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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 (256,412 Views)
CyborgIguana
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I think you have the wrong topic, Crook. xD
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Stan The Man
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Mweeeeeh... I wouldn't call my post an arguement, I in fact intended it to be a suggestion. Gorshy makes a nice point that even animals like Deinonychus wouldn't bury their faces into their prey's flesh (in fact I realized this minutes after I made my post, silly me). However I didn't mean to say that deinonychosaurs were major pack hunters of 10+ individuals per grouping. Here's how I see it:
-troodonts, microraptorines and the like would've been solitary animals who'd seek after small prey items like lizards, mammals and insects
-Velociraptor in particular would've had a solitary lifestyle or a tight pack (2-4 dinosaurs per grouping), in which I have a speculation of how they could've hunted involving a plausible color pattern:
The dominant color would be a sandy brown-yellow, the exception being on the upper tail and its feathers. I think that part would be a plant green, which in turn might've resembled a herbivore delicacy. Basically a Velociraptor would take cover behind a sand dune, mound, etc. and pop its tail over said cover to distract any prey in the area. Once the prey is close enough it'll do its attack mumbo jumbo and then lunch'll be ready.

Now I don't know what CI considers a large dromaeosaur, would you include animals similar in size to Deinonychus? Because I honestly think it was likely to have been a pack animal, and I wanna see exactly where you and I see things differently so I can put the pieces together.
Edited by Stan The Man, Feb 4 2014, 09:41 PM.
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CyborgIguana
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It's true that Deinonychus wasn't tiny, but it doesn't exactly fit my definition of a large dromaeosaur. AFAIK The only evidence that Deinonychus was a pack hunter comes from the teeth of numerous individuals found around Tenontosaurus remains. I find it much more likely these were cases of scavenging rather than active predation, and the so-called packs were really just a collection of random, unrelated individuals drawn together by the common lure of a rotting Tenontosaurus carcass. I find it more likely that Deinonychus was a primarily solitary hunter preying upon much smaller ornithopods such as Zephyrosaurus and Oryctodromeus.
Edited by CyborgIguana, Feb 4 2014, 10:01 PM.
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Similis
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Given that current 'pack' Deinonychus fossils show bite marks from Deinonychus... well.
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Furka
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didn't Oryctodromeus live later than Deinonychus ?
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Mathius Tyra
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Rat snake is love... Rat snake is life

Judge from Deinonychus's bite mark on their own kind' carcasses. I even think that this specie is very solitary and terrestrial, so that they even killed each other during the feeding frenzy over Tenontosaurus's carcass...

The problem of pack hunting in Dromaeosaurs is that their brains aren't complex enough for such behavior. Remember that they are only as smart as chicken or birds of prey which never or rarely show pack hunting behavior. Can they kill prey in group? Of course, because Black Vultures today are known to mob juvenile capybara to death. However, that isn't complex hunting like today lion or wolf do. It's more likely that several raptors are attracted to the prey that is too weak to protect itself, they then start mobbing, jabbing and harassing the prey until it collapses due exhaustion. But, complex chasing with signal or rank in the pack? No.
Edited by Mathius Tyra, Feb 5 2014, 05:39 AM.
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CyborgIguana
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Furka
Feb 5 2014, 03:40 AM
didn't Oryctodromeus live later than Deinonychus ?
*Consults Wikipedia*
Hmm...it seems it did. I just thought that along with Zephyrosaurus it was the best example of a small mid-Cretaceous ornithopod.
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CyborgIguana
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Apologies for the double post, but another thing that really grinds my gears is when creationists use the discussion pages of paleontology-related Wikipedia articles to complain about mention of evolution and deep time in the articles. Whining about science on obscure internet forums is one thing, but once young-earth creationists start spewing their BS onto respectable sources like Wikipedia, that's when I draw the line! The discussion pages for Wikipedia's articles are meant for suggesting improvements to the articles, not for crying about precious mythology being rightfully treated as false.
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Similis
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YEC is about politics. By trying to take over Wikipedia, they're trying to gain crediblity that their claims clearly lack. This is why public debate with YEC's are only giving them respect they don't deserve for opposing science.
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CyborgIguana
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The stupid "they would overheat" arguments against feathers in large theropods. If Megatherium, being only slightly smaller than the biggest theropods, can live in a tropical climate with a shaggy coat of fur then I see no reason to think that a thin covering of protofeathers would cause T. rex to overheat in a subtropical climate. Not to mention that feathers and fur are COMPLETELY different structures, so it's hard to take people who compare them seriously.
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Megaraptorking
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I stand in the shadows waiting for you to return me to the light.

Also the fact fur is actually most of the time warmer than feathers.... I mean lots of hairy animals can live in tropical climates without dying if they are evolved for that environment. So if rex evolved there it should actually survive the climate no matter what.
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extremos
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Where's Mr Pig?

The fact that I went to a place very near to Osorno Volcano (AKA the area that BBC chose to represent Hell Creek) but couldn't see the Volcano because it was misty and cloudy...
And that the next day was a beautifull sunny day... >__<
(I bet that there was a Dromaeosaurus laughing at me behind the bushes)
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CyborgIguana
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The fact that now, whenever I see Pachyrhinosaurus mentioned anywhere, I automatically find myself humming "Live Like A Warrior". xD
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Mastodon28
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Stabbing Woodpecker

The fact that some people think dinosaurs evolved from birds, not the other way around.
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CyborgIguana
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Perhaps saying dinosaurs evolved from small, lizard-like insectivorous archosauriforms is too much of a mouthful?
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