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| Extinct Animal Questions | |
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| Topic Started: Nov 26 2013, 10:24 PM (193,253 Views) | |
| Acinonyx Jubatus | Nov 14 2016, 10:30 PM Post #3616 |
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![]() Unless you've got the skills to back up your ambush it's not going to do you any good. Edited by Acinonyx Jubatus, Nov 14 2016, 10:31 PM.
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| Incinerox | Nov 15 2016, 06:47 AM Post #3617 |
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Āeksiot Zaldrīzoti
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Hsanda Gol formation. Google it.
Ankylosaurs had large polygonal scales between their dorsal scutes. They get progressively smaller down towards the belly, but remained large on the forelimbs (not sure about the hindlimbs).
For a start, Thylacosmilus was still the size and build of a modern jaguar. It's not exactly a slouch in terms of power. Next, recent studies imply that its teeth, skull and neck were actually more efficient than those of Smilodon, in exchange for brain power. Killing method would have been the same as that of Smilodon - immobilising prey with its proporionally powerful forelimbs and dextrous paws, driving its teeth into its prey's flesh before pulling back with its large neck muscles to slice off huge chunks from its prey, or sever vital nerves and blood vessels. It's an efficient method that neither requires size nor strong bite forces. Interesting point to be made here - sabre tooth cats didn't even come close to outcompeting Thylacosmilus and its kind - terror birds, being the badasses they are, did that first. Edited by Incinerox, Nov 15 2016, 06:48 AM.
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| heliosphoros | Nov 15 2016, 03:44 PM Post #3618 |
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Not really, they co-existed with sparassodonts through most of the Cenozoic. If anything terror birds were in decline when thylacosmilids reached their (brief) apex. Meanwhile, giant opossums and armadillos like Macroeuphractus took the opportunity to evolve as South America's early predator groups entered in decline. |
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| Incinerox | Nov 15 2016, 07:52 PM Post #3619 |
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Āeksiot Zaldrīzoti
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Yeah, but sparassodonts came and went while terror birds still stuck around for while after, even if they were in decline. Main point: Neither lived to see a Smilodon in South America. |
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| Acinonyx Jubatus | Nov 16 2016, 05:45 PM Post #3620 |
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So what do people here think about Duane Nash's new blog post about Theropod Cranial display structures? I for one think that, in creatures so clearly predisposed to pummel the Swiss Cheese out of each other, such structures would be a big, obvious target that would cause a lot of blood loss, even when deflated. |
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| Fireplume | Nov 17 2016, 01:24 AM Post #3621 |
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Snok Snok Snerson
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Well intra-specific competition would work; frigatebirds for example will gladly tear one another's throat pouches without causing fatal injury, it simply means that the injured male cannot breed for that season. No reason to think it wouldn't happen with theropods too. |
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| Incinerox | Nov 17 2016, 04:18 AM Post #3622 |
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Āeksiot Zaldrīzoti
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Elephant seals. That is all. |
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| Acinonyx Jubatus | Nov 17 2016, 11:46 AM Post #3623 |
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I thought frigatebirds and elephant seals were more pneumatically inflatable. The structures Nash seems to be suggesting seem to be inflated with blood. Would that make a differences? |
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| Incinerox | Nov 17 2016, 01:25 PM Post #3624 |
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Āeksiot Zaldrīzoti
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They're almost always air-filled. Blood would be extremely stupid to use for such features. |
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| stargatedalek | Nov 17 2016, 01:43 PM Post #3625 |
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I'm not slow! That's just my moe!
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Unless the purpose was for it to burst and use the blood as some form of deterrent like a Phrynosoma lizard does such structures are always filled with air or in rare cases water. Blood flow isn't even an efficient method of inflation let alone a safe one. |
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| Acinonyx Jubatus | Nov 17 2016, 02:28 PM Post #3626 |
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That's what I thought. So I take it Nash is wrong, then? Here's what he says:
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| Incinerox | Nov 17 2016, 02:50 PM Post #3627 |
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That's where he's flawed. But the idea of having flappy or inflatable structures in theropods is by no means dumb. Bony crests, when broken in a fight, would likely hurt A LOT MORE than a slashed air sac, and we know many species of theropod that have them. |
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| TheNotFakeDK | Nov 17 2016, 03:09 PM Post #3628 |
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200% Authentic
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I'm assuming this is relating to that talk at the SVP regarding the supratemporal fenestra in theropods being a source of blood-flow rather than just being purely musculature? IIRC there was speculation involved there that the increased blood-flow could support soft-tissue display structures in theropods? |
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| Acinonyx Jubatus | Nov 17 2016, 09:41 PM Post #3629 |
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Yep, that's the one. |
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Nov 19 2016, 07:53 PM Post #3630 |
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What plants, besides cypress and horsetails, would have lived in Hell Creek's swamps? |
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