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'Mother Lode' of Fossils Discovered in Canada - Scientific American - 0 views

www.scientificamerican.com/...f-fossils-discovered-in-canada

scibyte120 fossils

shared by Mars Base on 12 Feb 14 - No Cached
  • A treasure trove of fossils chiseled out of a canyon in Canada's Kootenay National Park rivals the famous Burgess Shale, the best record of early life on Earth, scientists say.
  • The Burgess Shale refers to both a fossil find and a 505-million-year-old rock formation made of mud and clay
  • Burgess Shale fossil quarry, a UNESCO World Heritage site located in Yoho National Park, is in a glacier-carved cliff in the Canadian Rockies.
  • ...18 more annotations...
  • The fossils were discovered in 1909. Since then, several other fossil sites have been found in the Burgess Shale, but none as rich as the original.
  • The fossils are extraordinary because they preserve soft parts of ancient animals in exceptional detail
  • soft parts are less likely to be imprinted in stone than harder parts, like bones
  • More than 200 animal species have been identified at the 1909 fossil site
  • The new site is also in the Burgess Shale formation, and seems to rival the 1909 original in fossil diversity and preservation
  • In just two weeks, the research team collected more than 3,000 fossils representing 55 species. Fifteen of these species are new to science.
  • there is a high possibility that we'll eventually find more species here than at the original Yoho National Park site, and potentially more than from anywhere else in the world
  • The new fossils were spotted in a mountain cliff, in Marble Canyon, about 26 miles (42 kilometers) southeast of the original Burgess Shale site
  • The newly discovered rocks are probably about 100,000 years younger than those at the first Burgess Shale site
  • Many of the fossils at the new site are better preserved than their quarry counterparts
  • The new fossils reveal the internal organs of several different arthropods, the most common type of animal in both the new and old Burgess Shale locations.
  • Retinas, corneas, neural tissue, guts and even a possible heart and liver were found.
  • the first time we're seeing these details
  • About half of the 55 species discovered at Marble Canyon so far are also found at the original Burgess Shale site
  • Some of the original site's rare species are more abundant in the canyon
  • Some species at Marble Canyon are also found in China's Chengjiang fossil beds, which are 10 million years older than the Burgess Shale
  • Until now, researchers thought these Cambrian animals went extinct by the time the Burgess Shale formed.
  • Their discovery in Canada means that many Cambrian life forms were more widespread and longer-lived than previously thought
Mars Base

Rare New Species of Carolina Hammerhead Shark Discovered - 0 views

www.scienceworldreport.com/...ammerhead-shark-discovered.htm

scibyte109 ViewerFeedback sharks

shared by Mars Base on 10 Nov 13 - No Cached
  • The Carolina hammerhead has long eluded discovery due to the fact that it is outwardly indistinguishable from the common scalloped hammerhead
  • The new species, named Sphyrna gilberti, was actually discovered as scientists were looking for more common hammerheads.
  • Scientists have now announced that they've discovered a new species of rare shark, the Carolina hammerhead
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • South Carolina is a well-known pupping ground for several species of sharks, which means that researchers were collecting samples there for study
  • The scalloped hammerheads that they were collecting had two different genetic signatures in both the mitochondrial and nuclear genomes
  • the scientists found that the anomalous scalloped hammerhead had been described in 1967 and had 10 fewer vertebrae than the normal scalloped hammerhead. Intrigued
  • In the end, the scientists found that there was genetic evidence to show that this hammerhead was, in fact, a new species.
  • scientists aren't sure exactly how many individuals still exist in the wild
Mars Base

ScienceShot: New Species Discovered, Thanks to Flickr - ScienceNOW - 0 views

news.sciencemag.org/...shot-new-species-discover.html

scibyte58 species

shared by Mars Base on 10 Aug 12 - No Cached
  • Researchers recently spotted a previously unknown species of lacewing while randomly flipping through images posted on the online database Flickr
  • The images of the new lacewing, which has a 30-millimeter wingspan, were taken in a forested park north of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, by an amateur photographer and then posted online
  • entomologist randomly viewing the images
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • suspected the creature was an undescribed species
  • the photographer had released the insect after taking its picture, so researchers had to wait until the shutterbug revisited the area and collected a specimen before they could officially write up their discovery
Mars Base

Europe still has a rich reservoir of unknown species - 0 views

phys.org/...reservoir-unknown-species.html

scibyte49 plants

shared by Mars Base on 30 May 12 - No Cached
  • Europe is still has a multitude of unfamiliar species.
  • researchers have found that new species are being discovered at a record rate – four times faster than they were over two centuries ago.
Mars Base

First diplodocid sauropod from South America found -- ScienceDaily - 0 views

www.sciencedaily.com/...140514182709.htm

scibyte131 dinosaur

shared by Mars Base on 15 May 14 - No Cached
  • The discovery of a new sauropod dinosaur species, Leinkupal laticauda, found in Argentina may be the first record of a diplodocid from South America and the youngest record of Diplodocidae in the world
  • Diplodocids are part of a group of sauropod dinosaurs known for their large bodies, as well as extremely long necks and tails
  • Scientists have identified a new diplodocid sauropod from the early Cretaceous period in Patagonia, Argentina -- the first diplodocid sauropod discovered in South America
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • Though the bones are fragmentary, scientists found differences between this species and other diplodocid species from North American and Africa in the vertebrae where the tail connects to the body
  • These differences suggest to the authors that it may warrant a new species name, Leinkupal laticauda
  • apparently lived much later than its North American and African cousins
  • existence suggests that the supposed extinction of the Diplodocidae around the end of the Jurassic or beginning of the Cretaceous period didn't occur globally
  • the clade survived in South America at least during part of the Early Cretaceous.
Mars Base

New 'Walking' Shark Species Caught on Video | LiveScience - 0 views

www.livescience.com/new-walking-shark-species.html

scibyte109 ViewerFeedback sharks

shared by Mars Base on 10 Nov 13 - No Cached
  • A new species of "walking" shark has been discovered in a reef off a remote Indonesian island
  • These sharks don't always rely on "walking" to move about — often, they only appear to touch the seafloor as they swim using their pectoral and pelvic fins in a walklike gait
  • The shark grows up to 27 inches (70 centimeters) long and is harmless to humans
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • Hemiscyllium halmahera, named after the eastern Indonesian island of Halmahera where it was found
  • Of all known
  • walking sharks, six of nine species hail from Indonesia
  • The animals lay eggs under coral ledges, after which the young sharks lead relatively sedentary lives until adulthood
  • These sharks do not cross areas of deep water and are found in isolated reefs
Mars Base

Crow-Size Pterosaur Named After 9-Year-Old Fossil Hunter -- National Geographic - 0 views

news.nationalgeographic.com/...aurs-dinosaurs-science-animals

scibyte87 dinosaur

shared by Mars Base on 22 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • A new species of crow-size pterosaur has been named in honor of the nine-year-old fossil hunter who discovered it
  • While exploring the U.K.'s Isle of Wight (map) in 2008, the then-five-year-old Morris came across blackened "bones sticking out of the sand
  • The Morris family brought the fossil to paleontologist Martin Simpson at the University of Southampton, who, with the help of colleagues, identified it as a new species
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • In pterosaurs, certain parts of the skeleton, especially the skull and the pelvis, are really distinct between different [species
  • The newfound creature also belonged to a group of pterosaurs called the azhdarchoids
  • All are from the Cretaceous, all are toothless, and many—perhaps all—were especially well adapted for life in terrestrial environments like woodlands, tropical forests, and floodplains
  • From the size of the pelvis
  • estimate
  • had a wingspan of about 2.5 feet (75 centimeters) and was just over a foot (35 centimeters) from snout to tail, making it about the size of a gull or large crow.
  • also inspired study co-author Simpson to write a children's book entitled Daisy and the Isle of Wight Dragon.
  • V. daisymorrisae lived in 145 to 65 million years ago
  • it probably had a head crest, was a reasonably good walker and runner on the ground, and could expertly fly through dense forests.
Mars Base

T. Rex Has Another Fine, Feathered Cousin - