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Old 16-05-2014, 04:01
lea_uk
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Other than dinosaurs, Paleantology reminds me of Ross from Friends.
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Old 16-05-2014, 05:34
owllover
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The long names put me off for a start. Call me shallow.

T Rex picked a brilliant name but it was their music that interested me, not the dinosaur but I've always thought that boys were/are particularly fascinated by diggers and dinosaurs.

I was only there for a few days but met a man who's brother in law plays in T Rex. Perhaps the "the dinosaur island" inspired their name because it certainly was different.

Sorry to take your thread so o/t Keyser but it's your fault for waking up my dormant mind for which I thank you.

I'd say I'll read your links but I know I wouldn't absorb it all.
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Old 16-05-2014, 08:15
Keyser_Soze1
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Thanks for the kind comments folks.

Sue the Tyrannosaurus rex getting a nice spring clean.

Well a lady has to look her best at all times.

http://blog.everythingdinosaur.co.uk...ing_clean1.jpg

http://ww3.hdnux.com/photos/11/15/25.../7/628x471.jpg
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Old 16-05-2014, 22:39
Keyser_Soze1
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A couple of discussions on just how large sauropods may have got.

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

http://svpow.com/2010/02/19/how-big-...i-mean-really/

If you have an interest in these remarkable behemoths this site is just superb.

http://svpow.com/
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Old 17-05-2014, 10:48
Keyser_Soze1
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An article on a new book featuring the superb artwork of Julius T. Csotonyi - one of the very best illustrators of prehistoric life on the planet.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/0...n_5226787.html
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Old 17-05-2014, 11:19
Keyser_Soze1
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News of a new massive new Titanosaurid sauropod that has been discovered in Argentina.

At an estimated length of around 40 metres it is certainly one of the largest ever found but I will wait for the final calculations to see how it compares with the other supergiants.

But it may well be the largest dinosaur for which we have significant skeletal remains (rather than extrapolations from fragmentary material) as there are seven individuals in this wonderful find.

Sauropod weights are being revised all the time - downward - due to the tremendous lightening of the skeleton combined with their avian air-sac system and more accurate computer models.

A few decades ago such an animal would have been thought to weigh more than 200 tons!

There will undoubtedly be more articles on this beast over the next few days.

Sod all you creationists - try fitting some of these buggers on the Ark.

Enjoy folks.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27441156
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Old 17-05-2014, 12:32
PrincessTT
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I was slightly ashamed yesterday when talking to a group of 3 years old that they know more about dinosaurs than me... So I'm coming to hide out in here for a bit to educate myself.
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Old 17-05-2014, 13:12
Keyser_Soze1
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I was slightly ashamed yesterday when talking to a group of 3 years old that they know more about dinosaurs than me... So I'm coming to hide out in here for a bit to educate myself.
Aww, I hope this thread can help a bit PrincessTT.

Any questions you may want to ask I will try and answer if I can.
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Old 18-05-2014, 16:54
Keyser_Soze1
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Abit more on the gigantic sauropod discovered recently.

This femur looks even larger than the previous one (perhaps a bigger specimen out of the seven individuals discovered).

http://metrouk2.files.wordpress.com/...op=1#038;h=478

Personally I think the estimated weight for this dinosaur (77 tons) is far too light, Argentinosaurus huinculensis has been estimated to weigh 73, 83 and 90 tons respectively in various recent publications.

If Puertasaurus reuili has been estimated to weigh between 88-110 tons - see my previous post on this thread - then surely this massive beast could exceed 100 tons as well. It is all very interesting.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/23616497...ur-discovered/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...Argentina.html

http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/6557...argentina.html
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Old 18-05-2014, 17:43
gemma-the-husky
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This is all strange. We are always told that gravity prevents animals/us growing over a certain size, and all of a sudden there is an animal the size of 20 elephants. God has probably put a big bone in the ground to see what we would do.
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Old 18-05-2014, 17:50
anne_666
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News of a new massive new Titanosaurid sauropod that has been discovered in Argentina.

At an estimated length of around 40 metres it is certainly one of the largest ever found but I will wait for the final calculations to see how it compares with the other supergiants.

But it may well be the largest dinosaur for which we have significant skeletal remains (rather than extrapolations from fragmentary material) as there are seven individuals in this wonderful find.

Sauropod weights are being revised all the time - downward - due to the tremendous lightening of the skeleton combined with their avian air-sac system and more accurate computer models.

A few decades ago such an animal would have been thought to weigh more than 200 tons!

There will undoubtedly be more articles on this beast over the next few days.

Sod all you creationists - try fitting some of these buggers on the Ark.

Enjoy folks.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27441156
Seeing the comparative size of people amongst the bones is amazing.
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Old 18-05-2014, 17:53
Keyser_Soze1
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This is all strange. We are always told that gravity prevents animals/us growing over a certain size, and all of a sudden there is an animal the size of 20 elephants. God has probably put a big bone in the ground to see what we would do.
There are many sauropods in this size range and some have been known for decades.

Bone is more than strong enough to support far larger dinosaurs even than these.

Mammals seem to be constrained by inferior skeletal and physiological engineering (our lungs are far less efficient for example than the avian air-sac system of birds and dinosaurs) and their method of reproduction.

