Episode 431: Was T. rex as good as a baboon?

Episode 431: Was T. rex as good as a baboon? Plus Evan Johnson-Ransom and Julius Csotonyi be part of us to debate their new large ebook titled Dinosaur World: Over 1,200 Wonderful Dinosaurs, Well-known Fossils, and the Newest Discoveries from the Prehistoric Period

Information:

• A brand new research claims that theropods had been as clever as primates (however not everybody agrees) supply
• A single Allosaurus had 10 pathologies supply
• An ornithomimosaur was injured by way of blunt drive trauma to its foot supply

Interview:

Julius and Evan be part of to speak about their new ebook. Evan Johnson-Ransom is a PhD scholar on the College of Chicago a learning the purposeful morphology and feeding conduct of dinosaurs. Julius Csotonyi is a proficient paleoartist who has created life-sized dinosaur murals for a lot of museums and in addition illustrated the brand new ebook Dinosaur World which Evan wrote.

Sponsors:

The dinosaur of the day: Lurdusaurus

• Iguanodont that lived within the Early Cretaceous in what’s now Niger (Elrhaz Formation)
• Regarded much like Iguanodon, however larger
• So large, most likely quadrupedal
• Estimated to be about 23 to 30 ft (7 to 9 m) lengthy and about 6.5 ft (2 m) tall when strolling on all fours, however its abdomen would solely be a bit of over 2 ft (70 cm) above the bottom (based mostly on the size of the ribs)
• Weighed about 5.5 tonnes
• In 2016, Gregory Paul prompt Lurdusaurus was about 23 ft (7 m) lengthy and weighed 2.5 tonnes
• In 2005, You Hailu and others mentioned Lurdusaurus was categorised in a gaggle “distinguished by their massively-constructed physique kinds”
• Common grownup hadrosaurids are 7 to 12 m lengthy and 3000 kg
• Taquet and Russell, who formally named Lurdusaurus, described Lurdusaurus as ponderous (very heavy)
• Mentioned that in a squat posture Lurdusaurus “will need to have considerably resembled ankylosaurs”
• Nonetheless, additionally mentioned its small cranium, round chest, highly effective forelimbs and claws, and different parts “most likely much more strikingly recalled the type of big floor sloths”
• Not a typical iguanotontid
• A big iguanodont, so massive it walked on 4 legs
• Had a comparatively small cranium, lengthy neck, large forelimbs and thumb spikes, cumbersome physique, comparatively quick tail and hindlimbs
• Estimated that the size of the cranium of the holotype was about 2.9 ft (83.3 cm) lengthy
• Had a beak (again of the cranium was about 30 cm broad and entrance was 20 cm, so didn’t have a duck-like invoice)
• Had between 12 and 14 neck vertebrae, and its neck estimated to be 5.3 ft (1.6 m) lengthy
• Tail about 13 ft (4 m) lengthy
• Had massive, stout limbs
• Forelimbs are about 60% the dimensions of the hindlimbs
• Had a brief, highly effective pelvis, considerably much like ceratopsians
• Femur has options like ceratopsians and sauropods
• Wrist bones had been fused right into a block
• Had a big thumb spike
• Taquet and Russell described the wrist and thumb claw as “harking back to a mace-and-chain”
• Most likely used its thumb spike for protection
• Taquet and Russell discovered that the bones within the foot had been diminished, so the metatarsals (bones main as much as the toes) “misplaced contact with one another, and {that a} fleshy pad will need to have supported a lot of the weight borne by the foot”
• In 2007 Tom Holtz prompt Lurdusaurus acted like a hippo and was semi-aquatic (solely prompt although, no research round this)
• Like a hippo, was stocky and often moved sluggish however might transfer quick when wanted
• Might be why there’s paleoart of Lurdusaurus swimming (with solely the top above water)
• Kind species is Lurdusaurus arenatus
• Fossils present in 1965 by Philippe Taquet
• Holotype is an almost full grownup specimen, with a fragmentary cranium
• Holotype solely lacking a part of the cranium, the sacrum, and a number of the foot
• Discovered tooth punctures across the pubic bones, that had been partly re-healed
• Taquet mentioned it was massive and in 1976 in a quick description mentioned it ought to most likely be its personal genus
• In 1988 Souad Chabli described the specimen for her thesis and named it “Gravisaurus tenerensis” however her thesis was not printed
• Formally named in 1999 by Taquet and Dale Russell
• Additionally referred a fraction of a dentary (decrease jaw) and proper coracoid (a part of the shoulder) to Lurdusaurus
• Genus identify means “heavy lizard”
• Species identify means “sandy” and refers back to the fossils being present in a desert
• Lived in a tropical forest
• Different dinosaurs that lived across the similar time and place embrace iguanodonts Elrhazosaurus and Ouranosaurus, the sauropod Nigersaurus, titanosaurs, the spinosaurid Suchomimus, the carcharodontosaurid Eocarcharia, the abelisaurid Kryptops, and noasaurids
• Different animals that lived across the similar time and place embrace crocodylomorphs and pterosaurs

Enjoyable Truth:

Stegosaurus didn’t have a second mind on the base of its tail—however that was an actual speculation proposed by O.C. Marsh.

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