Previous post by SamHexum: Green Eggs and Velociraptor?

[+ sync]

If you were a small-to-medium-sized creature during the ancient Jurassic or Cretaceous periods, you definitely wouldn’t have wanted the shadow of a pterosaur to appear on the ground beneath you. With wingspans reaching as large as 36 feet, the high-flying dinosaurs ruled the skies and could make short work of ground-dwelling prey. Unfortunately, paleontologists have had a hard time researching some of the long-dead animal’s remains, particularly unhatched pterosaur eggs which were thin and fragile and failed to create usable fossils.

 

Now, an incredible discovery in China is blowing scientists away and they’ve been blessed with an incredibly well-preserved clutch of eggs that is giving them their best look at unhatched pterosaur offspring.

 

The research, which was published in the journal Science, details the discovery and examination of one particular nesting site found in China in 2014. The location was absolutely packed with eggs of the pterosaur Hamipterus, numbering in the hundreds. The site, which scientists now believe was a well-worn nest area used for generations, contained over 200 unhatched eggs as well as embryos and countless bones.

 

Some of the more interesting observations the researchers were able to make include the fact that the embryos did not have any teeth at the time they died. Past fossils have shown that pterosaurs develop teeth extremely early, so to find fossil specimens without teeth suggests that these animals were incredibly young when they died.

 

Using CT scans to get a glimpse inside the unhatched, long-fossilized eggs, scientists were able to see the development of the mighty flying dinosaurs in their very earliest days. Barely-developed skeletons and lack of developed muscles in the parts of the body necessary for flight suggests that the baby pterosaurs were incapable of flight and would have been dependent on their parents for the food needed to survive and grow larger.

 

It’s a remarkable discovery that paints a vivid picture of one of the most interesting creatures ever to call Earth home. Unless science can make Jurassic Park a reality, discoveries like these are the best chance we have at understanding how they lived.

 

samhexum, Dec 4, 2017

 

While I am not an avid paleontology enthusiast, this is really quite interesting. I was not aware of this finding. Various Google images suggest the best defense against this creature was to not be bite-size.

Edited December 12, 2017 by sync

[samhexum]

While I am not an avid paleontology enthusiast, this is really quite interesting. I was not aware of this finding. Various Google images suggest the best defense against this creature was to not be bite-size.

 

Fossils from New Zealand have revealed a giant penguin that was as big as a grown man, roughly the size of the captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

 

The creature was slightly shorter in length and about 20 pounds (9 kilograms) heavier than the official stats for hockey star Sidney Crosby. It measured nearly 5 feet, 10 inches (1.77 meters) long when swimming and weighed in at 223 pounds (101 kilograms).

 

If the penguin and the Penguin faced off on the ice, however, things would look different. When standing, the ancient bird was maybe only 5-foot-3 (1.6 meters).

 

The newly found bird is about 7 inches (18 centimeters) longer than any other ancient penguin that has left a substantial portion of a skeleton, said Gerald Mayr of the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum in Frankfurt, Germany. A potentially bigger rival is known only from a fragment of leg bone, making a size estimate difficult.

 

The biggest penguin today, the emperor in Antarctica, stands less than 4 feet (1.2 meters) tall.

 

Mayr and others describe the giant creature in a paper released Tuesday by the journal Nature Communications. They named it Kumimanu biceae, which refers to Maori words for a large mythological monster and a bird, and the mother of one of the study's authors. The fossils are 56 million to 60 million years old.

 

That's nearly as old as the very earliest known penguin fossils, which were much smaller, said Daniel Ksepka, curator at the Bruce Museum of Greenwich, Connecticut. He has studied New Zealand fossil penguins but didn't participate in the new study.

 

The new discovery shows penguins "got big very rapidly" after the mass extinction of 66 million years ago that's best known for killing off the dinosaurs, he wrote in an email.

 

That event played a big role in penguin history. Beforehand, a non-flying seabird would be threatened by big marine reptile predators, which also would compete with the birds for food. But once the extinction wiped out those reptiles, the ability to fly was not so crucial, opening the door for penguins to appear.

 

Birds often evolve toward larger sizes after they lose the ability to fly, Mayr said. In fact, the new paper concludes that big size appeared more than once within the penguin family tree.

 

What happened to the giants?

 

Mayr said researchers believe they died out when large marine mammals like toothed whales and seals showed up and provided competition for safe breeding places and food. The newcomers may also have hunted the big penguins, he said.

[+ sync]

Fossils from New Zealand have revealed a giant penguin that was as big as a grown man, roughly the size of the captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

 

The creature was slightly shorter in length and about 20 pounds (9 kilograms) heavier than the official stats for hockey star Sidney Crosby. It measured nearly 5 feet, 10 inches (1.77 meters) long when swimming and weighed in at 223 pounds (101 kilograms).

 

If the penguin and the Penguin faced off on the ice, however, things would look different. When standing, the ancient bird was maybe only 5-foot-3 (1.6 meters).

 

The newly found bird is about 7 inches (18 centimeters) longer than any other ancient penguin that has left a substantial portion of a skeleton, said Gerald Mayr of the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum in Frankfurt, Germany. A potentially bigger rival is known only from a fragment of leg bone, making a size estimate difficult.

 

The biggest penguin today, the emperor in Antarctica, stands less than 4 feet (1.2 meters) tall.

 

Mayr and others describe the giant creature in a paper released Tuesday by the journal Nature Communications. They named it Kumimanu biceae, which refers to Maori words for a large mythological monster and a bird, and the mother of one of the study's authors. The fossils are 56 million to 60 million years old.

