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I Know Dino Podcast: Torvosaurus Gurneyi

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    Episode 16 is all about Torvosaurus Gurneyi, one the largest, baddest carnivores in modern-day Portugal.

    You’ll be able to take heed to our free podcast, with all our episodes, on iTunes at:

    https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/i-know-dino/id960976813?mt=2

    On this episode, we talk about:

    • The dinosaur of the day: Torvosaurus gurney, which implies “savage lizard”
    • Torvosaurus gurneyi is known as after the paleo-artist James Gurney, who created Dinotopia (printed in 1992)

    • Torvosaurus gurneyi is a brand new species present in Portugal, which lived on the Iberian Peninsula (now Spain, Portugal, Andorra, and elements of France), about 150 million years in the past (Jurassic)
    • Torvosaurus was dug up in 2003 (an novice paleontologist discovered a part of a jawbone). Additionally they discovered the shinbone, enamel, and elements of the tail vertebrae
    • Christophe Hendrickx, who was a Ph.D. scholar on the New College of Lisbon in Portugal, found Torvosaurus gurneyi when finding out what scientists thought had been the bones of Torvosaurus tanneri (associated species, however lived in North America’s Rocky Mountains within the Jurassic)

    • Research was printed in PLOS ONE in March 2014
    • Now there are two species of Torvosaurus, Torvosaurus tanneri and Torvosaurus gurneyi
    • Torvosaurus tanneri was named in 1979. Massive, heavy, bipedal carnivore that would develop to 33 ft (one of many largest of its time)

    • However some key variations (between Torvosaurus gueryni and Torvosaurus tanneri): Torvosaurus gueryni higher jaw had fewer enamel, bone and tail vertebrae additionally seemed completely different
    • Torvosaurus tanneri had greater than 11 enamel (Torvosaurus gurneyi has lower than 11); the mouth bones even have completely different shapes
    • Torvosaurus gurneyi had four-inch lengthy enamel that had been blade-shaped, with sharp claws on its forearms to tear into prey

    • It was 32 ft lengthy
    • The ecosystem the place Torvosaurus lived was most likely just like the Serengeti. In accordance with Holtz, there have been quite a lot of small, medium, and huge carnivores residing alongside one another, similar to lions, noticed hyenas, leopards, and jackals reside alongside one another
    • Lourinhã, Portugal, the place Torvosaurus was discovered has quite a lot of fossils (plenty of cliffs over a shoreline). Within the Jurassic, it had a big river and many vegetation, and numerous set of dinosaurs

    • Might have been the largest predator in Europe (not less than thus far)
    • Torvosaurus gurneyi most likely grew so massive as a result of it was surrounded by so many herbivores (stegosaurs and sauropods)
    • Torvosaurus most likely hunted massive prey, however can also have been a scavenger

    • Torvosaurus gurneyi was smaller than T.rex, however nonetheless had a strong chew
    • Torvosaurus gueryni lived about 80 million years earlier than T-rex
    • In accordance with paleontologist Thomas R. Holtz Jr., Torvosaurus was a “massive bruiser predator” which means it used brute pressure to kill prey, as a substitute of velocity or shock

    • Torvosaurus most likely took an enormous chew out of prey and waited for it to bleed to loss of life (in comparison with T-rex which will have crushed prey with its jaws)
    • The Torvosaurus discovery modifications the way in which scientists view dinosaurs in Europe through the Jurassic. Earlier than, it was thought that a lot of the dinosaurs there have been dwarf dimension, evolving smaller to reside on the various islands that fashioned Europe again then
    • Torvosaurus gurneyi was a part of the group megalosaurs

    • Huxley named the household Megalosauridae in 1869
    • It was a “wastebasket” group, which means it included a big number of unrelated species (Dryptosaurus, Ceratosaurus, Indosaurus, Velociraptor)
    • Lived within the mid to late Jurassic about 170-148 Ma

    • Lived in Europe, North America, South America, and Africa
    • Cousins of spinosauridae
    • Consists of Afrovenator, Dubreuillosaurus, or Torvosaurus

    • Thomas R. Holtz provided an alternate group definition as all dinosaurs extra carefully associated to Megalosaurus than to Spinosaurus, Allosaurus, or trendy birds
    • Additionally generally referred to as Torvosauridae
    • They’re primative theropods; small to massive sized, with sharp enamel and had three claws on every hand

    • Massive predators are often more durable to seek out than prey, so not a lot is thought about megalosaurs
    • However, megalosaurus did look just like T-rex, and should have been coated in proto-feathers
    • Enjoyable truth: 108 dinosaur species have been present in Britain, thus far. In the course of the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous, Britain was a “land bridge” between North America and Eurasia, so quite a lot of dinosaurs migrated and developed round there (together with Megalosaurus, Iguanodon, Neovenator, Eotyrannus, and Cetiosaurus



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