Post Your Dinosaur Trivia

[cojo965]

Dino fans of the Escapist, simply do what the title says. I'll start us off with clearing up some misconceptions with Dilophosaurus. Now one thing that many people think they know about this dinosaur is that it could spit venom. Let me say that while it does seem that venomous dinosaurs did exsist, a raptor called Sinornithosaurus appears to confirm that, Dilophosaurus wasn't one of them. It is even less likely that any venomous dinosaurs that also existed could spit venom like in Jurrassic Park. Dilophosaurus was also a giant in the early Jurrassic period that it lived. It was a 20 foot long predator, not the small creature seen in the movie. Dilophosaurus also had a different jaw structure from what is seen the movie and while I haven't managed to get images working here, I can show a video demonstating the differences.


Oh, the frill in the movie? Nope. Structures like that need bones to support them, something that hasn't turned up in the fossil record for Dilophosaurus.

 

[The Salty Vulcan]

It has been suspected that the Brachiosaur may have had two hearts in order to pump blood throughout it's entire body.

 

[KoudelkaMorgan]

I smile when I say Diplodocus, because I imagine a gladiator dinosaur.

Also, a brontosaurus brain is the size of a walnut. Supposedly, its not like there are any around to measure. They could have been located in their abdomen and been the size of a turkey for all the evidence we have aside from skeletal remains.

 

[Marter]

"Dionsaurs" are, in fact, not real things.

Dinosaurs, however, are.

The more you know, all thanks to typos and me being a picky person with no actual dinosaur facts.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Dino fans of the Escapist, simply do what the title says. I'll start us off with clearing up some misconceptions with Dilophosaurus. Now one thing that many people think they know about this dinosaur is that it could spit venom. Let me say that while it does seem that venomous dinosaurs did exsist, a raptor called Sinornithosaurus appears to confirm that, Dilophosaurus wasn't one of them. It is even less likely that any venomous dinosaurs that also existed could spit venom like in Jurrassic Park.

Maybe...there's debate over Sinornithosaurus, and while a poison spitting dinosaur is outlandish, it's quite possible that it existed and wasn't shown by the fossil record.

Likewise, you could have had a dinosaur with facial tentacles, that was luminous pink to warn other creatures that it dripped poison slime. If you found a skeleton of one, there'd most likely be no evidence of that.

It's unlikely we are ever going to understand dinosaurs that well, due to so little evidence remaining.

 

[cojo965]

"Dionsaurs" are, in fact, not real things.

Dinosaurs, however, are.

The more you know, all thanks to typos and me being a picky person with no actual dinosaur facts.

Yeah, I just corrected that, my bad.

 

[Marter]

Yeah, I just corrected that, my bad.

You should've left it.

That would make my post seem like it actually has a point. XD

 

[ChupathingyX]

These...

Spoiler: ...are NOT dinosaurs

Megalosaurus was the first dinosaur to be given a scientific name.

Deinocheirus is a dinosaur known only by its two forearms. However, these forearms were 2.4 metres long and show similar characteristics to other ornithomimids (that's what Gallimimus was). If this is true then it would have been roughly the size of a Tyrannosaurus and would have been quite the sight.

Also, a brontosaurus brain is the size of a walnut.

Another nice piece if trivia: "Brontosaurus" is wrong, it was renamed "Apatosaurus".

 

[BrassButtons]

I'm friends with a paleontologist--I'll have to get him in here

Dinosaurs didn't go extinct. Modern birds are dinosaurs, at least according to some systems of taxonomy.

Dinosaurs had two basic hip structures: bird-hipped, and another I forget. The bird-hipped ones are the ones who died off, and the non-bird-hipped ones evolved into birds.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

They died, so that is mammals could live.

Spoiler: Never forget

There is evidence that suggest that the T-Rex may have been a scavenger, instead of hunting their own food.


I don't believe that though.

We wouldn't call a scavenger the King of the Dinosaurs...

[sub]Would we?[/sub]

 

[Mr.PlanetEater]

Raptors were actually very tiny, and like most dinosaurs, had feathers and an anatomy resembling today's birds.

 

[Random berk]

From some documentary I watched:
Ceraptopsians such as Torosaurus most likely couldn't charge like a bull the way they are sometimes depicted. Weight aside, the structure of their skulls wasn't all that tough, and could suffer fatal damage in a high speed collision. Instead they would have held their ground, using their horns in a shield and spear type attack. A simple flick of their head could gore a large predator, while the frill would have made a good bite to the head or neck very difficult to inflict.

And from my own research:
Another thing is that the asteroid impact that supposedly wiped out the dinosaurs was likely just the final blow to an already dying subclass. Aside from the impact, the Deccan traps eruptions were already wreaking havoc with the global climate, and the dinosaurs were failing to adapt. In the Hell Creek formation in Montana, the number of dinosaur species fell from around 30 species about 7 million years before K/T, to only 12 at the time of the impact. And of course, there were dinosaur fossils recorded after K/T as well, but these were just the animals that didn't die in the cataclysm, and if I recall correctly, no fossils have been found past 0.3 million years after the impact.

This was fun! Its rare that I get to use what I've learned in college on the Escapist.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

I got one! The tail spikes of the stegosaurus is called the "thagomizer" after a Gary Larson "The Far Side" comic. Also, they apparently had a second brain in their tail to control it or something.

 

[CAPTCHA]

There was an ancient shark that had a circular saw in place of teeth called Helicoprion.

 

[Josh123914]

When the first dinosaur fossil was discovered many at first believed they were ancient dragons, as the theory of evolution was only just coming to mainstream attention at the time.

 

[Blunderboy]

They are still alive and ruled over my the evil Emperor Tyrannus.

OT - Dinosaurs are awesome. FACT.

 

[cojo965]

I'm friends with a paleontologist--I'll have to get him in here

Dinosaurs didn't go extinct. Modern birds are dinosaurs, at least according to some systems of taxonomy.

Dinosaurs had two basic hip structures: bird-hipped, and another I forget. The bird-hipped ones are the ones who died off, and the non-bird-hipped ones evolved into birds.

Lizard-hipped.

 

[Esotera]

Dinosaurs got cancer, but quite interestingly we've only found a high incidence in the hadrosaur grouphttp://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2003/oct/23/dinosaurs.science. So if we rule out environmental causes, they might suggest some form of treatment.

 

[bobmus]

Back in 2010 Triceratops <spoiler=Triceratops>http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/08/02/article-0-02576513000004B0-371_468x392.jpg was 'debunked' as being a Juvenile version of the Torosaurus<spoiler=Torosaurus> http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Torosaurus_BW.jpg , which led to some media hysteria that it might go the way of the brontosaurus, until everyone remembered that the Triceratops was named first, and that by dinosaur naming convention, the Torosaurus name would be lost. However, this year it has been found that the two are different dinosaurs.

For my money, they both look pretty darn similar.

 

[Muspelheim]

It seems quite a few dinosaurs actually had feathers, a bit like the modern birds they morphed into.

And it makes them even more awesome!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Velociraptor_dinoguy2.jpg