 

That's nearly as old as the very earliest known penguin fossils, which were much smaller, said Daniel Ksepka, curator at the Bruce Museum of Greenwich, Connecticut. He has studied New Zealand fossil penguins but didn't participate in the new study.

 

The new discovery shows penguins "got big very rapidly" after the mass extinction of 66 million years ago that's best known for killing off the dinosaurs, he wrote in an email.

 

That event played a big role in penguin history. Beforehand, a non-flying seabird would be threatened by big marine reptile predators, which also would compete with the birds for food. But once the extinction wiped out those reptiles, the ability to fly was not so crucial, opening the door for penguins to appear.

 

Birds often evolve toward larger sizes after they lose the ability to fly, Mayr said. In fact, the new paper concludes that big size appeared more than once within the penguin family tree.

 

What happened to the giants?

 

Mayr said researchers believe they died out when large marine mammals like toothed whales and seals showed up and provided competition for safe breeding places and food. The newcomers may also have hunted the big penguins, he said.

 

 

One of my long-time fantasies has been to be able to observe and walk among the amazing prehistoric creatures and vegetation, in a controlled environment of course.

[+ poolboy48220]

don't step on any butterflies.

[samhexum]

Earth lost a truly unique species when Benjamin, the last known thylacine — commonly called the Tasmanian tiger — died in captivity in early September of 1936. Despite an impressive number of alleged sightings of the animal in the years since no actual documented examples of the species have been found in the wild for nearly a century. Now, thanks to some incredible advancements in DNA research, some scientists believe we could actually bring the species back from the dead.

 

A new study published in Nature Ecology and Evolution announces that scientists have finally been able to obtain the complete nuclear genome of the thylacine species, revealing an impressive amount about the creature’s ancestry. According to the study, the dog-like marsupial was only very loosely related to modern day canines, having shared a common ancestor some 160 million years ago. It was an incredibly special animal and a branch of the evolutionary tree that stood out on its own.

 

“They were this bizarre and singular species. There was nothing else like them in the world at the time,” one of the researchers, Charles Feigin of the University of Melbourne, Australia, explains. “They look just like a dog or wolf, but they’re a marsupial.”

 

Using thylacine pup which was preserved in alcohol after its death over a century ago, geneticists were able to document the species’ full genome. That’s big news for researchers who want to learn more about the Tasmanian tiger’s distant past, but others are already more focused on their potential future.

 

Andrew Pask, an Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne, believes that sequencing the thylacine’s genome is indeed a huge first step towards helping it turn the tables on extinction. “It is technically the first step to bringing the thylacine back, but we are still a long way off that possibility,” Pask explains. “We would still need to develop a marsupial animal model to host the thylacine genome, like work conducted to include mammoth genes in the modern elephant.”

 

At present, the technology that would allow such a thing to be done doesn’t exist, yet, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be possible in the very near future. As Pask notes, the idea of sequencing a genome was also unfathomable a couple of decades ago and researchers are working towards a future where extinct animals could be brought back under certain circumstances.

 

The thylacine would really be an ideal use of such technology, given that humans were undoubtedly responsible for its demise in the first place. The species, which was already showing signs of struggle when the Australian continent was settled en masse, was pushed to extinction on the mainland but thrived on Tasmania. There, farmers put bounties on the tiger for fear that it would attack sheep and hunters ruthlessly wiped them out, with only a few captive animals remaining in zoos until those eventually died, too.

 

“Ethically, we actually owe it to species like that, the species we wiped off,” Pask says. “If we could bring it back, we should.”

Edited November 18, 2020 by samhexum

[samhexum]

[samhexum]

Scientists have discovered 115 new species in the Greater Mekong region of Southeast Asia, including a crocodile lizard and a snail-eating turtle that was spotted in a Thai food market.

 

The species are revealed in a report, “Stranger Species,” released this week by the Washington, DC-based World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The discoveries, which were made in 2016, include two fish, three mammals, 11 amphibians, 11 reptiles and 88 plant species in the area around the Mekong River in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

 

One of the new species is the Vietnamese crocodile lizard, a medium-size lizard that lives in the evergreen and freshwater forest habitats of South China and northern Vietnam. The reptile was discovered by Dr. Thomas Ziegler and his research team and even features in a comic strip designed to educate children on the importance of protecting lizards. The WWF warns that the lizard is so heavily threatened by habitat destruction, coal mining and collection for the pet trade that as few as 200 of the individuals could remain in Vietnam. “This is terrifyingly low,” Ziegler said in the report.

 

The snail-eating turtle was discovered at a local market in northeast Thailand. “Dr. Montri Sumontha noticed the turtle in two different markets and suspected it was a new species. He asked the shopkeepers, who said they caught them in a nearby canal, so he purchased them to check,” explained the WWF in a statement. Sumontha warns that the turtle is threatened by local infrastructure such as dikes and dams, and has called for protection under Thai law.

 

Other new species include a mountain horseshoe bat, which was found in the evergreen forests of mountainous Laos and Thailand and took 10 years to confirm as a new species. The bat’s distinctive, horseshoe-shaped facial structure has prompted comparisons to one of the characters in the famous cantina scene in “Star Wars,” according to WWF.

 

Two new mole species and a vibrantly colored frog also were discovered in northern Vietnam, as well as a new fish species in Cambodia.

 

The new species are just the latest to be found in the Greater Mekong. Last year, a World Wildlife Fund report identified 163 new species in the region, including a “Klingon newt.”

 

Between 1997 and 2016, 2,524 new species of plants, birds, mammals, reptiles, fish and amphibians have been discovered in the Greater Mekong.

