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[Cow Mengde]

Robert Bakker AMA is live on reddit.

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/39g2py/iama_we_are_paleontologists_dr_robert_bakker_and/

 

[Toa TAK]

Robert Bakker AMA is live on reddit.

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/39g2py/iama_we_are_paleontologists_dr_robert_bakker_and/

Sweet.

 

[Toa TAK]

Sorry (not sorry) for the double post, but I'd thought I'd share a question I had on T-Rex pack hunting.
AMAs are the only reason I visit Reddit/have an account.

 

[Amalthea]

Why not, hunting herd animals must be much more easy in a pack. Even if you just want to isolate young or sick animals from the herd.

 

[Toa TAK]

Why not, hunting herd animals must be much more easy in a pack. Even if you just want to isolate young or sick animals from the herd.

Allosaurus hunted in packs, didn't they? If they're the precursor to the Tyrannosaurus Rex, it would make sense.

 

[Cow Mengde]

Allosaurus hunted in packs, didn't they? If they're the precursor to the Tyrannosaurus Rex, it would make sense.

That's not real pack hunting, it's also pure speculation. The Allosaurus pack was a predator trap that caught tons of Allosaurs. See the Taphonomy information I wrote in the OP. Also, Allosaurus was not the precursor to T.rex. Not even close.

 

[jmdajr]

Cool!

edit: Recent fact I Found out....Dimetrodon was not a dinosaur!

Dimetrodon is often mistaken for a dinosaur or as a contemporary of dinosaurs in popular culture, but it went extinct around 40 million years before the appearance of the first dinosaur in the Triassic period. Generally reptile-like in appearance and physiology, Dimetrodon is nevertheless more closely related to mammals than it is to any living reptilian group, though it is not a direct ancestor of any mammals

 

[Toa TAK]

That's not real pack hunting, it's also pure speculation. The Allosaurus pack was a predator trap that caught tons of Allosaurs. See the Taphonomy information I wrote in the OP. Also, Allosaurus was not the precursor to T.rex. Not even close.

My God I am as dated as the dinos in that video. D:

 

[Cow Mengde]

My God I am as dated as the dinos in that video. D:

There's no proof either way on whether T.rex was a pack hunter or not, but maybe Bakker has seen evidence that I haven't. It never hurts to ask a real expert.

 

[Toa TAK]

There's no proof either way on whether T.rex was a pack hunter or not, but maybe Bakker has seen evidence that I haven't. It never hurts to ask a real expert.

Aw shit. Shots fired.

Is his Raptor Red book good, at least?

 

[Cow Mengde]

Aw shit. Shots fired.

Is his Raptor Red book good, at least?

Yes. Very good. Don't be afraid to ask Bakker questions. He's the real expert.

 

[Blue Ninja]

Subscribed. Gonna give the OP a good read later tonight, looks really interesting!

 

[Septimus Prime]

Isn't there evidence that Albertosaurus--another tyrannosaur and more closely related to T. rex than Allosaurus by a wide margin--was a pack hunter?

 

[PjotrStroganov]

He was actually featured quite prominently on Dino Death Match, which aired just over the weekend, arguing in favor of Nanotyrannus being its own genius. I really would have liked if they'd brought in Horner--or anyone else with a divergent opinion--for a counterpoint, though, but it was otherwise a good show.

This TED talk by Horner was in the Nanotyrannus wiki.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYbMXzBwpIo
Really fitting.

Suddenly baby dinosaurs appeared all over the place

 

[MoonsaultSlayer]

Did someone ask about Peabody?

I enjoyed Raptor Red as a story, but the writing style didn't do it for me the last time I read it. I should reread it.

 

[Amalthea]

A quick and dirty Parasaurolophus head sketch I just did:

 

[Carbonox]

This brings back some fond memories of my love for Dinosaurs. Lived and breathed Dinosaurs when I was a kid and in my middle school years, and wanted nothing more than to be a Paleontologist which was outside the box to everyone else my age. Everyone was surprised by my knowledge on the subject (nowadays I still remember a lot but the majority is outdated as fuck as the science evolves rapidly).

Unfortunately interest waned over the years (not in media forms - games, films, etc. though) and my burning passion left me (same with art). Makes me sad thinking about it. Still perk up on the topic though but makes you think what could have happened if things were different and alternative paths didn't appear to me.

