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The Murphy Family home in Jupiter, Florida features a child’s bed shaped like a dinosaur mouth. Bonnie Murphy, a muralist, did the painting and her husband did the carpentry. Can you imagine anything more soothing?
Link via Geekologie | Photo: 3 Murphys
Paleontologists Bill and Kris Parsons of the Buffalo Museum of Science in New York found a dinosaur skull in Montana in 1997. In the years since, they’ve excavated the rest of the skeleton of a new dinosaur called Tatankacephalus cooneyorum.
“These were big dinosaur versions of a Sherman tank,” Bill Parsons said. “They were armored and they withstood whatever came at them, and they just kept going.” T. cooneyorum was about 15 to 20 feet (4.5 to 6 meters) in length.
And this dinosaur had its share of protection, with two sets of stubby horns, one on the cheeks and the other around its eyes, two thick domes at the back of the skull and thickened areas around the nasal region.
Bill Parsons suspects T. cooneyorum was covered with hundreds or even thousands of bony plates equipped with spikes and a tail tipped with a club, similar to other ankylosaurs. Such protection, along with a swinging clubbed tail, would have kept at bay any of the small dinosaurs around at the time, Parsons said.
T. cooneyorum dates from around 112 million years ago. Link -via the Presurfer
(image credit: Bill Parsons)
Fossils of flying reptiles come in two versions: the older long-tailed pterosaurs and the more recent short-tailed versions. The fossil gap between the two was a mystery until 20 skeletons of a new species were discovered early in 2009 in northeast China. The new pterosaur was named Darwinopterus in honor of the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth.
“Darwinopterus came as quite a shock to us,” explained David Unwin part of the research team and based at the University of Leicester’s School of Museum Studies. “We had always expected a gap-filler with typically intermediate features such as a moderately elongate tail – neither long nor short – but the strange thing about Darwinopterus is that it has a head and neck just like that of advanced pterosaurs, while the rest of the skeleton, including a very long tail, is identical to that of primitive forms”.
The discovery lends credence to the theory that evolution is not an even process, but contains periods of rapid evolution. Link -via Digg
(image credit: Mark Witton, University of Portsmouth)
The world’s oldest known dinosaur burrow, recently discovered on the southeast coast of Australia, suggests that some dinos went underground to escape extreme weather.
110 million years ago, when this burrow was dug, the southeastern coast of Australia was adjacent to Antarctica.
The burrow is strikingly similar to another one found in Montana in 2005, which held the remains of a 96-million-year-old dinosaur family.
Illustration by James Hays, Fernbank Museum, via National Geographic News
“Right now burrowing dinosaurs might look like an exception to the rule,” he said. “But I wouldn’t be surprised if more species [dug burrows]. Ten years from now it might be considered commonplace.”
–Emory University paleontologist Anthony Martin
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by 
Scientists have announced the discovery of a giant dinosaur in Utah. The fossil skeleton belonged to Nothronychus graffami, which stood 13 feet tall and had claws nine inches long!
Its skeleton, described in the current issue of Proceedings of the Royal Society B, represents the most complete remains ever excavated of a therizinosaur, meaning “reaper lizard.” It is one of only three such dinosaurs ever found in North America.
Lead author Lindsay Zanno told Discovery News that therizinosaurs, including the new Utah species, “are unusual in that they have small heads with a keratinous beak at the front of the mouth — the same material as the beak of modern birds — and small leaf-shaped teeth.”
“Their bellies are proportionally enormous, supporting large guts,” added Zanno, who is a researcher in the Department of Geology at The Field Museum. “They have greatly enlarged claws on their hands, short legs and tails, and four-toed feet.”
The dinosaur’s anatomy suggests it ate both plants and animals. Link
(image credit: Victor Leshyk)
Three new species of diniosaur have been found in the Australian outback. Two plant-eating species were nicknamed “Clancy” and “Matilda”. The third dinosaur is a carnivore dubbed Australovenator Wintonensis, but nicknamed Banjo.
The meat-eating Banjo has been dubbed Australia’s answer to the feared Velociraptor.
“The cheetah of his time, Banjo was light and agile,” said Queensland Museum paleantologist Scott Hocknull, who is among the scientists being credited with the discoveries.
“He could run down most prey with ease over open ground. His most distinguishing feature was three large slashing claws on each hand. Unlike some theropods that have small arms (think T. rex), Banjo was different; his arms were a primary weapon.
“He’s Australia’s answer to velociraptor, but many times bigger and more terrifying.”
The bones will eventually go on display to the public. Link -via Fark
The following is a reprint
from Uncle
John's Bathroom Reader
Plunges Into the Universe.
Why should dinosaurs have all the fun? Here are a few prehistoric critters
that are every bit as bizarre as the strangest of the dinos:
Opabinia
Artist's rendering of Opabinia. Image: ArthurWeasley [Wikipedia]
Opabinia regalis fossil from the Burgess shale on display at
the Smithsonian in Washington DC. Image: Jstuby [Wikipedia]
It might be a distant cousin of shrimp salad or it might be unrelated
to anything alive today. Although it looked like something out of a science
fiction movie, this weird four-inch-long animal lived in the sea that
covered what is now Canada about 530 million years ago. Instead of legs,
it had 14 pairs of oarlike gills used for swimming. But the real strangeness
was saved for the head. It had five eyes - two pairs on stalks and another
sitting in the middle of the top of the head. In front of all these eyes
was a long flexible nozzle with a claw at the end. Scientists think the
claw captured food and carried it to the mouth.