 

“More than two new species a week and 2,500 in the past 20 years speaks to how incredibly important the Greater Mekong is to global biodiversity,” Stuart Chapman, WWF-Greater Mekong regional representative, said in a statement. “While the threats to the region are many, these discoveries give us hope that species from the tiger to the turtle will survive.”

 

In a separate announcement this week, the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society said a nest of the endangered Asian giant softshell turtle has been found on a Mekong River sandbar in northeastern Cambodia.

[samhexum]

There’s not a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. There’s an iridescent dinosaur.

 

Scientists on Monday announced the discovery of a crow-size, bird-like dinosaur with colorful feathers from northeastern China that lived 161 million years ago during the Jurassic Period.

 

They named it Caihong, the Mandarin word for rainbow. Microscopic structures in the exquisitely preserved, nearly complete fossil unearthed in Hebei Province indicated that it boasted iridescent feathers, particularly on its head, neck and chest, with colors that shimmered and shifted in the light, like those of hummingbirds.

 

The discovery “suggests a more colorful Jurassic World than we previously imagined,” said evolutionary biologist Chad Eliason of the Field Museum in Chicago, one of the researchers in the study published in the journal Nature Communications.

 

Using powerful microscopes, the scientists detected within the feathers the remnants of organelles called melanosomes responsible for pigmentation. Their shape determines the color. Caihong’s feathers had pancake-shape melanosomes similar to those of hummingbirds with iridescent feathers.

 

Much of its body had dark feathers, but ribbon-like iridescent feathers covered its head and neck. While it possessed many bird-like characteristics, the researchers doubted it could actually get airborne. Its plumage could have attracted mates while also providing insulation.

 

Caihong was a two-legged predator with a Velociraptor-like skull and sharp teeth, probably hunting small mammals and lizards. It had crests above its eyes that looked like bony eyebrows.

 

Many dinosaurs possessed feathers. Birds evolved from small feathered dinosaurs near the end of the Jurassic Period. Caihong had fuzzy feathers and pennaceous ones, those that look like writing quills. It is the earliest known creature with asymmetrical feathers, a trait used by birds to steer when flying. Caihong’s were on its tail, suggesting tail feathers, not arm feathers, were first utilized for aerodynamic locomotion.

 

“It is extremely similar to some early birds such as Archaeopteryx,” said paleontologist Xing Xu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, referring to the earliest known bird, which lived 150 million years ago. “Its forelimbs were configured like wings. To be honest, I am not sure what function the feathers have, and I don’t think that you can completely exclude the possibility that the feathers helped the animal to get in the air.”

 

Asked what someone might say upon seeing Caihong, University of Texas paleontologist Julia Clarke said, “‘Wow!’ And if they are anything like me, they might want one as a pet. Not suitable for children.”

 

The dinosaur’s full scientific name, Caihong juji, means “rainbow with a big crest.”

 

 

[samhexum]

A newly discovered dinosaur from Egypt is a huge deal for paleontologists — and not just because it was the size of a school bus.

 

Mansourasaurus shahinae is massively significant because it illuminates the last days of the dinosaurs in Africa that have, until now, been a mystery.

 

Scientists seeking to understand African dinosaurs have compared the discovery of this giant that roamed some 80 million years ago to the “Holy Grail.”

 

“It was thrilling for my students to uncover bone after bone, as each new element we recovered helped to reveal who this giant dinosaur was,” said Dr. Hesham Sallam of Mansoura University, who led the research in the Sahara Desert.

 

The newly found dinosaur’s name honors Mansoura University and Mona Shahin for her integral role in developing the research initiative that led to the discovery.

 

The Mansourasaurus shahinae skeleton is the most complete dinosaur specimen ever discovered from that period and location, according to a paper published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.

 

Mansourasaurus belongs to a group of sauropods called Titanosauria, which were common throughout the Cretaceous period. Titanosaurs include the largest land animals known to science.

 

Remains reveal that the dinosaur had a long neck and bony plates embedded in its skin. It was about 33 feet long, or the length of a school bus. It weighed about the same as an elephant, according to the research team at Ohio University.

 

Scientists found that Mansourasaurus is more closely related to dinosaurs in Europe and Asia than those found in Southern Africa or South America.

 

“Africa’s last dinosaurs weren’t completely isolated, contrary to what some have proposed in the past,” said contributing author Dr. Eric Gorscak, who began work on the project as a doctoral student at Ohio University. “There were still connections to Europe.”

 

Study co-author and dinosaur paleontologist Dr. Matt Lamanna of Carnegie Museum of Natural History, acknowledged being stunned by the discovery.

 

“When I first saw pics of the fossils,” he said, “my jaw hit the floor. This was the Holy Grail — a well-preserved dinosaur from the end of the Age of Dinosaurs in Africa—that we paleontologists had been searching for a long, long time.”

 

Added Sallam, “What’s exciting is that our team is just getting started. Now that we have a group of well-trained vertebrate paleontologists here in Egypt, with easy access to important fossil sites, we expect the pace of discovery to accelerate in the years to come.”

[samhexum]

Horny monkeys that will sleep with anything have created a new species

 

Sex-mad monkeys have been mating with other species, creating an entirely new hybrid population of apes — and scientists are absolutely fine with it.

 

The primates from Tanzania’s Gombe National Park have been at it for hundreds or even thousands of years, according to a new study.

 

By peeping into the DNA from the feces (Ewwwwwwwww!) of 144 guenon monkeys from the site, researchers found evidence of ongoing mating between two genetically distinct groups.

 

These apes are known for their striking features long thought to be signs of species-specific mating – some have bushy beards, others have brightly-colored tufts of hair and even more have big noses.

 

But the new study, published in the International Journal of Primatology, suggests they may not be that choosy after all.

