So what did the super-predator Purussaurus prey on and why did it need such a colossal bite force?

Well there was plenty to choose from including the mega multi-ton turtle Stupendemys geographicus.

Although I would think that a fully mature adult would be a bloody big mouthful even for a monster like Purussaurus!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles my arse!

http://cameronmccormick.blogspot.co....a-turtles.html

https://lordgeekington.wordpress.com...2/stupendemys/

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

Purussaurus skulls.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tavigr...11/8437536320/

http://persianpet.org/forum/images/i...12/06/4883.jpg

http://persianpet.org/forum/images/i...12/06/4886.jpg

http://reptilis.net/index4/purussaurus-skull.jpg

http://www.ufac.br/portal/unidades-a...iensis-2/image

Lifesize model.

http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/i/20...ff-d5dlvq9.jpg

http://persianpet.org/forum/images/i...12/06/4885.jpg

Size comparison - if anything this is slightly too small!

http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/f/20...ca-d7fwllp.jpg

Stupendemys shell.

http://www.iconosdevenezuela.com/wp-...-33-metros.jpg

A few nice images of Purussaurus.

https://pepiart.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/2.jpg

http://dinosaurs.afly.ru/ii/kr/purussaurus.jpg

http://paleoimperia.ru/wp-content/up..._divulga__.jpg

http://persianpet.org/forum/images/i...12/06/4882.jpg

http://scienceblogs.com.br/coleciona...comparison.jpg

A larger photograph of the vast shell of Stupendemys.

http://opencage.info/pics/files/800_9186.jpg

Great satire - and she has tremendous knockers as an added bonus!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZyIG_jZzBs

How the the study of dinosaur growth rates could help us fight malnutrition.

http://www.gatesnotes.com/Health/How....tsrc=Facebook

Youngster Sophie's the Stegosaurus's body mass has recently been estimated using the latest scientific methods and comes out at around 1.6 tons.

Interestingly as fully grown members of the genus could reach 9 metres or so and my rough isometric scaling gives a weight of around 5.5 tons for such an adult animal - the weight of a bull elephant - which is pretty close to previous estimates.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31712957

http://phys.org/news/2015-03-museum-...egosaurus.html

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/about-us/news/2...led134200.html

A few recent articles that may be of interest.

http://svpow.com/2015/03/03/how-big-...i-mean-really/

http://blogs.egu.eu/network/palaeobl...th-each-other/

http://synapsida.blogspot.co.uk/2015...me-before.html

http://www.museumsassociation.org/mu...q-a-dean-lomax

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic....-croc-hotspot/

There is absolutely shitloads of news on the web about the remarkable new discoveries that push back the origins of our own humble genus Homo.

As always the items contain comments below most of the pieces by desperate and ignorant creationists terrified of their belief systems being destroyed and in total denial as usual.

Read those below the National Geographic article for example.

Always good for a laugh and they are quite articulate compared to the usual standards of the mouth-breathers.

Just a few examples on the web of these stories - which are mainly free of such theistic remarks (which is why I chose them).

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...olduvai-gorge/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31718336

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/scienc...954470/?no-ist

http://www.livescience.com/50028-hom...n-thought.html

http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...-of-humankind/

http://www.livescience.com/50032-ear...bly-found.html

http://www.livescience.com/50030-old...il-photos.html

This Tyrannosaur behaviour seems slightly too speculative for me - although it would certainly help to improve their predatory success rate.

http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/...20120715134949

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/...alvin-trex.jpg

Flying F14s? Surely they fly F-22s?

Who knows?

Either way I think we should send a shitload of them to Iraq and Syria - imagine if ISIS shot one of them down and they enthusiastically rushed to torture the pilot.

Let's meet Richard Owen...

Who he? Let's go see:

Sir Richard Owen: The man who invented the dinosaur
The Victorian scientist who coined the word "dinosaur" has been honoured with a plaque at the school he attended as a child. But who was Sir Richard Owen? Dinosaur fossils have been the subject of mystery, superstition and scholarly wonder for millennia, but the prehistoric reptiles did not receive their famous name until 1842.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...shire-31623397

May I be the first to wish you a very happy birthday Mr Soze! 🎈

Thanks hun.

My pleasure. 😊

Does anything on this thread interest you?

If it does I will try and find a few links.

When I read 'The Dinosaur Hunters' (a brilliant book!) I got the impression that Owen was a bit of a cad and essentially swindled Gideon Mantel out of many of his discoveries.

He was a total bastard - no doubt about that - for all his achievements.

In 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' (a highly entertaining and readable introduction to the sciences) - Bill Bryson goes into some detail on this.

Much to Owen's delight poor Mantell's life ended up like a horror movie.

I'm afraid I'm a dino pleb! But I love looking at the pics you discover. Keep up to good work birthday boy!

Most people are dino-plebs (there is the persistent myth that an interest in dinosaurs and other prehistoric life is somehow 'childish').

But thank you.

In honour of the above discovery and just because Ray Davies is such a bloody fantastic (and underrated) songwriter.

Sod the creationists.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRHqs8SffDo

Happy birthday Keyser.

http://www.freshcardsgifts.co.uk/ima...1703533000.jpg

Thank you very much - I did not know Mars had dinosaur cards!

The totally awesome Pleurobot - which amongst other things is going to help in the study of functional morphology in the earliest tetrapods - make sure you watch the videos folks.

How cool is that?

http://biorob.epfl.ch/pleurobot

http://phys.org/news/2015-03-pleurob...ke-motion.html

The bone crushing bite of the awesome serpent whale Basilosaurus.

http://blogs.plos.org/paleo/2015/02/...-basilosaurus/

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic....-bone-crusher/

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/art...l.pone.0118380

A few more links on the great beast.

http://prehistoric-fauna.com/Basilosaurus

http://www.mnh.si.edu/onehundredyear...ilosaurus.html

http://www.nyit.edu/medicine//resear...silosaurus_spp

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