Hallucigenia
Hallucigenia fossil. Photo: Smithsonian
National Museum of Natural History
 This
appropriately named little beast bears no resemblance to any animal alive
or dead. Like Opabinia, it lived in Canada about 530 million
years ago. Hallucigenia is so bizarre that scientists are uncertain
which end is the front and which side is up. The most-accepted version
shows a wormlike body supported by seven pairs of spines. Along the top
of the body were seven long tentacles with two-pronged tips. One end had
a bulbous feature that looked a bit like a head but with no sign of eyes
or mouth. At the other end was a long tube that curved up over the "back,"
which may have been a mouth or an anus.
Carpoids
Bundenbach Carpoid fossil. Photo: Fossil
Museum
Virtually all animals have some kind of symmetry - either bilateral like
humans where your right hand is the mirror image of your left hand, or
radial like a starfish, which looks the same no matter which arm is pointing
up. But carpoids were completely asymmetrical. This distant relation of
the sand dollar lived in the oceans of the Northern Hemisphere from 500
to about 350 million years ago. It looked something like a misshapen armored
tadpole, with a bulging body covered with stony plates and a long, segmented
tail that it used for swimming. Some scientists think that carpoids may
have been the ancestors of vertebrates.
Conodonts
Various conodonts. Image: USGS
For more than a century scientists kept finding microscopic, teethlike
objects in marine rocks dating from 510 to 210 million years ago. They
looked like tiny, cone-shaped teeth or combs, but there was no sign of
a jaw or any other bit of skeleton associated with them. There were quite
a few theories about what class of animal these conodonts belonged to,
but it wasn't until about 20 years ago that a fossil of the whole animal
was found. In appearance it was not spectacular. It was long and thin
like a worm, but it had eyes and a low dorsal fin, and the teeth were
located in the mouth. Many scientists now believe that the conodont may
be one of the earliest-known vertebrates.
Ostracoderms Some
of the earliest vertebrates were armored, jawless fish that were most
common between 430 and 370 million years ago. These fish had skeletons
made of cartilage, but their bodies were covered with plates of bone,
so it could be said that they were wearing their skeletons on the outside.
Ostracoderms could be up to 3 feet (1 m) long, but most were under a foot.
Their heads were usually covered by a semicircular shield with two small
holes for eyes. The rest of the body was surrounded by articulated plates
that allowed the animal to swim slowly by moving its tail from side to
side. These animals preferred a quiet environment like a lagoon where
they could drift along the bottom, straining edible particles out of the
mud.
Diplocaulus
Diplocaulus magnicornis. Image: ArthurWeasley [Wikipedia]
This 3-foot (1 m) long amphibian lived in what is now Texas about 270
million years ago. In most respects it looked like a large salamander,
but its head made it unique. The skull was shaped like a boomerang with
two small eyes in the front corners and the wings on either side. Scientists
are not sure why Diplocaulus's head is such an odd shape, but
they think it was either to make the animal swim better near the bottom
of the lakes and streams it lived in - or the wide head made it more difficult
for predators to swallow.
Lystrosaurus
Lystrosaurus georgi. Image: Dmitry Bogdanov [Wikipedia]
Before the age of the dinosaurs, there were a lot of strange-looking
reptiles, but few odder than Lystrosaurus. This 3-foot-long plant-eater
had a squat body and splayed legs like a lizard, but its muzzle was shortened
a bit like that of a bulldog. As if this wasn't attractive enough, from
the corners of its mouth hung two long tusks. The eyes and nostrils were
set high up, making some scientists think that the animal had lived the
way hippos do now, but recent findings show that Lystrosaurus
could also have lived in arid environments that were common about 230
million years ago.
Ambulocetus[YouTube Link] Halfway between the land-dwelling ancestors of whales and the modern marine mammals, Ambulocetus lived in what is now Pakistan about 50 million years ago. This 12-foot-long animal looked a bit like a cross between an otter and an alligator. It had a large head with long jaws and pointed teeth designed for catching and holding fish like an alligator, but the body was more like that of an otter. Scientists think it swam by moving its tail up and down like a modern whale rather than from side to side like a fish.Phorusrhacos About
20 million years ago, South America was an island continent with its own
unique forms of birds and mammals. Because no large mammalian predators
had evolved there, the top carnivore was a bird - Phorusrhacos.
These flightless birds stood up to 10 feet (3 m) tall and had a head the
size of that of a horse. Although they couldn't fly, they were very fast
runners. They could run down their prey, catch it with their powerful
talons, and tear it apart with their long, hooked beaks. These frightening
birds survived until about 3 million years ago, when a land bridge formed
between North and South America, allowing modern carnivores to invade
South America and give Phorusrhacos a little carnivorish competition.
