like their ancestors were night owls long before that. We can tell when an animal is most active by looking at its eyes: big ones are a sign of nocturnal habits, while smaller eyes indicate an animal is active during the day, or diurnal. Eyes don't fossilise, but a bony ring that surrounds some animals' eyes does, revealing eye size in extinct animals and hinting at what time of day the animal was active.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/...l#.VB7cuCXwDzo

Perhaps the best known synapsid is good ol' Dimetrodon:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimetrodon

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=di...ed=0CAYQ_AUoAQ

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=di...kQ_AUoAg&dpr=1
I have posted somewhere about the early nocturnal mammals somewhere on here but I cannot remember where (it may be on this thread or maybe not).

A few articles on Dimetrodon that you may not have read.

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic....-a-nasty-bite/

http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/dim...-the-dinosaurs
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Old 25-09-2014, 08:48
Keyser_Soze1
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A few recent articles on a variety of topics.

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic....ore-conundrum/

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic....e-early-years/

http://blog.thingswedontknow.com/201...YyF140.twitter

http://markwitton-com.blogspot.co.uk....html?spref=tw
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Old 27-09-2014, 09:56
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More on the bird-dinosaur transition.

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic....ian-explosion/

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

http://www.livescience.com/48008-bir...sing-link.html

This year has really been a remarkable one for pterosaur discoveries and this excellent overview tells the tale.

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/...or-pterosaurs/
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Old 01-10-2014, 14:24
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Some nice recent articles.

Firstly as I suspected for many years despite being longer than T. rex the Spinosaurus was considerably lighter at 'only' around 6-7 tons. So the decades of 'Spinozilla' - 12-20 ton - rex destroying JP3 bullshit have finally been crushed - Tyrannosaurus is still the heaviest and most formidable theropod that has ever lived.

http://theropoda.blogspot.co.uk/

How dinosaur wrists turned into bird wings.

http://www.livescience.com/48076-din...gs-images.html

The current state of palaeo-art.

http://palaeo-electronica.org/conten...f-the-palaeoar

Enjoy.
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Old 03-10-2014, 20:35
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Let's look at an article about dinosaur fossil theft with a positive outcome:

The woman who saved Mongolia's stolen dinosaurs
Oyungerel Tsedevdamba is minister of culture, sports, and tourism for Mongolia. She is also president of the Democratic Women’s Union of Mongolia and an adviser on human rights to Mongolian president Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj. She has studied at Stanford University and at Yale University. Though illegal for more than a century, looting Mongolian dinosaur fossils was commonplace—until Tsedevdamba stepped in.
http://www.slate.com/articles/health...of_stolen.html

And now it's time for some light relief:

A dinosaur card has been found from 64.99 million years ago - http://tinypic.com/r/2a0gb2h/8

Some prehistoric marketing advice - http://www.gapingvoid.com/dinosaur001A1.jpg
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Old 03-10-2014, 22:50
Keyser_Soze1
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Let's look at an article about dinosaur fossil theft with a positive outcome:

The woman who saved Mongolia's stolen dinosaurs
Oyungerel Tsedevdamba is minister of culture, sports, and tourism for Mongolia. She is also president of the Democratic Women’s Union of Mongolia and an adviser on human rights to Mongolian president Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj. She has studied at Stanford University and at Yale University. Though illegal for more than a century, looting Mongolian dinosaur fossils was commonplace—until Tsedevdamba stepped in.
http://www.slate.com/articles/health...of_stolen.html

And now it's time for some light relief:

A dinosaur card has been found from 64.99 million years ago - http://tinypic.com/r/2a0gb2h/8

Some prehistoric marketing advice - http://www.gapingvoid.com/dinosaur001A1.jpg
Good stuff!

Plenty more to come when I have more time as well.
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Old 05-10-2014, 16:11
The Martian
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Dinosaur graveyard found in Mexico yields biggest number of specimens ever

Researchers from the University of Heidelberg, the State Museum of Natural History in Karlsruhe and the Desert Museum in Saltillo, Mexico, have uncovered at least 14 fossils of what they believe to be dinosaurs in a tiny area only 164 feet by 656 feet in size. The researchers also found the bones of at least 15 more specimens only a few miles away.

“I know no other place where so many dinosaurs have been found on such a small area,” said Wolfgang Stinnesbeck from the University of Heidelberg, according to Russia's RIA Novosti.

While the area where the fossils were discovered looks like an inhospitable wasteland at the moment, 70 million years ago the desert landscape was actually a fertile piece of land.