 

The data indicates that the park, originally colonized by red tails, was at one stage invaded by blue apes on the hunt for mates.

 

And neither type of primate was put off by the other’s distinct features, opening the floodgates to cross-species copulation – with future generations of hybrid monkeys following suit.

 

But guenons aren’t the only amorous apes that have shrugged off sexual norms.

 

There’s also the macaque, which has been spotted having sex with deer numerous times. Oh, deer!

 

“The Gombe hybrid population is extremely valuable because it can be used as a model system to better understand what hybridization looks like and how genetic material moves between species,” said Detwiler.

 

“We have this amazing laboratory in nature to help us answer many questions about hybridization and how species boundaries are maintained.

 

“This research is very timely because hybridization often occurs in response to environmental changes, as we are seeing with climate change and modified landscapes – it is nature’s way to respond.”

Edited November 18, 2020 by samhexum

[samhexum]

Velociraptor

don't step on any butterflies.

 

To survive in the Mesozoic era, dinosaurs had to do a lot of running. Whether it was to get some dinner or to not become lunch, they had to be able to break into a sprint at a moment’s notice. Supposedly, dinosaurs like the Velociraptor could run as fast as 40 miles per hour.

 

New research suggests that dinosaurs may have had an ultra-sophisticated, bird-like respiratory system that helped them run at high speeds. Led by Robert Brocklehurst from School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Manchester, the researchers used CT scans to compare dinosaur lung cavities to those of crocodiles and alligators (crocodilians and dinosaurs have a common ancestor) and modern birds, who are the dinosaurs’ descendants.

 

The team studied the cavities of four modern-day crocodilians and 29 birds, comparing their structure with those of 16 dinosaur species. After comparing the scans, they found that the dinosaurs’ vertebrae were more similar to those of birds than crocodilians. A lot of the dinosaurs, which included the Velociraptor and Spinosaurus, had a costovertebral joint as well as the same “ceiling” of vertebra and ribs that birds share.

 

To double check, the team also physically removed the lungs of an alligator and ostrich. The lung cavity of the alligator was smooth, which allowed for the alligator to breathe as it swam. However, like the dinosaurs studied, the lung cavity of the ostrich was furrowed.

 

According to the study, this would suggest that dinosaurs had the same kind of respiratory system that modern-day birds have, which means their lungs were highly effective at pumping in oxygen. These lungs would have kept a continuous stream of oxygen coming in while at the same time using less energy to inflate and deflate the lungs. The dinosaurs needed this oxygen too, as some studies indicate that their air was only 10 to 15 percent oxygen. For comparison, the Earth’s air is 20 percent oxygen today.

 

Dr. Stephen Brusatte, a paleontologist with the University of Edinburgh, believes the research provides new insight on how the ultra-efficient and “very weird” lungs of modern birds evolved.

 

“Today’s birds have a sophisticated lung that can take in oxygen during both inhalation and exhalation,” Brusatte, who did not take part in the study, told Fox News. “On the face of it, it seems to make no sense that a bird can take in oxygen while it’s breathing out, but this is enabled by a rigid, unidirectional lung that connects to a series of air sacs, which hold oxygen-rich air. [This] study has identified the marks the lungs and air sacs left on the bones, which show that many dinosaurs had these telltale marks, and hence the bird-style lungs.”

 

It was also recently reported that the first fossilized lung of a Cretaceous-era bird was found in northeastern China. Living 120 million years ago, the bird was killed by volcanic ash that reportedly preserved the lung.

 

“In the vast majority of cases, lungs do not fossilize,” Brusatte explained. “They are far too flimsy and fragile to endure millions of years of being buried in rock.”

 

If the preserved organs are truly lungs, it could help solve the mystery of the bird/dinosaur lung connection once and for all.

 

“This other study does something stunning: it reports the first evidence of an actual fossilized lung in a fossil bird,” Brusatte said. “These [two] new studies together show that many dinosaurs probably possessed this lung.”

 

Brusatte notes that while other teams of researchers will have to verify the fossilized lung if it pans out, he thinks it’s “one of the most unexpected and incredible fossil finds of recent years.”

[samhexum]

Secrets of ‘the most dangerous place in the history of planet Earth’ revealed

Excavation and skeletal reconstruction of super raptor Deltadromeus agilis.

 

Time travelers steer clear.

 

A fossil-filled Moroccan depository dating back to the Cretaceous period has been named the “most dangerous place in the history of planet Earth,” due to its plethora of fearsome predators.

 

Researchers across the globe published the first detailed and fully illustrated account of the deadly escarpment known as the Kem Kem Group in a recent article in the journal ZooKeys.

 

“This was arguably the most dangerous place in the history of planet Earth,” says the study’s lead author Nizar Ibrahim, Ph.D., an assistant biology professor at the University of Detroit Mercy. The University of Portsmouth visiting researcher adds that the southeast Moroccan site was “a place where a human time-traveler would not last very long.”

 

Indeed, 100 million years ago, the prehistoric chomping grounds were roamed by a murderer’s row of Cretaceous carnivores, including enormous crocodiles, several species of flying reptile, super raptors and the 26-foot-long saber-toothed Carcharodontosaurus, according to the study.

 

Also in the murderous mix? A Spinosaurus, the T. rex-killing dino from

All said, Kem Kem makes Africa’s Kruger National Park look like a petting zoo.

 

The number of mega-hunters was especially terrifying given that most Mesozoic rock formations like Kem Kem typically only housed one to two giant predators, according to researchers.

 

Despite their terrifying reputations, the river system’s carnivores mainly feasted on the region’s bountiful supply of seafood.