Can't contribute to this thread without saying that Utahraptor was ma dawg though. Always had a soft spot for Therizinosaurus as well.

 

[Cow Mengde]

Did someone ask about Peabody?

I'll ask for you.

A quick and dirty Parasaurolophus head sketch I just did:

Love the colors.

 

[Curler]

How did I miss this thread going up?? I was in the other dino topic, but I guess that one died out already. Was hoping to see a link for here. Ah well, only a few days late to the party (Time to multi-quote)

I just saw this. WTF?

new King Kong series coming to Netflix with laser shooting dinosaurs.

I might watch this... Not sure why...

Cool!

edit: Recent fact I Found out....Dimetrodon was not a dinosaur!



Dimetrodon is often mistaken for a dinosaur or as a contemporary of dinosaurs in popular culture, but it went extinct around 40 million years before the appearance of the first dinosaur in the Triassic period. Generally reptile-like in appearance and physiology, Dimetrodon is nevertheless more closely related to mammals than it is to any living reptilian group, though it is not a direct ancestor of any mammals

Yeah I've always known that it's a mammal-like reptile, but lots of people do think that it's a kind of dinosaur. Still an awesome creature though

A quick and dirty Parasaurolophus head sketch I just did:

Cute

 

[Speedydonut]

Does anyone remember the old franchise Cadillacs and Dinosaurs also known as Xenozoic Tales in comic book form?

There was the comics from the 80s

The animated series

The Capcom arcade game

Sega CD game

 

[Nikodemos]

Always had a soft spot for Therizinosaurus as well.

Therizinos are my faves as well. The dino version of giant ground sloths.

 

[Curler]

The animated series

Recently re-watched the show last year. Had some good ideas in it, but looks like it got cancelled before it could really follow through with a story.

 

[MisterGrey3000]

A quick and dirty Parasaurolophus head sketch I just did:

Nice work Amalthea.
Well as long as we're sharing a bit of artwork.

I drew this Utahraptor chilling by a small pool a little while back:

Those little brown theropods are just made up btw; I would have paired it with an actual contemporary, but it was actually a bit difficult for me to find out who this animal shared it's ecosystem with.
I've actually ran into this problem multiple times and it's caused me to abandon a few dinosaur related pieces.
I'd honestly love if someone could link to an article or site with somewhat detailed descriptions of who lived with who and what kind of environments they actually lived in.

 

[Toxi]

That Utahraptor looks so grumpy and adorable.

Allosaurus hunted in packs, didn't they? If they're the precursor to the Tyrannosaurus Rex, it would make sense.

Allosaurus and Tyrannosaurus weren't closely related. The actual precursors to Tyrannosaurus were much smaller coelurosaurs, more closely related to modern birds.

 

[Curler]

I keep forgetting that Therizinosaurus was a thing. The dinosaur Wolverine, pretty much. Why he need such big claws? >_>

 

[Cow Mengde]

Probably for food. Most believe it was for raking down leaves and also for defense. I read one theory suggest it might have been used to rip through termite mounds to eat them.

The animated series

Anybody thinks Jack looks like old Ike?

 

[Kinsei]

Anyone know if there are any Archeopteryx plushies? It's my favorite dinosaur.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

Fuck I love prehistoric monsters so much. Makes me want to play Monster Hunter again... and then I'd feel bad about killing these great and wonderful creatures.

This reminds me...

I begged my parents so much to get me this. They didn't. :|

Awwww.

...But that's because they got you a cool and badass dinosaur toy instead, right?!

 

[MMarston]

Cool!

edit: Recent fact I Found out....Dimetrodon was not a dinosaur!

Can't wait for other people to realize the same thing for Mosasaur and Plesiosaur.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

Of course!



Robert Bakker is doing an AMA on reddit tomorrow.

Oh and the next time you eat an avocado, think about these guys. Avocados seed were meant for giant animals to eat and plant the seed with their butts. The problem was, after these giant herbivores went extinct, nothing was big enough to eat the entire fruit and carry the seed elsewhere for another tree to grow. That's where we come in. After these animals went extinct, people were able to preserve them through agriculture. We like avocados, so we started planting them and help the species survive without the mega fauna that ate them.

