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Dinosaurs Are Ten Million Years Older Than Previously Thought

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N

NotWii

Banned
A new dinosaur relative found in Tanzania is the oldest known creature of its kind—a discovery that pushes back the origin of dinosaurs by at least ten million years, paleontologists say.

Dubbed Asilisaurus kongwe, the Labrador retriever-size creature was a silesaur, the closest relatives to true dinosaurs. The newfound animal lived 243 million years ago, during the middle Triassic period.

Since silesaurs and true dinosaurs diverged from a common ancestor, the two groups should have existed during the same time frame. But the oldest known true dinosaurs date back to just 230 million years ago.

Finding a silesaur that's ten million years older makes "a big difference," said study co-author Christian Sidor, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture in Seattle.

Asilisaurus's age suggests that some early forms of dinosaurs must have also been plodding around in the middle Triassic. (See a prehistoric time line.)

"When people think about dinosaurs, we think about the extreme forms, the ones that have gone off in their ... own weird directions," such as Stegosaurus and Tyrannosaurus rex, said Thomas R. Holtz, Jr., a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Maryland, who was not involved in the research.

"But they all came from a common ancestor, and fellows like Asilisaurus help us understand what that original dino state looked like."

Early Dinosaur Relative an Omnivore?

Parts of at least 12 Asilisaurus skeletons were found in 2007 in southern Tanzania's Ruhuhu Valley. With no intact specimen to study, Sidor and his team had to piece together a composite skeleton.

What emerged looked nothing like what paleontologists had imagined.

Instead of resembling the "typical hatchet-headed, blade-toothed meat-eaters," Asilisaurus was a light, slender-limbed animal with peg-like teeth and a small beak-like structure on its jaw, the University of Maryland's Holtz said.

The shape of the beak suggests Asilisaurus tore into tissue, which means the animal might have eaten plants—or both plants and meat, the researchers say.

Mysteriously, the long-tailed animal ran on all fours—even though the vast majority of early dinosaurs were two-legged carnivores, according to the study, to be published tomorrow in the journal Nature.

"It's making the picture a little bit murkier, because we have a possible herbivore and quadruped very close to the dinosaur lineage," said study co-author Sidor, who received funding for the research from the National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration. (The National Geographic Society owns National Geographic News.)

Dinosaurs' World in Transition

In a way, Asilisaurus's discovery "is an elegant fulfillment of a prediction," said Christopher Brochu, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Iowa who also wasn't part of the study group.

That's because paleontologists know dinosaurs belong to the archosaurs. Within this group, dinosaur ancestors are divided into two main branches: a line that includes silesaurs and shares skeletal features with modern birds, and a line that has more in common with crocodilians.

Since a crocodilian dinosaur-ancestor from the middle Triassic had already been found, unearthing an animal like Asilisaurus was just a matter of time.

But the new research goes beyond that, Brochu said. "It's part of a larger, growing realization that the earliest archosaurs were far more diverse than we ever thought." (Take a dinosaur quiz.)

In addition to finding Asilisaurus, study leader Sidor and colleagues have already collected several other archosaur species from the Ruhuhu Valley—many more than in other archosaur hot spots.

It's unknown why the lush, wet valleys of prehistoric Tanzania produced so many strains of dinosaur relatives, paleontologists say.

Whatever the reason, "what we're seeing here is a picture of a world in transition," Brochu said. "It's really a fascinating time in the history of life."
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http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/03/100303-dinosaurs-older-than-thought-10-million/

Imagine what hasn't been preserved in the fossil record!
 
D

dr3upmushroom

Banned
Why we still got chickens?

Why do they need to be from the same ancestor, can´t it be possible that there was multiple beings popping up?
 
S

Socreges

Banned
Man, this thread is already pretty indicative of how far off the deep end GAF has gone due to the stupid evolution debates. A thread like this, interesting in and of itself, that raises no questions as to the authenticity of evolution, instantly degrades into jokes aimed at people who don't understand evolution.

Anyway, helpful image:

u3pxw.jpg


[edit] Weird seeing how 'distantly' related pterodactyls are to dinosaurs
 
J

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
I'm getting a case of deja vu. I could swear we heard something about this a while ago. :lol
 
A

Averon

Member
teachthecontroversy.gif

:lol

But seriously, why the hell would the Devil waste time burying Dino bones? You'd think with his power he has far more effective ways of breaking someone's faith.
 
Monocle

Monocle

Member
DeathbyVolcano said:
Ah yes, typical atheist-gaf response. Shocking.
Click to expand...
2uotglk.gif


Edit:
Socreges said:
Man, this thread is already pretty indicative of how far off the deep end GAF has gone due to the stupid evolution debates. A thread like this, interesting in and of itself, that raises no questions as to the authenticity of evolution, instantly degrades into jokes aimed at people who don't understand evolution.