 

“This place was filled with absolutely enormous fish, including giant coelacanths and lungfish,” says co-author David Martill in a statement. He describes an “enormous freshwater saw shark called Onchopristis with the most fearsome of rostral teeth — they are like barbed daggers, but beautifully shiny.”

 

Most importantly, the discovery “provides a window into Africa’s Age of Dinosaurs” says Ibrahim, who visited Kem Kem collections on several continents to assemble the watershed study’s immense datasets. Unfortunately, Kem Kem’s renown has caused it to be plundered by paleontological grave-robbers over the decades, with many pieces ending up in private collections.

 

“This is the most comprehensive piece of work on fossil vertebrates from the Sahara in almost a century,” says Martill.

 

The findings could just be the tip of the super-predator-iceberg.

 

“Given the continued input of new specimens and the continuing expansion of paleontological research,” Ibrahim says, “we predict that diversity in the Kem Kem Group will increase substantially in the coming decades.”

[samhexum]

Dinosaur species may have traveled across an ocean, study says

 

A new study published in the Cretaceous Research journal indicates a species of duckbill dinosaur called Ajnabia odysseus — whose bones were found in Africa — may have traveled across the ocean to get there.

 

Scientists say the new species contains features of the Lambeosaurinae family, which moved from Asia to Europe before ending up in Africa.

 

“Given the existence of large, persistent seaways isolating Africa and Europe from other continents, and the absence of the extensive, bidirectional interchange characterizing land bridges, these patterns suggest dispersals across marine barriers,” reads an excerpt from the study, which became available earlier this week.

 

The researchers believe it’s possible the dinosaurs made the lengthy voyage from one continent to another by swimming, floating or traveling on debris, CNN reports.

 

“Sherlock Holmes said, once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth,” said the leader of the study, Nicholas Longrich, according to CNN.

 

“It was impossible to walk to Africa," he continued. "These dinosaurs evolved long after continental drift split the continents, and we have no evidence of land bridges. The geology tells us Africa was isolated by oceans. If so, the only way to get there is by water.”

 

Hadrosaurid or duck-billed dinosaur skeleton displayed at Venetian Resort Hotel Casino.

[samhexum]

Dinosaurs ‘were thriving’ before asteroid hit, says study

 

Dinosaurs were “thriving” before an asteroid strike wiped them off the face of the Earth, a new study reveals.

 

It shatters the myth that dinosaurs were already declining when a cataclysmic “mass extinction” event struck 66 million years ago.

 

Recent research found that dinosaurs were killed off thanks to the combination of a major asteroid collision with Earth and intense volcanic activity. But scientists have long suspected that dinosaurs were on the way out anyway, after struggling to adapt to climate change.

 

However, a new study by UK scientists revealed that dinosaurs were “flourishing” at the end of the Cretaceous period, just before their sudden demise.

 

It goes against previous mathematical predictions that suggested the number of dinosaurs had fallen before the asteroid impact.

 

Sadly, however, it’s impossible to say whether the now-extinct dinosaur species would’ve lived on into modern times.

 

“As we can’t really predict the course of evolution of life, we can’t say if they would have died out, survived, or been outcompeted by other animals around after the Cretaceous,” said lead researcher Alessandro Chiarenza, a PhD student at Imperial College London, speaking to The Sun.

 

“66 million years is a lot of time and we know that species turnover is way more rapid than that.

 

But he added: “We do have dinosaurs around today, as we’ve got the chickens! Birds are indeed dinosaurs: just not the ones with nasty teeth and claws have gone extinct!”

 

The new analysis by Imperial College London, University College London and the University of Bristol created wide-ranging models that mapped the changing environment and dinosaur species distribution across North America.

 

It found that dinosaurs were likely not in decline before the meteorite impact.

 

“Dinosaurs were likely not doomed to extinction until the end of the Cretaceous, when the asteroid hit, declaring the end of their reign and leaving the planet to animals like mammals, lizards and a minor group of surviving dinosaurs: birds,”

 

“The results of our study suggest that dinosaurs as a whole were adaptable animals, capable of coping with the environmental changes and climatic fluctuations that happened during the last few million years of the Late Cretaceous,” Alessandro explained.

 

“Climate change over prolonged time scales did not cause a long-term decline of dinosaurs through the last stages of this period.”

 

The study, published in Nature Communications, reveals how changing conditions for fossilization of dinosaur remains has confused scientists.

 

It explains that the mismatch meant that previous studies underestimated the number of dinosaur species alive at the end of the Cretaceous.

 

“Most of what we know about Late Cretaceous North American dinosaurs comes from an area smaller than one-third of the present-day continent and yet we know that dinosaurs roamed all across North America, from Alaska to New Jersey and down to Mexico,” just like snowbird retirees! said co-author Dr. Philip Mannion, of the University College London.

 

Researchers modeled the environmental conditions — like temperature or rainfall — that species needed to survive. The team then mapped where these conditions would have occurred across the continent and over time. This let them create a detailed picture of where groups of dinosaur species could’ve survived as climate conditions changed — rather than just where their fossils were found. Habitats that could support a range of dinosaur groups were more widespread at the end of the Cretaceous, according to scientists. However, these areas were in areas that are deemed “less likely to preserve fossils.”

 

Most dinosaur fossils in North America are found in the western half of the continent, which was once split off from the eastern half by an inland sea millions of years ago. In the west, there was a “steady supply of sediment” from the Rocky Mountains, which created perfect conditions for fossilizing dinosaurs. But conditions in the eastern half of North America were not as good for fossilizing dinosaur remains. This means that not many fossils have been found in the eastern half, which lays the groundwork for scientific confusion. That’s because the new study suggests that climate conditions in the eastern half of the continent were fine for dinosaur survival, suggesting they would’ve “thrived.”

