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I Know Dino Podcast Present Notes: Carnotaurus (Episode 85)

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    Episode 85 is all about Carnotaurus, a big theropod with thick horns above its eyes.

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    On this episode, we talk about:

    • The dinosaur of the day: Carnotaurus
    • Identify means “meat consuming bull” as a consequence of it’s bull-like horns
    • Giant theropod that lived within the Late Cretaceous, in what’s now South America
    • Sort species is Carnotaurus sastrei
    • Species identify is in honor of Angel Sastre, the proprietor of the ranch had been the skeleton was discovered (skeleton discovered on ranch named “Pocho Sastre”)
    • Skeleton was present in 1984
    • Jose Bonaparte discovered Carnotaurus in 1984, as a part of one of many expeditions within the mission “Jurassic and Cretaceous Terrestrial Vertebrates of South America” (sponsored by the Nationwide Geographic Society that began in 1976)
    • Skeleton was of an grownup, and cranium and muzzle had been crushed in fossilization
    • It took a very long time to organize the skeleton, because it was in very exhausting rock (hematite); Jose Bonaparte wrote a observe naming Carnotaurus in 1985 describing the cranium and a extra full description was written in 1990
    • A part of Abelisauridae (group of huge theropods)
    • Closest relations are most likely both Aucasaurus or Majungasaurus
    • Different animals discovered close to Carnotaurus embody turtiels, snakes, crocodiles, mammals
    • Bipedal, about 26-30 ft (8-9m) lengthy and weighing about 1.3-2.1 tons
    • Small forelimbs and lengthy, slender hindlimbs
    • Forelimbs had been proportionally shorter than different carnivores, even T-rex (forearm was 1/4 the dimensions of the higher arm)
    • Hand had 4 digits, however solely the 2 center ones had finger bones; the fingers had been fused, motionless and doubtless didn’t have claws; the 4th digit was a split-like metacarpal that will have been some type of spur
    • A examine in 2009 discovered that abelisaurids had vestigal arms (had lowered nerve fibers like in trendy emus and kiwis, which have vestigial forelimbs)
    • If Carnotaurus saved evolving, descendants could have misplaced its arms
    • Had thick horns above its eyes (not seen on different carnivores)
    • Very specialised (horns and neck)
    • Had a deep cranium and muscular neck
    • Had a straight neck, as an alternative of an s-curved neck like different theropods, and was vast in direction of the bottom
    • Doable it used its head like a hatchet (together with thick, lengthy neck) and enamel struck the prey a number of occasions to take it down
    • Could have fought utilizing horns and neck and both pushing their skulls collectively, or ramming heads and utilizing horns as shock absorbers
    • Bone horns on the forehead had been 5.9 in (15 cm) lengthy (most likely keratin made them longer)
    • Horns could have been used for combating, show, or killing prey
    • Horns could have protected eyes in fights, or been utilized in fights the way in which rams use horns (in 1998 Gerardo Mazzetta and workforce discovered that Carnotaurus‘ neck was robust sufficient to soak up the drive of two Carnotaurus‘ butting heads at a velocity of 5.7 m/s every
    • Gerardo Mazzetta additionally mentioned the horns might have harm or killed small prey
    • Some research discovered that as an alternative of head blows Carnotaurus‘ pushed slowly towards one another with their skulls, so the horns might assist forestall mind injury (horns had been flat on the higher aspect and prime of the cranium had strongly fused bones)
    • In 2009 Fernando Novas mentioned the quick cranium could have helped them transfer their heads extra rapidly, and the robust neck and rigidity and energy of their spinal columns might assist when butting heads
    • Cranium is 23.5 in (59.6 cm) lengthy and proportionately quick and deep
    • Broad snout, and nasal bones had small holes and spikes
    • Had small eyes and a point of binocular imaginative and prescient
    • Eyes set dealing with barely forwards
    • Could have been in a position to hunt sauropods, although some scientists assume it ate small animals
    • Might chew rapidly, however didn’t have a powerful chew (additionally good for small prey)
    • Lengthy, slender enamel, with a shallow, weak decrease jaw
    • Cranium and decrease jaw was versatile, like trendy snakes, so might swallow small animals complete, and enamel pointed upwards to maintain the animal from escaping its jaws.
    • However could have additionally been in a position to hunt giant dinosaurs, because the cranium might face up to the drive of biting bigger prey