Anyway, helpful image:

http://i49.tinypic.com/u3pxw.jpg

[edit] Weird seeing how 'distantly' related pterodactyls are to dinosaurs
Click to expand...
Lollercopter? One anomalous finding doesn't shatter a preponderance of evidence.
 
J

Jenga

Banned
Socreges said:
Man, this thread is already pretty indicative of how far off the deep end GAF has gone due to the stupid evolution debates. A thread like this, interesting in and of itself, that raises no questions as to the authenticity of evolution, instantly degrades into jokes aimed at people who don't understand evolution.
Click to expand...
you say that like most GAF threads don't instantly start off with jokes somewhat related to the topic at hand
 
J

Jenga

Banned
Phaethon0017 said:
Do you think dinosaurs had a GAF? If they did it'd been called DinoGAF, and I would've been called Phaethonasaurus. Cool.
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i wonder what dinosaurs had in place of videogames

i would be jengasaurex
 
P

Phaethon0017

Member
If DinoGAF had a "The Contest" a T-Rex would win every damn time, so that might rule out this theory... Unless of course the T-Rex had the longest penis of any land based predator, which judging by how angry it was probably isn't the case.
 
C

chase

Member
DeathbyVolcano said:
Ah yes, typical atheist-gaf response. Shocking.
Click to expand...

If the arguments they're poking fun at weren't so hilarious it wouldn't be so fun to remind ourselves that people actually believe them.
 
S

Socreges

Banned
Monocle said:
To be fair, your comment can be taken in two ways because the phrasing is ambiguous. But I understand your meaning now.
Click to expand...
How is "raises no questions as to the authenticity of evolution" at all ambiguous? I think you just missed the word "no". To be fair, it is quite small. Only two letters and everything, while having a habit of completely changing the meaning of a sentence. I think it should be changed to at least two or three syllables.

Jenga said:
you say that like most GAF threads don't instantly start off with jokes somewhat related to the topic at hand
Click to expand...
Nah, this thread is some kind of exemplar. These threads (related to dinosaurs/evolution) used to actually have discussions about the topic (in addition to some joke posts obviously). Or die an early death. But the evolution/creationism/intelligent design bullshit has blown up here and is pretty much inescapable. I'm not complaining. Just making an observation.
 
Monocle

Monocle

Member
Jenga said:
but what would they have in place for console wars?

t-rex king of the dinosaurs = master race PC gamer
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BLOODSPORT.

ChubbyHuggs said:
I wonder if Raptor Jesus walked among them...
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No dude, Raptor Jesus didn't arrive on the scene until well after humans had learned to tend their dinosaur flocks.

29glitj.jpg

(At the time of this image he hadn't evolved his raptor head yet.)
 
D

Dresden

Member
Jenga said:
why can't god be more like a greek god and literally come down and fuck us
Click to expand...
I don't know, they were awful fond of taking animal forms to fuck young women and boys. I for one don't cherish the thought of getting anally raped by a swan. A giant, drunken immortal swan.
 
Monocle

Monocle

Member
Jenga said:
why can't god be more like a greek god and literally come down and fuck us
Click to expand...
I don't know, if I saw Jupiter's cock dangling from the sky I think I'd run for cover.
 
karasu

karasu

Member
Socreges said:
How is "raises no questions as to the authenticity of evolution" at all ambiguous? I think you just missed the word "no". To be fair, it is quite small. Only two letters and everything, while having a habit of completely changing the meaning of a sentence. I think it should be changed to at least two or three syllables.
Click to expand...

:lol
 
J

Jenga

Banned
Dresden said:
I don't know, they were awful fond of taking animal forms to fuck young women and boys. I for one don't cherish the thought of getting anally raped by a swan. A giant, drunken immortal swan.
Click to expand...
i wanna have sex with a bull

then i want to go on magical sexual adventures with a bull and discover AMERICA


yes i realize im getting the story im referencing to wrong and probably mixing it up with another but man

magical bull sex discovery adventure!
 
J

Jenga

Banned
PetriP-TNT said:
Kinda ironic considering T-Rex is now extinct


JUST KIDDING PLEASE DON'T BAN ME :(
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mammals = wii
smaller reptiles = 360


man those idiot mammals are so kiddy

don't get me started on those little bitch reptiles, they're basically us MASTER RACE dinosaurs but smaller
 
Monocle

Monocle

Member
ChubbyHuggs said:
RaptorJesus.jpg
Click to expand...
I wish that image included a date. I'm trying to figure out if it depicts the Clawed One before or after the Righteous Raptor Rave of the Latter Cretaceous.

I'm sure you're familiar with the famous documentary:

dvq2x5.gif


Edit:
Socreges said:
How is "raises no questions as to the authenticity of evolution" at all ambiguous? I think you just missed the word "no". To be fair, it is quite small. Only two letters and everything, while having a habit of completely changing the meaning of a sentence. I think it should be changed to at least two or three syllables.
Click to expand...
It's very simple. I initially thought you were saying something along the lines of, "How can this thread raise no questions as to the authenticity of evolution?"
 
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