[+ sync]

My man-in-the-street thinking is that the extinction of the dinosaurs was a gradual thing after the asteroid impact. The survivors of the asteroid impact were left with radiation contaminated air, water, and vegetation. In addition to breathing the contaminated air, the herbivores perished from consuming the contaminated vegetation and water, the carnivores perished from consuming the contaminated water and their contaminated prey. The contamination was likely also spread through herd migrations, and ultimately the contamination rendered the dinosaurs sterile, whereby they just stopped reproducing. I'm a science fiction junkie. ?

[+ poolboy48220]

Just another bored science fiction junkie here, but why would there be radiation? In "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", when the moon was at war with Earth and pelting them with rocks, one character pooh-poohed the idea of that resulting in any radiation. Lots of damage, sure, but not specifically radiation.

"Oh, Bog!" Head was aching. "Said nothing of sort. Hit anything hard enough, strike sparks. Elementary physics, known to everybody but intelligentsia. We just struck damnedest big sparks ever made by human agency, is all. Big flash. Heat, light, ultraviolet. Might even produce X-rays, couldn't say. Gamma radiation I strongly doubt. Alpha and beta, impossible. Was sudden release of mechanical energy. But nuclear? Nonsense!"

 

I always figured it was the massive dust clouds, obscuring sunlight and killing vegetation, which eventually worked its way up the food chain and starved out the bigger animals.

[+ sync]

Just another bored science fiction junkie here, but why would there be radiation? In "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", when the moon was at war with Earth and pelting them with rocks, one character pooh-poohed the idea of that resulting in any radiation. Lots of damage, sure, but not specifically radiation.

 

 

I always figured it was the massive dust clouds, obscuring sunlight and killing vegetation, which eventually worked its way up the food chain and starved out the bigger animals.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/maps.13200

[+ poolboy48220]

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/maps.13200

I stand corrected. As I was writing I was wondering about that distinction.

They emit visible light, ultraviolet, and infrared radiation

True, those are all radiation, but when I hear "radiation" I tend to think of Geiger Counters and Bruce Banner ?

[samhexum]

Megalodons, the apex predator of the seas, may have gone extinct more than 3.5 million years ago, but experts may have discovered nurseries of the massive shark all around the world, according to a new study.

 

The research, published in Biology Letters, notes that nurseries of the megalodon have been found in northeastern Spain, with fossils of adult and younger megalodons discovered. In all, five potential nurseries may have been found, including in the Atlantic, Caribbean and Pacific basins, with fossils ranging from 16 million to 3 million years ago.

 

“Our analyses support the presence of five potential nurseries ranging from the Langhian (middle Miocene) to the Zanclean (Pliocene), with higher densities of individuals with estimated body lengths within the typical range of neonates and young juveniles,” the researchers wrote in the study’s abstract. “These results reveal, for the first time, that nursery areas were commonly used by O. megalodon over large temporal and spatial scales, reducing early mortality and playing a key role in maintaining viable adult populations.”

 

The experts looked at 25 megalodon teeth in the Reverté and Vidal regions in Tarragona, Spain, using crown height to estimate size and age. The experts determined the younger sharks were roughly one month old and were 13 feet in length, while the older juvenile sharks were approximately 36 feet in length.

 

In September, a separate group of researchers determined the true size of an adult megalodon’s body, including its huge fins, based on fossils. A 52.5-foot-long megalodon likely had a head 15.3 feet long, a dorsal fin approximately 5.3 feet tall and a tail around 12.6 feet high, the scientists found.

 

The findings of the new study suggest that nurseries were prevalent for megalodons, feeding and protecting young members of the species, just as they are for modern sharks. However, the prevalence of nurseries may have resulted in the megalodon’s downfall, the scientists added.

 

“Ultimately, the presumed reliance of O. megalodon on the presence of suitable nursery grounds might have also been determinant in the demise of this iconic top predatory shark,” the study’s authors explained in the abstract.

 

Scientists continue to learn more about the history of sharks, which have survived all five global extinction events.

 

Teeth of the monster of the deep that have been found are typically larger than a human hand, the researchers added. In recent memory, megalodon teeth have been found in North Carolina, South Carolina and Mexico.

 

In March 2019, a study suggested the giant shark spent millions of years evolving its teeth before they took their iconic form.

 

The megalodon may have become extinct thanks to being outmaneuvered and outdone by its smaller, more agile cousin, the great white.

 

Other theories suggest the megalodon was killed off by an exploding star approximately 2.6 million years ago.

 

Another theory that has gotten a lot of attention in recent memory is that the megalodon simply was unable to regulate its body temperature. Cooler ocean temperatures during the Pliocene era led its preferred food, whales, to adapt, while the megalodon was unable.

 

During the Pleistocene extinction event, many animals larger than 80 pounds went extinct, according to the Illinois State Museum. At roughly 50 feet in length and a weight approaching 120,000 pounds, megalodons would have been a prime candidate to be affected by the cosmic blast.

 

 

Slow & steady or a big spurt? How to grow a ferocious dinosaur

 

Large meat-eating dinosaurs attained their great size through very different growth strategies, with some taking a slow and steady path and others experiencing an adolescent growth spurt, according to scientists who analyzed slices of fossilized bones.

 

The researchers examined the annual growth rings – akin to those in tree trunks – in bones from 11 species of theropods, a broad group spanning all the big carnivorous dinosaurs including Tyrannosaurus rex and even birds. The study provides insight into the lives of some of the most fearsome predators ever to walk the Earth.

