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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 (256,440 Views)
TyrantTR
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Iben
Nov 21 2013, 03:04 AM
TyrantTR
Nov 20 2013, 05:20 PM


Quote:
 
Actually, I don't quite agree with this.

There are various examples of animals that live in the same ecosystem, are similarly adapted and most likely cannot be differentiated from their skeletons. Gazelles for example.

Now find me an example of a large animal that does this. Animals the size of triceratops consume a lot of resources. Not only that triceratops is one of the most common fossils we find in places like hell creek. Which means there was probably a lot of them. Given the morphological features of torosarurus, it was as far as we can discern not distinct in its diet or even dietary habits.
Animals like this often compete heavily with each other to the detriment of other species. That is why if torosaurus is a thing, it probably wouldn't have been around long seeing as based on the fossil record triceratops was clearly winning the evolutionary arms race. I never said these sorts of things don't happen, but generally they do not happen for long, because one species simply does it better than the other.
Zebra's, giraffes(1),Roan Antelopes, Black vs white rhino, etc. Often these animals don't live quite far from each other and often come into contact with each other, even sometimes overlapping each others habitat. Mountain zebras and Burchell's zebras don't have any adaptations that would make us think that their dietary habits are different.

But again, as I mentioned, this was never an argument in the whole Torosaurus/Triceratops debate, as it's not something I really care about. :P
And none of those are even remotely triceratops sized. Rhinos are an endangered species, of-course the potential strain on their environment is limited. Which makes intermingling with other rhinos possible. Introduce much more prolific animals and these strains increase. Example being feral horses vs elk.

I never once said large animals can't coexist, they do so all the time. And there was even another large grazing herbivore known in Triceratops' environment. And that was Edmontosaurus, but these animals clearly are doing different things, and so competition is not as likely. What I had specifically said was large animals that fill the same niche. But I am dubious of your contention that the animals you have listed don't appear adapted for for any specific dietary habit. There is a lot we can discern just from teeth and mouth shape alone. And all of your example animals could be individually divided with accuracy to their niche based on fossil material alone.
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Stephen
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Stuck on Earth

Black and white rhinos don't compete for food. Black rhinos are mostly browsers (head's tilted more upwards, pointed/hooked upper lip), while white rhinos are bulk grazers (they hold their heads lower, wide lips).
Wikipedia says something about elephants competing with Black rhinos for food, though.
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Jules
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Mihi est imperare orbi universo

Posted Image
Posted Image

This annoys me like hell. And one of the articles mentions Lythronax as the "species closest to T.rex". First of all, Lythronax is not a species, it's a genus, and the species closest to T. rex is, given Tyrannosaurus is as far as I know monospecific, Tarbosaurus baatar.
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Similis
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Laypeople :] We love them, don't we? <paleonerdrant>
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Jules
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Mihi est imperare orbi universo

The fact is, pretty much anyone I know knows Canis is the genus and lupus is the species, but people insist on confusing genera with species in paleontology.
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CyborgIguana
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Fanboys who stunt scientific progress with their complaints that their childhood is ruined. Ideas about dinosaurs and their lives are constantly changing, so it's not a good idea to get too attached to certain ideas and depictions.
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Dr. Hax
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I've noticed something with the trend of feathers. It seems that many people are giving various famous dinosaurs feathers in the name of "Speculation", and this is something that's getting on my nerves right now. Out of all the things you could speculate about dinosaurs, giving them feathers or protofeathers without changing their classical behavior is something that bothers me. I mean, you could have small ceratopsians climbing trees to eat the fruit, or Therizinosaurus using it's claws to slash open bark and eat the insects inside, or Spinosaurus using it's hump (Or sail, or "sump") as a shading spot to cast over the water and lure fish, out of all the cool and interesting ideas you could come up with about these animals that could very well have been possible, why is giving the animal a coat of feathers and not changing it in any other way so popular right now?
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Sheather
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Thank you for the set, Azrael!

Feathers make everything better. ;)

---

However, I also really appreciate speculation with behavior and a quick search through DeviantART can reveal plenty of what your looking for as can the All Your Yesterdays book.
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CyborgIguana
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Speculation is part of paleo-art, Hax. You might as well complain about dinosaur reconstructions being in colour, considering we have no evidence of what colours most dinosaurs were. Without speculation, dinosaur reconstructions would just be walking skeletons.
Edited by CyborgIguana, Nov 26 2013, 07:58 PM.
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Dr. Hax
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CyborgIguana
Nov 26 2013, 07:53 PM
Speculation is part of paleo-art, Hax. You might as well complain about dinosaur reconstructions being in colour, considering we have no evidence of what colours most dinosaurs were. Without speculation, dinosaur reconstructions would just be walking skeletons.
I think you misread my post. I never said I didn't like speculation, in fact, I'm in favor of it, I'm just bothered by the amount of attention speculating about how dinosaurs looked rather than how they behaved is getting.
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CyborgIguana
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Perhaps, but there's quite a bit of behaviour speculation as well. ;)
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Ignacio
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Ex Corrupt Staff

I agree with you that people given everthing a feathered coat, even when there is no direct or indirect evidence to support it (or even when there is evidence that says otherwise) is anoying me as well. And no, not everything looks good with feathers. If something didn't have feathers, then it shouldn't be reconstructed with them. (that last statement goes to scientific paleo-art / reconstructions.... i don't find it bad when is just artistic creativity )
Edited by Ignacio, Nov 27 2013, 09:25 AM.
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Furka
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pterosaurs with bat-like wings. i hate that.
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CyborgIguana
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Oh, god, a Pteranodon with bat wings! God help me! Even worse if it has a rhamphorhynchoid tail! Just...don't even! It literally makes me want to vomit. :x
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extremos
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Where's Mr Pig?

These depictions of Cynognathus, I can just hope that whoever made them is tortured for eternity by every single Synapsid who ever was...
If you like Synapsids like I do then for goodness's sake DON'T you look at these!

I mean really, look at those, what kind of demon thought those could be possible? The last one looks like if it's out of a 50's Terror B movie! Luckily some hevenly blessed human being made these divine drawings:
:worship:

Also, sluguish Proterosuchus recreations annoy me, like, who the heck thought these were appropriate?
Like the first spoiler in this page, do not open this if you like Proterosuchus!

When these should be the only kinds of Proterosuchus drawn?
YAY for Permian realism!

So, as you've seen, mess with the Permian or with the Early Triassic and you'll have to deal with me babe! xD
Edited by extremos, Nov 27 2013, 10:01 PM.
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