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Extinct Animal Questions
Topic Started: Nov 26 2013, 10:24 PM (193,391 Views)
Bill
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originally, one_piece

why does NatGeo documentaries never stick to the truth? they rant about Nanotyrannus for like almost an hour or something and yet, it still not confirmed as a new species. this is why i don't like them.

still, what about all the evidences mentioned? like the fact that the arms of the death match fossil was bigger than those of an adult t.rex. if Nano T is really a juvenile T.rex, did the rex's arms actually become smaller as the rest of the animal grow bigger? are there any living animals that actually have such a limbs-shrinking-phenomenal?
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BossAggron
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Formerly Dilophoraptor

Could it not just be The arms don't grow larger after a certain point?

I just watched the Documentary you talked about, The Difference in arm/hand size is interesting, Though something still seems off about the whole thing, like they missed a few points or something.
Edited by BossAggron, Jun 17 2015, 02:47 AM.
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Incinerox
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Āeksiot Zaldrīzoti

Yi Qi
Jun 16 2015, 02:05 PM
Iben
Jun 15 2015, 12:50 PM
Odin
Jun 15 2015, 12:33 PM
So, despite how we believe a Pterosaur such as Quetzalcoatlus was much more ground based than flying based... would Quetzalcoatlus still be capable of any kind of flight at all regardless?
Of course, there have been a multitude of studies proving Quetzalcoatlus could indeed fly. There's no reason to assume it couldn't. Witton and Habib did some studies on the mechanics of its flight.
Indeed, it really pisses me off when people assume because a flying animal is mostly terrestrial, that it must be a poor flier.

Bar Headed Geese are pretty terrestrial, yet i doubt theres any other living animal that can fly for as long or as high as them (Vultures don't count, as they spend more time gliding on thermals than on full powered flight).
All of this excludes the fact that large azhdarchids would've been excellent soarers as well.

Didn't one study suggest a soaring speed of 80kph+ for a Quetzalcoatlus?
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babehunter1324
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Bill
Jun 16 2015, 10:05 PM
just watched NatGeo's Dino Death Match (as well as T.rex autopsy, T.Rex: Ultimate Survivor, you can see them on Youtube now BTW), and it's been a long time since i updated myself with the whole Nanotyrannus situation. So just to confirm it, is Nanotyrannus an official new species now? The evidences shown in the documentary is pretty convincing to me, but you know, you can never trust NatGeo too much...
It is probably a direct answer to the previous "Decoding Dinosaurs" in that documentary they followed on Jack Horner's onthogenic theories from the likely Nanotyrannus = Juvenile T. rex to the Torosaurus = Old Triceratops which I guess I don't need to comment upon now, even claiming that the number of know Dinosaur Genera know should be reduced to 300 (GSP would be proud :P ).

So now Bob Bakker and Peter Larson became the main talking head of a documentary that argues the opposite theory, because you know, competition.

The oddest thing is that I think both documetaries were aired by National Geographic... Guess that at least they contribute to get more information and funds to paleontological studies...
Edited by babehunter1324, Jun 17 2015, 11:22 AM.
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Denomon3144
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Pick a god and pray!

How exactly is Compsognathus supposed to be pronounced?
I've always pronounced it like komps-sig-NAITH-us, but in Jurassic Park media it is typically pronounced komps-SOG-na-thus.
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Posted Image Oviraptor
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The Beeg One
Jun 18 2015, 09:18 PM
How exactly is Compsognathus supposed to be pronounced?
I've always pronounced it like komps-sig-NAITH-us, but in Jurassic Park media it is typically pronounced komps-SOG-na-thus.
I believe the JP one is more correct but the difference is so tiny either way could go.
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MightyFan217
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OH YESSS!

Depends on whether you view this as a spoiler for Jurassic World or not, but spoiler tagged to be safe...
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Iben
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There'll be no foot-walking! Just air-flying!

Odin
Jun 19 2015, 03:25 AM
Depends on whether you view this as a spoiler for Jurassic World or not, but spoiler tagged to be safe...
According to Witton and his research, at least some pterosaurs like for instance Geosternbergia could indeed dive into the water. (Source ). And although it's not really the way of the scientific method, when it comes to pterosaurs Witton is one of the biggest experts with the biggest amount of lab-time when it comes to these animals, so I'm inclined to agree with him.

It's not as unlikely as it seems really, looking at how it was possible for birds to develop this skill, it seems reasonable that pterosaurs could have developed a similar method in the 162 million years they flew on this earth.
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Yi Qi
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Iben
Jun 19 2015, 03:47 AM
Odin
Jun 19 2015, 03:25 AM
Depends on whether you view this as a spoiler for Jurassic World or not, but spoiler tagged to be safe...
According to Witton and his research, at least some pterosaurs like for instance Geosternbergia could indeed dive into the water. (Source ). And although it's not really the way of the scientific method, when it comes to pterosaurs Witton is one of the biggest experts with the biggest amount of lab-time when it comes to these animals, so I'm inclined to agree with him.

It's not as unlikely as it seems really, looking at how it was possible for birds to develop this skill, it seems reasonable that pterosaurs could have developed a similar method in the 162 million years they flew on this earth.
In fact, most piscivore pterosaurs probably dived for the catch, as skim feeding was disproven for pterosaurs (Also by Witton IIRC), their heads and their biomechanics just don't work that way.
Edited by Yi Qi, Jun 19 2015, 04:21 AM.
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Furka
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I thought it could have worked for Ornithocheiridae (sorry of I wrote it wrong) and close relatives ?
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Incinerox
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Āeksiot Zaldrīzoti

We already know that they could swim AND take off from sitting on water. Whether they could plunge dive like pelicans? I've heard rumours that Pteranodon and Geosternbergia were able to, but I can't remember if Witton and Conway's book actually addressed that specifically.
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heliosphoros
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There's some conflicting information in regards to Pteranodon's plunging habits: some sources claim it's biomechanically impossible, others herald it as very not only possible but a very accurate possibility. So far, no major recent study has gone to determine this.

Regardless, it is well established by now that pterosaurs could swim.
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Incinerox
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Āeksiot Zaldrīzoti

Plunge-diving is at least a far more plausable concept than skimming no matter what the true outcome of the argument is.
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MightyFan217
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OH YESSS!

I'm still kind of confused with the whole Pterosaurs being able to dive and swim like that. I mean, doesn't the Gannet require it's feathering to be able to dive in and get out of water? What do Pterosaurs have that would make them capable of the same thing as Gannets then?
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hananas59
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Evolving creatures from earth.

Im having this question about the nemegt basin/desert. It seems that some paleoart depicts it as a wet swampy wetlands while other depict it as a desert. Like what was this place?
The presence of really big herbivores makes me think it was a wetter place tho.
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