 

The team looked at samples from museums in the United States, Canada, China and Argentina and even received clearance to cut into bones from one of the world’s most famous T. rex fossils, known as Sue and housed at the Field Museum in Chicago, using a diamond-tipped saw and drill.

 

Sue’s leg bones – a huge femur and fibula – helped illustrate that T. rex and its relatives – known as tyrannosaurs – experienced a period of extreme growth during adolescence and reached full adult size by around age 20. Sue, measuring about 42 feet (13 metres), lived around 33 years.

 

Sue inhabited South Dakota about a million years before dinosaurs and many other species were wiped out by an asteroid impact 66 million years ago.

 

Other groups of large theropods tended to have more steady rates of growth over a longer period of time. That growth strategy was detected in lineages that arose worldwide earlier in the dinosaur era and later were concentrated in the southern continents.

 

Examples included Allosaurus and Acrocanthosaurus from North America, Cryolophosaurus from Antarctica and a recently discovered as-yet-unnamed species from Argentina that rivaled T. rex in size. The Argentine dinosaur, from a group called carcharodontosaurs, did not reach its full adult size until its 40s and lived to about age 50.

 

Big theropods share the same general body design, walking on two legs and boasting large skulls, strong jaws and menacing teeth.

 

“Prior to our study, it was known that T. rex grew very quickly, but it was not clear if all theropod dinosaurs reached gigantic size in the same way, or if there were multiple ways it was done,” said paleontologist and study lead author Tom Cullen of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and North Carolina State University, also affiliated with the Field Museum.

 

The research was published this week in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

 

“Theropod dinosaurs represent the largest bipedal animals to have ever lived and were also the dominant predators in terrestrial ecosystems for over 150 million years – more than twice as long as mammals have been dominant,” added University of Minnesota paleontologist and study co-author Peter Makovicky.

[samhexum]

Dinosaur fossils could belong to the world's largest ever creature

 

Paleontologists discovered the fossilized remains of a 98 million-year-old titanosaur in Neuquén Province in Argentina's northwest Patagonia, in thick, sedimentary deposits known as the Candeleros Formation.

 

The 24 vertebrae of the tail and elements of the pelvic and pectoral girdle discovered are thought to belong to a titanosaur, a diverse group of sauropod dinosaurs, characterized by their large size, a long neck and tail, and four-legged stance.

 

In research published in the journal Cretaceous Research, experts say they believe the creature to be "one of the largest sauropods ever found" and could exceed the size of a Patagotitan, a species which lived 100 million to 95 million years ago and measured up to a staggering 37.2 meters (122 feet) long.

 

"It is a huge dinosaur, but we expect to find much more of the skeleton in future field trips, so we'll have the possibility to address with confidence how really big it was," Alejandro Otero, a paleontologist with Argentina's Museo de La Plata, told CNN via email.

 

Titanosaur fossils have been found on all continents except Antarctica. But the biggest "multi-ton" varieties of the species -- including those titanosaurs exceeding 40 tons -- have mostly been discovered in Patagonia.

 

Without analyzing the dinosaur's humerus or femur, experts say it is not yet possible to say how much the creature weighs. However, the partially recovered dinosaur "can be considered one of the largest titanosaurs," experts said, with a probable body mass exceeding or comparable to that of a Patagotitan or Argentinosaurus.

 

The newly discovered dinosaur is thought to have a body mass exceeding or comparable to an Argentinosaurus, which measured up to 40 meters and weighed up to 110 tons.

 

Patagotitans may have been the world's largest terrestrial animal of all time, and weighed up to 77 tons, while Argentinosaurus were similarly gargantuan, and measured up to 40 meters (131 feet) and weighed up to 110 tons -- weighing more than 12 times more than an African elephant (up to 9 tons).

 

Experts believe that the specimen strongly suggests the co-existence of larger titanosaurs together with medium-sized titanosaurs and small-sized rebbachisaurids at the beginning of the Late Cretaceous period, which began 101 million years ago.

 

"These size differences could indeed explain the existence of such sauropod diversity in the Neuquén Basin during the Late Cretaceous in terms of niche partitioning," they wrote.

 

Researchers said that, while they don't believe the creature to belong to a new species, they have so far been unable to assign it to a known genus of dinosaur.

 

The research was conducted by Argentina's The Zapala Museum, Museo de La Plata, Museo Egidio Feruglio and the universities of Río Negro and Zaragoza.

[samhexum]

Florida scuba divers discover 50-pound Ice Age mammoth bone in river

 

Two Florida scuba divers uncovered a mammoth bone possibly dating back to the Ice Age while diving in a local river, according to reports.

 

Derek Demeter and Henry Sadler found the four-foot, 50-pound bone in the Peace River near Acadia last Sunday, calling it an “amazing” discovery.

 

“Henry is my dive buddy,” Demeter, Seminole State Planetarium’s director, told FOX 35 Orlando. “He yelled out to me, said, ‘Hey, Derek. I found something!’ Oh my goodness!’ It was really, really cool.”

 

The pair believe the bone belonged to a Columbian mammoth, which wandered around Florida between 2.6 million and 10,000 years ago; however, the actual age is difficult to determine.

 

“This one’s much more dense, so we kind of think it’s somewhere in the middle. Probably 100,000 years old,” Demeter told FOX 35.

 

As amateur paleontologists, the pair have dug up a number of other bones: On the same day, they discovered parts of an extinct shark and the tooth of a saber-tooth tiger.

 

Sadler had previously found mammoth teeth in the same river.

 

“The thing I love about it is, just like astronomy, it’s time traveling. It plays with the imagination so you go ‘Wow, what was going on at this time?'” Demeter added.

