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Extinct Animal Questions
Topic Started: Nov 26 2013, 10:24 PM (193,390 Views)
Furka
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It was a seasonal floodplain, so it would have looked like a wetland or scrubland at different times of the year.
Kinda like the Okavango.
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CyborgIguana
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Odin
Jun 19 2015, 03:46 PM
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?
Pterosaurs also have a soft integument covering known as pycnofibres, but in any case Mark Witton's an expert so I don't think there's any reason not to take his word on the matter.
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MightyFan217
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OH YESSS!

Now this one I know is a spoiler for JW.
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CyborgIguana
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Maybe the smaller ones, though the biggest mosasaurs and pliosaurs would probably be too heavy to do that. Of course, marine reptiles aren't my area of expertise.
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Iben
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There'll be no foot-walking! Just air-flying!

CyborgIguana
Jun 19 2015, 06:47 PM
Odin
Jun 19 2015, 03:46 PM
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?
Pterosaurs also have a soft integument covering known as pycnofibres, but in any case Mark Witton's an expert so I don't think there's any reason not to take his word on the matter.
I don't really understand your confusion. The Gannet needs specific feathers to do so, but that's because normal feathers aren't fit for such matters. It isn't the same as "you need feathers to do that kind of plunging".
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Incinerox
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Āeksiot Zaldrīzoti

To be fair, the only reason why orcas CAN do it is that only a select few populations live along coastlines with the right beach conditions to do so. The seal colonies they ambush so happen to thrive on particularly steep beaches with deep water, made even deeper by crags in the rock. More typical beaches are too shallow for orcas to do that - they'd beach themselves long before they make land.

Which is the sort of problem a giant mosasaur or pliosaur would face far more frequently. Were there breeding colonies of, say Hesperornis, that so happened to be on a beach steep enough and obstacle free enough for a giant mosasaur to be able to even reach the shoreline? Unlikely.




Gannets have no more specialised feathers than any other sea bird, in that they're waterproof. Most of what makes plungediving possible for gannets is the overly robust skull, with their spearlike beaks and reinforced braincase. Stops them from getting a concussion from hitting the water from a 50m drop at 60+mph.

But your average-joe pelicans plunge dive. They don't have these special features. I mean, sure, waterproof feathers like everything else. But they don't have the reinforced skull or spear-like beak. But their plunge diving doesn't generate as ridiculous forces, so they don't need it. This is more the sort of plunge diving we'd expect from known marine pterosaurs like Pteranodon. Nyctosaurus's crest was perhaps too fragile to do this at all.
Edited by Incinerox, Jun 20 2015, 11:54 AM.
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Paleop
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Paleopterix

were azhdarchids endotherms, exotherms or mesotherms ?
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BossAggron
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Formerly Dilophoraptor

So far all warm blooded vertebrate flyers are warm blooded, so its safe to assume they are too.
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Posted Image Oviraptor
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Posted Image

Which one is more accurate?
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Posted Image Guat
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Oviraptor
Jun 21 2015, 03:21 PM
Posted Image

Which one is more accurate?
I'd say Ibrahim's. Mark Witton has even checked it and found Ibrahim's estimates to be correct.
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Tyranachu
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Nerdasaurus

Guys, how plausible is this Balaur reconstruction, particularly the foot?

Posted Image
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Incinerox
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Āeksiot Zaldrīzoti

They just reclassified it away from the dromaeosaurids, so the actual restoration's outdated.

The foot though, I'm not sure. The hallux in the fossil seems to be more in line with the 2nd toe rather than the reversed condition seen in modern birds. But since it's reclassification, I've started to wonder if that's an artifact of fossilisation or if it's a legit big, forward facing 1st toe.

I still very much hope we're looking at a particularly carnivorous "jeholornis-oid". But we won't know for sure without a skull and teeth. I know there's no scientific evidence for it, but can't a boy dream? ; ;
Edited by Incinerox, Jun 22 2015, 07:05 AM.
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Posted Image Oviraptor
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So is it commonly accepted that Spinosaurus had a sail or hump now a days?
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DinoBear
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I think it has been agreed that it had a "sump". By me.
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Incinerox
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Āeksiot Zaldrīzoti

It's looking like the lower portions of the spine were covered in heavy back muscles, but then they ascended into a sail.

Fleshed out, the cross section of the torso probably looked tear drop shaped more than anything once all the muscles, fat and skin and whatever extra soft tissues were on the back were added in.
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