    • In 2005, Francois Therrien and colleagues discovered that Carnotaurus had a chew drive 2x a contemporary American alligator and was much like Komodo dragons, which have jaws which can be higher for slashing and weakening giant prey, so Carnotaurus could have ambushed and killed giant animals
    • Robert Bakker mentioned in 1998 that Carnotaurus most likely ate sauropods, because it’s quick snout and small enamel and robust again of the cranium had additionally developed, independently, in Allosaurus
    • Good runner
    • Might dash, although most likely not fairly as quick as ornithomimids
    • Individual and Currie printed a examine in 2011, the place they studied 50 species of carnivorous dinosaurs, all totally different sizes, and located that Carnotaurus was the ninth quickest dinosaur, due to its muscle tissue within the tail
    • Unclear precisely how briskly Carnotaurus might have run
    • Carnotaurus was most likely quick, as a result of it had caudal ribs in a “V” form within the tail vertebrae, which meant it had room to have a bigger caudofemoralis muscle than different theropods (most vital muscle for locomotion and will have weighed as much as about 300 kilos or 140 kg). Nevertheless, different muscle tissue that assist with tail motion and stability (longissimus and spinalis muscle) had been smaller, which meant it will have had a tough time making tight turns as a result of the hip and tail needed to flip on the identical time, not like different theropods
    • Caudofemoralis is a pair of huge muscle tissue on the perimeters of the tails
    • Tail had two caudal ribs (crescent-shaped flanges on the perimeters of the tail bones); all about 15% of its physique weight
    • Carnotsaurus fossils had pores and skin impressions that confirmed a mosaic of polygonal, small scales (5mm in diameter) with giant bumps on the perimeters of Carnotaurus, however most likely no feathers
    • Pores and skin impressions discovered on the decrease jaw, entrance of the neck, shoulder, and rib cage, and tail. There have been patches of pores and skin impressions on the proper aspect of the cranium too, but it surely wasn’t clear what they had been when the cranium was ready, in order that they had been by accident destroyed (although scientists nonetheless discovered that the sample on the left and proper sides of the cranium was totally different)
    • Head had a distinct sample in comparison with the physique
    • Had giant, knob-like bumps on the aspect of the neck, again, and tail, in irregular rows
    • Bumps had been bigger in direction of the highest of Carnotaurus (most likely had been clusters of scutes, as seen on hadrosaurids); could have helped defend its sides when combating both different Carnotaurus‘ or different theropods (much like what iguanas have, which helps defend them in fights)
    • No proof of feathers
    • Holotype is on show on the Argentine Museum of Pure Sciences
    • Can see a life-sized sculpture on the Pure Historical past Museum in LA (made by Stephen and Sylvia Czerkas, museum ordered it within the mid-Eighties, and is among the first theropod replicas to point out pores and skin precisely
    • In The Misplaced World by Michael Crichton, there are Carnotaurus‘ that may camouflage, and the characters scare them away with flashlights
    • Abelisauridae means “Abel’s lizards”
    • Clade of ceratosaurian theropods that lived within the Jurassic and Cretaceous in Gondwana (Africa, South America, India, and Madagascar)
    • Jose Bonaparte and Fernando Novas named Abelisauridae in 1985, once they described Abelisaurus (named after Roberto Abel, who found Abelisaurus)
    • Bipedal and carnivorous
    • Had quick hindlimbs and ornamentation on the cranium bones
    • Skulls had been typically tall and shallow
    • 4 digits on the hand
    • Abelsaurids are additionally a part of the group ceratosaurs (Limusaurus and Ceratosaurus ahd quick arms within the Jurassic, like abelisaurids)
    • Enjoyable reality: Virtually 200 birds have been pushed to extinction because the yr 1500. Some had been pushed to extinction by people searching just like the dodo, moa, & elephant chicken. However much more have gone extinct as a consequence of species launched by people. In keeping with Birdlife.org: “Within the final 500 years, species like rats, cats and mice have pushed greater than 70 chicken species to extinction. They continue to be one of many best threats to our pure world.”Due to this fact after the Chicxulub impactor the best menace to dinosaurs might be people and our introduction of invasive species to new habitats.

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