 

Some of the previous discoveries have ended up in the Florida Museum of Natural History, but this newest find will end up in a classroom where Sadler teaches.

 

“It’s currently sitting in the classroom where the kids are able to see it, touch it, feel it and really get a history of the natural world,” Sadler said.

 

“I talk to my kids about the movie ‘Ice Age.’ … They’ve heard about saber-toothed tigers, and actually finding a piece of one of those animals and bringing it to life for those kids — it’s just awesome.”

[samhexum]

[+ sync]

On 1/19/2021 at 5:49 PM, samhexum said:

Dinosaur fossils could belong to the world's largest ever creature

 

Paleontologists discovered the fossilized remains of a 98 million-year-old titanosaur in Neuquén Province in Argentina's northwest Patagonia, in thick, sedimentary deposits known as the Candeleros Formation.

 

The 24 vertebrae of the tail and elements of the pelvic and pectoral girdle discovered are thought to belong to a titanosaur, a diverse group of sauropod dinosaurs, characterized by their large size, a long neck and tail, and four-legged stance.

 

In research published in the journal Cretaceous Research, experts say they believe the creature to be "one of the largest sauropods ever found" and could exceed the size of a Patagotitan, a species which lived 100 million to 95 million years ago and measured up to a staggering 37.2 meters (122 feet) long.

 

"It is a huge dinosaur, but we expect to find much more of the skeleton in future field trips, so we'll have the possibility to address with confidence how really big it was," Alejandro Otero, a paleontologist with Argentina's Museo de La Plata, told CNN via email.

 

Titanosaur fossils have been found on all continents except Antarctica. But the biggest "multi-ton" varieties of the species -- including those titanosaurs exceeding 40 tons -- have mostly been discovered in Patagonia.

 

Without analyzing the dinosaur's humerus or femur, experts say it is not yet possible to say how much the creature weighs. However, the partially recovered dinosaur "can be considered one of the largest titanosaurs," experts said, with a probable body mass exceeding or comparable to that of a Patagotitan or Argentinosaurus.

 

The newly discovered dinosaur is thought to have a body mass exceeding or comparable to an Argentinosaurus, which measured up to 40 meters and weighed up to 110 tons.

 

Patagotitans may have been the world's largest terrestrial animal of all time, and weighed up to 77 tons, while Argentinosaurus were similarly gargantuan, and measured up to 40 meters (131 feet) and weighed up to 110 tons -- weighing more than 12 times more than an African elephant (up to 9 tons).

 

Experts believe that the specimen strongly suggests the co-existence of larger titanosaurs together with medium-sized titanosaurs and small-sized rebbachisaurids at the beginning of the Late Cretaceous period, which began 101 million years ago.

 

"These size differences could indeed explain the existence of such sauropod diversity in the Neuquén Basin during the Late Cretaceous in terms of niche partitioning," they wrote.

 

Researchers said that, while they don't believe the creature to belong to a new species, they have so far been unable to assign it to a known genus of dinosaur.

 

The research was conducted by Argentina's The Zapala Museum, Museo de La Plata, Museo Egidio Feruglio and the universities of Río Negro and Zaragoza.

I would so love to be able to observe those magnificent creatures in reality...from a judicious distance of course.

[samhexum]

On 2/3/2022 at 9:17 AM, sync said:

I would so love to be able to observe those magnificent creatures in reality...from a judicious distance of course.

 

Dinosaur tracks from around 113 million years ago have been uncovered at Dinosaur Valley State Park in Texas after a severe drought dried up a river.

Situated alongside the Paluxy River outside Fort Worth, Dinosaur Valley State Park allows visitors to observe dinosaur tracks and camp along 20 miles of trails. It was one of the many areas impacted by a statewide drought last week. 

“Due to the excessive drought conditions this past summer, the river dried up completely in most locations, allowing for more tracks to be uncovered here in the park,” Stephanie Salinas Garcia from the park’s press office told CBS News. 

Dinosaur tracks from around 113 million years ago have been uncovered at Dinosaur Valley State Park in Texas from a severe drought drying up a river. Dinosaur Valley Park / Paul Bake

Normally covered by water and sediment, the new tracks in the riverbed are now clearly visible to visitors.

The tracks are believed to belong to two species, including the theropod Acrocanthosaurus, which stood about 15 feet tall and weighed 7 tons.

Some of the tracks have also been attributed to the Sauroposeidon, which was a towering 60 feet tall and weighed close to 44 tons.

The tracks are believed to belong to two types of dinos, including the Acrocanthosaurus. De Agostini via Getty Images

“Being able to find these discoveries and experience new dinosaur tracks is always an exciting time at the park!” Garcia said.

The new tracks are expected to be buried again soon by forecasted rain. But while they won’t be visible to park visitors in the near future, the sediment actually helps protect the tracks from weathering and erosion.

“While they will soon be buried again by the rain and the river, Dinosaur Valley State Park will continue to protect these 113-million-year-old tracks not only for present, but future generations,” Garcia said. 

Dinosaur State Valley Park was one of the many areas impacted by a statewide drought last week.  Dinosaur Valley Park / Paul Bake

The new dinosaur tracks are merely the latest curiosities to emerge in the past few months, as hot temperatures and the climate crisis cause water levels to drop in the US and abroad. Earlier this month, the fourth set of human remains was found at Lake Mead in Utah.

https://nypost.com/2022/08/23/dinosaur-tracks-discovered-in-texas-after-drought-dries-up-river/

They're so perfectly formed and preserved, they don't even look real.  They look like plaster molds in a Dino Flintsone exhibit.

[samhexum]

Um...  In the last pic, to the right of the 6th track behind where the guy is holding that pole, do you see Puff the Magic Dragon?