A moment of silence for the heroes who gave their lives so we can have avocados. Actually, I suspect modern day elephants, rhinos, and hippos might have been able to eat the entire fruit and pass the seed out their butts. Except these guys don't live in South America/Mexico.

Honey Locusts, Pawpaws, and some desert melons are like that, too. I don't think it's been under deep scientific scrutiny, though.

I keep forgetting that Therizinosaurus was a thing. The dinosaur Wolverine, pretty much. Why he need such big claws? >_>

I've always leaned to the theory of it being like Chalicotheres or ground sloths. For reaching branches or "fuck off, predators"

 

[Cow Mengde]

Honey Locusts, Pawpaws, and some desert melons are like that, too. I don't think it's been under deep scientific scrutiny, though.

Yeah, there are definitely more. I singled out avocado because they're my favorite, and also because they did a recent study on it.

 

[Jawmuncher]

This reminds me...

I begged my parents so much to get me this. They didn't. :|

If I knew that was a thing, I totally would have begged my parents for her as well. Like a lot of kids I usually grabbed my sisters barbies to hang out with my gi joes anyway.

 

[MisterGrey3000]

I read one theory suggest it might have been used to rip through termite mounds to eat them.

The fluffy archosaur ant eaters of the cretaceous.
I can dig it.

That Utahraptor looks so grumpy and adorable.

:>
haha
It's the "eagle brow", a lot of birds of prey look like total grumps and I kind of wanted to capture that in a non-avian theropod.

 

[Crocodile]

Cool and well researched topic. Hats off to the OP and other contributing posters in here.

I've got a question - I've been wanting to keep a better pulse on recently published literature and I was wondering if there were particularly good aggregate twitter accounts, blogs, websites to follow. My current PHD research focuses on Miocene rodents in South America (I know they aren't sexy dinosaurs, hopefully you'll let me still post in here ) so something with maybe a focus towards that might be better but general vertebrate paleontology is good too. Is just trying to look up the RSS feed of like the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology or Journal of Mammalogy my best bet?

 

[Amalthea]

haha
It's the "eagle brow", a lot of birds of prey look like total grumps and I kind of wanted to capture that in a non-avian theropod.

OMG I do that too when I draw Theropods! 😃

EDIT:
Drew one:

 

[Mdk7]

Speaking of dinosaur toys, these two LEGO Ideas projects are pretty sweet.

Stegosaurus

Tyrannosaurus rex

They are stunning, but i fear they will be canned because LEGO has the official JP license, and i don't see this happen.

 

[tcrunch]

In Albuquerque this week, here's a snap from the natural history museum there.

Nice place, there's a lovely section for aquatic reptiles and inverts and early birds. Most of the casts/fossils are from NM specifically, though there are a few outsiders.

 

[Cow Mengde]

Cool and well researched topic. Hats off to the OP and other contributing posters in here.

I've got a question - I've been wanting to keep a better pulse on recently published literature and I was wondering if there were particularly good aggregate twitter accounts, blogs, websites to follow. My current PHD research focuses on Miocene rodents in South America (I know they aren't sexy dinosaurs, hopefully you'll let me still post in here ) so something with maybe a focus towards that might be better but general vertebrate paleontology is good too. Is just trying to look up the RSS feed of like the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology or Journal of Mammalogy my best bet?

Try Tetrapod Zoology. It covers all kind of topics though. If you have specific questions, try Ask A Biologist: http://www.askabiologist.org.uk/ It's ran by real scientists, but might take a while for them to answer your questions.

Isn't there evidence that Albertosaurus--another tyrannosaur and more closely related to T. rex than Allosaurus by a wide margin--was a pack hunter?

Taphonomy my friend. It's very important to put those bones into context. Just cause there's a couple of dinosaur together could mean anything. It's not definitive proof, but it doesn't disprove it either.

Cool that we have our own paleo artists here on GAF!

 

[efyu_lemonardo]

Yes!!

Well done Cow!

 

[MisterGrey3000]

To counteract the stupidity of a certain film that just came out here is some really amazing paleo art from a recent exhibition.

(More beautiful depictions of the Permian and our ancient ancestors please. )

You can find more here.

 

[More_Badass]

I recently learned about the notion of shrink wrapped depictions of prehistoric creatures. Is there any good non-shrink wrapped art of dinosaurs?