But no one is quite certain why land mammals have never really got much larger than elephants IIRC.
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Old 18-05-2014, 17:59
jzee
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This is all strange. We are always told that gravity prevents animals/us growing over a certain size, and all of a sudden there is an animal the size of 20 elephants. God has probably put a big bone in the ground to see what we would do.
The reason animals could get much bigger then is humans hadn't ravaged the planet, cleared the land & chopped down most of the forests. Also if anything that big had survived the asteroid impacts and liked killing us we would have tried to hunt them out of existence anyway.
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Old 18-05-2014, 17:59
charlie1
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Absolutely fascinating.
Can you tell me keyser, that despite the fact these massive dinosaurs are longer than the blue whale, does the blue whale 'outdo' them in the sense of its enormous bulk weight?
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Old 18-05-2014, 18:07
Keyser_Soze1
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Absolutely fascinating.
Can you tell me keyser, that despite the fact these massive dinosaurs are longer than the blue whale, does the blue whale 'outdo' them in the sense of its enormous bulk weight?
The largest dinosaurs from skeletal remains are all around 75 -100 tons.

So it does at the moment, but ichnotaxa (footprints) suggest some may have exceeded the maximum weight of the blue whale (around 200 tons).

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

Although the remains have been lost Amphicoelias fragillimus could have approached or exceeded the mass of a large blue whale (the discussion at the end of both articles is excellent).

http://svpow.com/2010/02/19/how-big-...i-mean-really/

Who knows what we will find in the future?
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Old 18-05-2014, 18:15
charlie1
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The largest dinosaurs from skeletal remains are all around 75 -100 tons.

So it does at the moment, but ichnotaxa (footprints) suggest some may have exceeded the maximum weight of the blue whale (around 200 tons).

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

Although the remains have been lost Amphicoelias fragillimus could have approached or exceeded the mass of a large blue whale (the discussion at the end of both articles is excellent).

http://svpow.com/2010/02/19/how-big-...i-mean-really/

Who knows what we will find in the future?
Thanks for your response.
I just find it absolutely fascinating that the blue whale, potentially is the largest mammal to have ever existed.
I think we are so privileged to have this beautiful mammal in our existence. And so happy, that their numbers, albeit slowly, are increasing.
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Old 18-05-2014, 18:17
Keyser_Soze1
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Thanks for your response.
I just find it absolutely fascinating that the blue whale, potentially is the largest mammal to have ever existed.
I think we are so privileged to have this beautiful mammal in our existence. And so happy, that their numbers, albeit slowly, are increasing.


I totally agree.

Yes and no sauropods have quite beaten it yet, so for the moment it is the heaviest animal which had ever existed.
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Old 18-05-2014, 18:53
Keyser_Soze1
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A nice diagram (click on all the links) of the human family tree.

http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-family-tree

The Smithsonian Institute's superb overview of the subject.

http://humanorigins.si.edu/

Creationists can just sod off!
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Old 18-05-2014, 20:29
anne_666
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A nice diagram (click on all the links) of the human family tree.

http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-family-tree

The Smithsonian Institute's superb overview of the subject.

http://humanorigins.si.edu/

Creationists can just sod off!
I agree! Thanks Keyser but where are the fish in the family tree? Or am I being thick?
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Old 18-05-2014, 20:38
Keyser_Soze1
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I agree! Thanks Keyser but where are the fish in the family tree? Or am I being thick?
That is just our recent family tree (Hominids), here is a nice little article with a simple diagram of our fishy ancestors.

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/...ut-of-the-sea/

http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolib...trapod_evo.jpg
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Old 18-05-2014, 20:54
Keyser_Soze1
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It is interesting to note that the living Coelacanth species are actually far more closely related to us than they are to say a cod or herring.

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

http://www.moreintelligentlife.com/s...COE_03_MIL.jpg
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Old 18-05-2014, 22:28
Keyser_Soze1
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A couple of pictures of the famous Argentinosaurus huinculensis skeleton.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...s_DSC_2943.jpg

http://www.geek.com/wp-content/uploa...us-590x330.jpg

Note however this is an extrapolation from a few bones - the new dinosaur is known from far more complete remains.

Which is really wonderful news.

Here are two different reconstructions showing the bones that have been found of Argentinosaurus.

http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs71/i/20...ng-d30tysl.jpg

http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/i/20...st-d5xy6n4.jpg
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Old 19-05-2014, 23:10
Keyser_Soze1
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Two slightly different perspectives on the gigantic Titanosaur discovery that has been in the news this week.

http://paleoking.blogspot.co.at/2014...saur-just.html

http://svpow.com/2014/05/19/the-new-...gentinosaurus/

The discussion and debate of just how large this animal really was will no doubt continue until the paper is finally published.
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Old 19-05-2014, 23:13
CLL Dodge
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A nice diagram (click on all the links) of the human family tree.

http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-family-tree
Seems to be all branches with nothing on the trunk.
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Old 19-05-2014, 23:31
Keyser_Soze1
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Seems to be all branches with nothing on the trunk.
Because it is only showing our recent hominid evolution - as you know perfectly well.

The 'trunk' is a microscopic twig on the Tree of Life.

http://www.dhushara.com/book/unravel...lutiontree.jpg

http://static.bbci.co.uk/naturelibra..._life_full.gif
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