Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]






Shoot a firework rocket ~ Winners!
Make a forum zoo!

Welcome to The Round Table. We hope you enjoy your visit.


You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
What annoys you about paleontology?; Rant on about moronic theories, complaints, or just animals that annoy you.
Topic Started: Sep 28 2013, 05:04 PM (256,256 Views)
stargatedalek
Member Avatar
I'm not slow! That's just my moe!

I'm in no way opposed to the idea of gastornis not being a super predator, but I also find it unrealistic to assume it was an obligate herbivore. Look at large modern flightless birds, none of them are herbivores, all omnivores, and none of them are anywhere near as viciously armed as gastornis. The conservative assumption is definitely omnivory, not obligate herbivory.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Paleosaurus
Member Avatar


Primarily herbivorous with supplemented small prey sounds more accurate to me, personally, but I'm talking specifically about the people that want it to be how it was in Walking with Beasts.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Admiral General Aladeen
Member Avatar


AVCDPS
Jan 18 2015, 02:50 PM
Admiral General Aladeen
Jan 18 2015, 02:41 PM
Ok then.


When the weather is fairly okay then you go to take the trash out and its pouring.
This is the What Annoys you about Paleontology topic.
Sorry about that. Was on my phone and the screen is cut so all I saw was "what annoys you-"

:P
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Yutyrannus the second
Member Avatar


Paleosaurus
Jan 19 2015, 04:08 PM
Speaking of the Carnivore=Bad guy thing, I think it's hilarious that Disney's Dinosaur portrays the carnivores as evil. Since the entire population of the valley at the end of the movie was herbivorous, they're just going to overpopulate and destroy themselves.
The carnivores aren´t even evil, just portrayed as such.
The predators just hunted for food, the last Carnotaurus was angry on Aladar because he killed his companion, not innatural.
Also, many of the species were omnivorus there (Pachyrhinosaurus, weird monkey, Styracosaurus, Microceratus, "Stygimoloch").

I think TLBT is even worse.
There, except of a single T.rex family, every predator acts like a brainamputated killing machine.

Also, as far I know, all "Longnecks" are "planeaters" ;)
Just Brontosaurus not, cuz Brontosaurus eat human.
(Yes, herbivores beeing depicted as carnivores in the media annoys me.)
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Posted Image Guat
No Avatar


Admiral General Aladeen
Jan 19 2015, 04:44 PM
AVCDPS
Jan 18 2015, 02:50 PM
Admiral General Aladeen
Jan 18 2015, 02:41 PM
Ok then.


When the weather is fairly okay then you go to take the trash out and its pouring.
This is the What Annoys you about Paleontology topic.
Sorry about that. Was on my phone and the screen is cut so all I saw was "what annoys you-"

:P
Don't worry everyone makes mistakes.


I would call Gastornis an omnivore as well, though it might have eaten primarily plant matter like say a bear.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Yutyrannus the second
Member Avatar


AVCDPS
Jan 19 2015, 04:49 PM
I would call Gastornis an omnivore as well, though it might have eaten primarily plant matter like say a bear.
I think Gastornis could be such a "herbivore" like other modern day "herbivores".
Mostly eat plants and sometimes small prey if they have a chance.
(The last hope to let an accurate Gastornis kill Hyracotheriums ^^)
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
babehunter1324
No Avatar


Well Isothopic studies claimed that Arctodus was a fully carnivorus genus, then a latter study about wear on it's teeth proofed that it was more similar to the wear suffered by the teeth of it's closest living relative (and almost fully vegetarian) the Spectacled Bear than to more Carnivorous species like Polar bears.

Honesltly I think even Moas and Elephant Birds may have taken insect and small lizards from time to time...
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Incinerox
Member Avatar
Āeksiot Zaldrīzoti

I'd like to know why it had a beak built like it was. God damn, what was it eating? The actual trees themselves?!

Rerailing the topic, I get annoyed when you get a fossil which shows weird features, but makes solving its ecology all the more confusing (even moreso when it's the ONLY thing preserved). See: Gastornis's beak, Deinocheirus's arms, Balaur etc.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Furka
Member Avatar


Atopodentatus skull too.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Paleosaurus
Member Avatar


Incinerox
Jan 19 2015, 05:14 PM
I'd like to know why it had a beak built like it was. God damn, what was it eating? The actual trees themselves?!

I bet it was cracking something similar to coconuts! Of course, it could repurpose that beak for bone-cracking if it found carrion.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Furka
Member Avatar


Or it could have been that big because it was used like a display structure ?
Kinda like puffins ?
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
babehunter1324
No Avatar


Talking about Arctodus... The fact that people still think it's jaws were built to crash bones when analysis of their teeth proofed that they rarely did.
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0077531

Also Bullackornis and Dromornis had gigantic beaks, as far as I know we are certain than it's close relative Genyornis was mostly vegetarian...
Edited by babehunter1324, Jan 19 2015, 05:28 PM.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Yi Qi
Member Avatar


Incinerox
Jan 19 2015, 05:14 PM
I'd like to know why it had a beak built like it was. God damn, what was it eating? The actual trees themselves?!

probably fruits with large hard seeds and nuts with hard shells similar to these comon examples.

Posted Image
Posted Image
Posted Image

Top to bottom:

-Brazil nut .
- Seychelles palm seed.
- Common avocado.

and thats to name a few of them.

theres, infact a trend in large herbivorous birds to have absurdly deep bills, mainly because of a convergent lifestyle as primarily seed eaters.

https://gwawinapterus.wordpress.com/2013/12/15/herbivorous-flightless-birds-and-their-big-heads/

look at the birds with this kind of diet today, they all have deep bills.

Posted Image
Posted Image
Posted Image

now while gastornis was indeed primarily herbivorous (judging by its beak and inferred habits, i'd say a diet similar to modern day large parrots, think macaws and blue fronted amazons), it most certainly wouldn't turn down an occasional meat supplement, i mean, parrots aren't shy about eating beetle larva and other insects that they find inside their nuts, and they are about as herbivorous as birds get (except nestorines, of course, but those are a whole different story), so i guess a gastornis could take on carrion in times of need.



besides, theres no such thing as an obligate herbivore (or carnivore for that matter) anyway.
Edited by Yi Qi, Jan 19 2015, 06:42 PM.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
CyborgIguana
Member Avatar


Incinerox
Jan 19 2015, 05:14 PM
I'd like to know why it had a beak built like it was. God damn, what was it eating? The actual trees themselves?!

Rerailing the topic, I get annoyed when you get a fossil which shows weird features, but makes solving its ecology all the more confusing (even moreso when it's the ONLY thing preserved). See: Gastornis's beak, Deinocheirus's arms, Balaur etc.
It just goes to show how much there is left to learn about prehistoric animals and their world.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
stargatedalek
Member Avatar
I'm not slow! That's just my moe!

puffins don't just use their bills for display, they serve a number of purposes ranging from allowing them to carry more food, to aerodynamics and counterbalance for swimming underwater
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
4 users reading this topic (4 Guests and 0 Anonymous)
Go to Next Page
« Previous Topic · Extinct Animals & Evolution · Next Topic »
Add Reply