Got to say I love the depictions of shrink wrapped modern animals

 

[MisterGrey3000]

^^^
Edit: Funny thing is...we did shrink-wrap prehistoric mammals for a short while.

I recently learned about the notion of shrink wrapped depictions of prehistoric creatures. Is there any good non-shrink wrapped art of dinosaurs?

Look right above you hahaha

I would recommend checking these artist out if you're looking for fully realized naturalistic animals.

John Conway (He worked on the highly imaginative anti-shrinkwrapping anti-movie monster "All Yesterdays" book that I would highly recommend)

Julio Lacerda

and

Emily Willoughby

Heck, check out my paleoart board on pinterest for more stuff like this; 95% of the pieces I pin are naturalistic and up-to-date.

Edit: Speaking of Jon Conway I still can't get over how amazing these two pieces are

(One of the best most naturalistic looking feathered T. rex's I've ever seen.)

(and of course these graceful alien looking pterosaurs are fantastic. It's so rare to see them depicted on the ground and coming towards the viewer)

 

[Amalthea]

Funny pics thread shows me that people actually assumed that Littlefoot is a brontosaurus and not an apatosaurus.

 

[Cow Mengde]

He does have a boxy skull. Here's the think, I think TLBT was in the Cretaceous, but only giant Sauropod that size that lived with T.rex was Alamosaurus. So Little Foot is an Alamosaurus.

 

[Amalthea]

If they were going strictly by the period then what's Spike?

Hollywood might care about the names a bit, they might even have some feathered dinos if they feel dangerous but never in hell they would actually bother with a chronologically consistent fauna.

 

[MisterGrey3000]

If they were going strictly by the period then what's Spike?

Hollywood might care about the names a bit, they might even have some feathered dinos if they feel dangerous but never in hell they would actually bother with a chronologically consistent fauna.

Hahaha, Hollywood is notorious for misplaced wildlife.
They even have a hard time putting modern animals in the right places.

It seems like Stegosauria as a group died out in the early cretaceous and apparently Spike is a stegosaurus straight from the Jurassic.
The only Eurypoda group (which Stegosauria belonged to) that actually existed in the late cretaceous was Ankylosauria (correct me if I'm wrong), and unlike little foot (who honestly looks like a generic 80s sauropod that could be any sauropod ever) I don't think it's possible to find an analog to Spike in the late cretaceous seeing as he looks nothing like ankylosaurs or even the family Nodosauridae.

 

[Septimus Prime]

It's also notable that the Cretaceous Period is 79 million years.

 

[Cow Mengde]

If they were going strictly by the period then what's Spike?

Hollywood might care about the names a bit, they might even have some feathered dinos if they feel dangerous but never in hell they would actually bother with a chronologically consistent fauna.

I was just making random observation. The funny thing is that when I was a kid, I over analyzed the movie to hell. A lot of plot holes in that movie.

 

[MisterGrey3000]

Paleogaf, I really think this video needs to be added to the OP!!

"Which Dinosaurs Had Feathers?"

(As far as I can tell) It's a very well researched video that was an extensive collaboration between the youtuber who runs the channel and paleontologist/biologist/paleoartist such as Jon Conway and many others.

- What Are Feathers?

- Feathers as a very prevalent early ancestral archosaurian/dinosaurian trait.

- The massive amount of evidence regarding feathers in coelurosaurian theropods (Velociraptor, T. rex, birds etc.)

-The likely possibility of feathers being prominent in non-coelurosaurian theropods (Theropods which are distantly related to birds like Carnotaurus, Spinosaurus, etc.)

-Feathers in Sauropods (Evidence of scaly skin, and the problem of overheating are not glossed over)

-Feathers in ornithischians (Also talks about scaly skin impressions from both ceratopsids and ornithopods. It also discuses the very recent discovery of the fluffy cerotopsian/ornithopod relative kulindadromeus)

I found this video to be very, very informative.
It also features a highly speculative fluffy Ankylosaur drawing! <3

 

[Cow Mengde]

The OP is already overloaded with info. Not sure if I can fit more.

Anyway Triceratops May Have Risen To Dominance Because Of Unique Self-Sharpening Teeth

http://www.forbes.com/sites/shaenam...ance-because-of-unique-self-sharpening-teeth/