(Image: Drawing of Phorusrhacos by Charles R. Knight [wikipedia])
Diprotodon
Diprotodon optatum. Image: Dmitry Bogdanov [Wikipedia]
Diprotodon australis in the British Museum of Natural History.
Before humans arrived in Australia about 40,000 years ago, marsupials
were larger and more varied than they are today. The largest of all was
the Diprotodon, which was about the size of a hippopotamus. It
looked like a gigantic wombat (one of those furry, bearlike things), and
it ate leaves and grass. It wasn't a fast runner, but it was too large
for any of the native predators to tackle until humans came along. (We're
not pointing fingers or anything, but the Diprotodon became extinct
suspiciously soon after the first humans arrived. Coincidence?)
Glyptodon
Glyptodon asper in Naturhistorisches Museum Wien. Image: Arent
[Wikipedia]
The most heavily armored mammal of all time has to have been the Glyptodon.
About the size of a VW Beetle, this distant relation of the armadillo
roamed the plains of South American until 15,000 years ago. The first
humans in that part of the world encountered these strange beasts and
incorporated them into their legends. Glyptodon resembled a turtle
with patches of fur except that the high, rounded shell was made of many
small plates of bone. It had a long tail with a ball at the end of it
like the mace of a medieval knight.
Moropus
Moropus elatus, on display at the National Museum of Natural
History.
Image: Claire H. [Wikipedia]
When scientists first discovered the Moropus, they couldn't
believe that the horselike head and body belonged with the long claws
and massive feet found nearby. This 10-foot-long distant relative of the
horse looked like a mixed-up bag of spare parts. The head and neck looked
like a stunted giraffe, but the body was more like that of a bear. The
front legs were quite a bit longer than the back legs, and all four feet
were armed with long claws. Some scientists believe that Moropus
fed by rearing up on its hind legs and pulling down branches so it could
strip off the leaves with its long tongue. This animal lived in tropical
Asia until about 12,000 years ago.
Mammuthus
Woolly Mammoth at the Royal BC Museum in Victoria, British Columbia.
Image: Tracy O [Wikipedia]
Everyone
knows what a woolly mammoth looked like - a big hairy elephant with long,
curling tusks. Everyone also knows that they died out at the end of the
last ice age, about 10,000 years ago. Guess again. For one thing, the
last mammoths weren't very mammoth; they were about the size of a buffalo.
They lived on Wrangel Island, off the northern coast of Siberia, and survived
after other mammoths became extinct. Scientists believe that the dwarf
mammoths were still around about 4,000 years ago, after the pyramids were
built! |
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The article above is reprinted with permission
from Uncle
John's Bathroom Reader Plunges Into the Universe.
Since 1988, the Bathroom Reader Institute had published a series of popular
books containing irresistible bits of trivia and obscure
yet fascinating facts.
If you like Neatorama, you'll love the Bathroom
Reader Institute's books - go ahead and check 'em out!
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Paleontologist Mary Schweitzer of North Carolina State University and colleagues apparently have never watched Jurassic Park. Why else would she extract dino "blood" from ancient bones?
A dinosaur bone buried for 80 million years has yielded a mix of proteins and microstructures resembling cells. The finding is important because it should resolve doubts about a previous report that also claimed to have extracted dino tissue from fossils.
… Schweitzer took a look at the pristine leg bone of a plant-eating hadrosaur that had been encased in sandstone for 80 million years. She and colleagues exhaustively tested the sample, sequencing the proteins they found with a new and better mass spectrometer and sending samples to two other labs for verification.
Now they report recovering not just collagen – which conveys little evolutionary information because it is the same in almost all animals – but also haemoglobin, elastin and laminin, as well as cell-like structures resembling blood and bone cells. The proteins should reveal more about dinosaur evolution because they vary much more between species.
This can’t possibly end well: Link
In 1976, Patricia Renick created this awesome sculpture of the dinosaur Triceratop out of real helicopter parts:
Completed in 1976 as the Vietnam war wound down, it serves largely as a plea for the extinction of military technology. 30 feet long, the fearsome sculpture combines life sized helicopter and Triceratops parts, featuring genuine blades and weapons. [...]
Triceracopter could be placed in multiple traditions. It is a form of social commentary on killing machines and an expression of hope for the end of warfare. There are many artists who are working with the idea of bio-mechanical forms, juxtapositions and transformations.
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by JJA.
Photo: Mike Hettwer
Alan Taylor of the Big Picture Blog over at Boston Globe has a(nother) neat post – this time of fantastic photos of Mike Hettwer of a dinosaur fossil excavation in the Sahara Desert:
About 9,000 years ago, a very wet climate prevailed in parts of the Sahara Desert called the Neolithic Subpluvial period. Lasting several thousand years, this Green Sahara was home to many grassland and woodland animals as well as humans. While on an expedition for dinosaur fossils with paleontologist Paul Sereno in Niger in 2000, Hettwer discovered a burial area containing hundreds of skeletons from two distinct cultures, each thousands of years old – the Kiffian and Tenerian. Also found in the dry and desolate site were hunting tools, pottery, and bones of large land animals and fish.
Link | Many more excellent photos at Mike’s website: Link
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