“There was a huge delta here and several rivers were flowing into the Gulf of Mexico,” said paleontologist Eberhard Frey from the University of Heidelberg. “The ecosystem here was vibrant. Apart from dinosaur bones we have found four species of turtles, remains of a small crocodile and teeth of early mammals.”
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/lif...und-in-mexico/

I wish there were more photos.
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Old 05-10-2014, 22:19
Keyser_Soze1
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Can-opening sabretooths - a new theory on how these massively built predators used their jaws to dispatch prey.

http://news.discovery.com/animals/se...ner-141001.htm

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%...l.pone.0107456

http://news.sciencemag.org/paleontol...an-opener-cats

The largest species of the Smilodon genus populator at up to almost half a ton may well have been the heaviest felid ever to live.
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Old 09-10-2014, 22:07
Keyser_Soze1
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The poor Spinosaurus fans are tearing their hair out on the web at the revelation that it would not have been able to beat a T. rex in combat (like in the bullshit T. rex hating JP3) or probably even the second heaviest theropods - the giant Carcharadontosaurids (like Giganotosaurus, Carcharodontosaurus, Tyrannotitan and Mapusaurus).

This cartoon says it all.

http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs71/i/20...52-d7z1h8v.jpg
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Old 10-10-2014, 16:25
Keyser_Soze1
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An interesting new paper on sauropod feeding biomechanics and how many species of such gigantic animals were able to share the same ecosystem without depleting the food supplies available to them.

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2014/o...opods-fed.html

http://www.theguardian.com/science/l...pod-diplodocus

http://phys.org/news/2014-10-dinosau...ner-table.html

The remains of the early carnivorous dinosaur Tachiraptor admirabilis have been discovered - and I just love the illustration - how the hell JP4 is going to get away with showing incredibly old-fashioned scaly dinosaurs is beyond me.

What a wasted opportunity to inform and educate the general public about these wonderful animals.

http://www.livescience.com/48188-pre...+Headline+Feed

http://news.sciencemag.org/latin-ame...ass-extinction

http://www.natureworldnews.com/artic...s-survivor.htm
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Old 10-10-2014, 16:33
The Martian
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The poor Spinosaurus fans are tearing their hair out on the web at the revelation that it would not have been able to beat a T. rex in combat (like in the bullshit T. rex hating JP3) or probably even the second heaviest theropods - the giant Carcharadontosaurids (like Giganotosaurus, Carcharodontosaurus, Tyrannotitan and Mapusaurus).

This cartoon says it all.

http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs71/i/20...52-d7z1h8v.jpg
So does this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHpDPuh8A2Q Warning: Adults only.

Child friendly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZO6DGWsW6Pc

I love Pterodactyls.
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Old 10-10-2014, 16:47
Keyser_Soze1
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Pterosaurs were a vastly diverse group of animals and one of the best sites on the net on these incredible masters of the sky is Marl Witton's and also here is a link for his latest book on Amazon.

http://markwitton-com.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.markwitton.com/#

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pterosaurs-N.../dp/0691150613

This is another excellent site and blog - some really good reading if you are interested in them.

http://pterosaur.net/

http://pterosaur-net.blogspot.co.uk/
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Old 10-10-2014, 16:50
The Martian
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Pterosaurs were a vastly diverse group of animals and one of the best sites on the net on these incredible masters of the sky is Marl Witton's and also here is a link for his latest book on Amazon.

http://markwitton-com.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.markwitton.com/#

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pterosaurs-N.../dp/0691150613

This is another excellent site and blog - some really good reading if you are interested in them.

http://pterosaur.net/

http://pterosaur-net.blogspot.co.uk/
Thanks for those awesome links, Keyser. I'll be checking them all out after dinner.
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Old 10-10-2014, 17:05
Keyser_Soze1
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Thanks for those awesome links, Keyser. I'll be checking them all out after dinner.
You are welcome.
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Old 10-10-2014, 19:05
The Martian
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I've added http://www.markwitton.com and http://pterosaur.net to my favs.

This is really interesting:

Does Deinonychus really have one of the most powerful bites of all dinosaurs?

Jaws with relatively small muscles have been the norm in Deinonychus palaeoart since its discovery, but is it time we changed that? Were their jaws actually visibly and powerfully muscled as inferred by their trace feeding evidence, or is there something missing here? Is it significant that lower estimates of their bite forces match those of animals which can also puncture bone (wolves - see Haynes 1982)?
http://markwitton-com.blogspot.co.uk...ve-one-of.html

Really great image of the Deinonychus: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bkl7p2rEaG...e%2BWitton.png
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Old 10-10-2014, 19:13
Keyser_Soze1
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I've added http://www.markwitton.com and http://pterosaur.net to my favs.

This is really interesting:

Does Deinonychus really have one of the most powerful bites of all dinosaurs?



http://markwitton-com.blogspot.co.uk...ve-one-of.html

Really great image of the Deinonychus: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bkl7p2rEaG...e%2BWitton.png
I am glad you enjoyed the links - Witton is also a very fine illustrator as you have just demonstrated.
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Old 14-10-2014, 19:36
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The oldest Norman uncovered:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-en...n-9785779.html
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