The Paleontology Thread

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Re: The Paleontology Thread

Post by Voyager »

I love dinosaurs, so much. Hearing about new ones really is awesome. The one sad thing is that past me would be saddened that all the new discoveries make this animals less awe-inspiring and more like weird versions of modern animals (some withstanding). He would certainly be distraught that badass-monster Spinosaurus was this:
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Mind you, this isn't bad or anything, but IMO it looks less interesting than Todd Marshall's edgelord Spino.
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Re: The Paleontology Thread

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Voyager wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 12:37 am I love dinosaurs, so much. Hearing about new ones really is awesome. The one sad thing is that past me would be saddened that all the new discoveries make this animals less awe-inspiring and more like weird versions of modern animals (some withstanding). He would certainly be distraught that badass-monster Spinosaurus was this:
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Mind you, this isn't bad or anything, but IMO it looks less interesting than Todd Marshall's edgelord Spino.
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Last edited by Thatguy4683 on Thu Dec 02, 2021 12:44 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The Paleontology Thread

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SoggyNoodles2016 wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 5:51 pm New ankylosaur from Chile Stegouros has a unique ax like tail.
Sick. This is why I love paleontology: you never know what crazy thing is going to be discovered next. Every time we think we have any kind of handle on what dinosaurs looked like, another exceptional standout comes along.

And I would've been right there with you ten or fifteen years ago, Voyager. Dinosaurs were my life when I was a kid, until the early 2000s, when things like feathers started to trickle into the public perception, and new documentaries had the audacity to treat them as real animals with all the associated behaviors and vulnerabilities. I almost entirely lost interest for about a decade, there, just wishing I had retrosaurs and invincible movie monsters back. And then around 2014 I finally had an epiphany and understood clearly for the first time that dinosaurs were real animals, built the way they were as adaptation to their environments, just like any animal alive today. And they were incredible, all the more so because they were real animals with all the associated behaviors and vulnerabilities. The new Spinosaurus, to me, is far more interesting and cool than the JPIII-style monster ever was because now we see (sort of) what it really looked like, and it turned out to be a ridiculously derived specialist with goofy proportions which didn't give a single rat's ass about conforming to our expectations.
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Re: The Paleontology Thread

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JAGzilla wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 1:00 am
And I would've been right there with you ten or fifteen years ago, Voyager. Dinosaurs were my life when I was a kid, until the early 2000s, when things like feathers started to trickle into the public perception, and new documentaries had the audacity to treat them as real animals with all the associated behaviors and vulnerabilities. I almost entirely lost interest for about a decade, there, just wishing I had retrosaurs and invincible movie monsters back. And then around 2014 I finally had an epiphany and understood clearly for the first time that dinosaurs were real animals, built the way they were as adaptation to their environments, just like any animal alive today. And they were incredible, all the more so because they were real animals with all the associated behaviors and vulnerabilities. The new Spinosaurus, to me, is far more interesting and cool than the JPIII-style monster ever was because now we see (sort of) what it really looked like, and it turned out to be a ridiculously derived specialist with goofy proportions which didn't give a single rat's ass about conforming to our expectations.
Couldn’t have said it better. I used to despise the new dinosaurs, but I’ve grown to like them more and more. It’s mostly nostalgia talking to me, trying to drag me back, but I know I can’t and it’s best if I don’t.
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Re: The Paleontology Thread

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Less this!
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More this!
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(Although it's perfectly fine to admire the artwork of Charles R. Knight, Zdeněk Burian, Rudolph F. Zallinger and others.)

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Re: The Paleontology Thread

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The likes of Charles Knight and Zdenek's work, as well as Jurassic Park and such, should be admired as important landmarks in our ever evolving understanding of dinosaurs and other such paleofauna.
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Re: The Paleontology Thread

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Kiryu2012 wrote: Fri Dec 03, 2021 12:45 pm The likes of Charles Knight and Zdenek's work, as well as Jurassic Park and such, should be admired as important landmarks in our ever evolving understanding of dinosaurs and other such paleofauna.
This. Deliberately backward junk like Jurassic World, however, not so much.
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Re: The Paleontology Thread

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https://scitechdaily.com/ancient-dna-di ... -believed/

Update: Soil samples from the Yukon have shown similar results to the ones in Siberia, including that mammoths and horses survived in North America up until 5,000 years ago

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Re: The Paleontology Thread

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JAGzilla wrote: Fri Dec 03, 2021 7:01 pm
Kiryu2012 wrote: Fri Dec 03, 2021 12:45 pm The likes of Charles Knight and Zdenek's work, as well as Jurassic Park and such, should be admired as important landmarks in our ever evolving understanding of dinosaurs and other such paleofauna.
This. Deliberately backward junk like Jurassic World, however, not so much.
At least they have an in-universe explanation for it.
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Re: The Paleontology Thread

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GodzillaFan1990's wrote: Thu Dec 09, 2021 7:22 pm https://scitechdaily.com/ancient-dna-di ... -believed/

Update: Soil samples from the Yukon have shown similar results to the ones in Siberia, including that mammoths and horses survived in North America up until 5,000 years ago
Amazing to think about. 🦣
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Re: The Paleontology Thread

Post by MoarCrossovers »

Meet Vectiraptor greeni from the Wessex Formation of the Isle of Wright.

That's right: we have British Velociraptors now.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a ... 7121003712

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Re: The Paleontology Thread

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"But, uh, you hadn't told us to listen to you yet. So I didn't."

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Re: The Paleontology Thread

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That is really cool. It's amazing that they evolved that kind of incredible size so quickly, but also not all that surprising. With 90% of life gone after the Permian, evolution was going in all kinds of crazy directions during the Triassic.
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Re: The Paleontology Thread

Post by Leviarex »

A new Titanosaur (and the most complete to date) from Europe was recently described (after originally being discovered in 1954):

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technolo ... d=msedgntp

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Re: The Paleontology Thread

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MoarCrossovers wrote: Fri Dec 17, 2021 3:40 pm Meet Vectiraptor greeni from the Wessex Formation of the Isle of Wright.

That's right: we have British Velociraptors now.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a ... 7121003712

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Wait, so all we have is spine fragments? How do we even know it's a dromaeosaur, then?

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Re: The Paleontology Thread

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MoarCrossovers wrote: Fri Dec 17, 2021 3:40 pm Meet Vectiraptor greeni from the Wessex Formation of the Isle of Wright.

That's right: we have British Velociraptors now.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a ... 7121003712

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It's closer in scale to the JP raptors too!

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Re: The Paleontology Thread

Post by SoggyNoodles2016 »

Cryptid_Liker wrote: Thu Feb 17, 2022 5:06 pm
MoarCrossovers wrote: Fri Dec 17, 2021 3:40 pm Meet Vectiraptor greeni from the Wessex Formation of the Isle of Wright.

That's right: we have British Velociraptors now.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a ... 7121003712

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Wait, so all we have is spine fragments? How do we even know it's a dromaeosaur, then?
This is always a big thing in paleontology. We can never be sure with fragments, but we can guess based on close relatives. Probably more raptor-y then other small theropods
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Re: The Paleontology Thread

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Some paleontologist probably just wanted to name a new species of Velociraptor, and screw the actual evidence. It'll end up as a nomen dubium eventually, but he got to name his raptor.
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Re: The Paleontology Thread

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Re: The Paleontology Thread

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His likely is it that venom would’ve been commonplace in pre-mammalian synapsids? It’s rare in modern mammals, with the platypus being the most famous exception and it is a much more primitive rudimentary mammal.

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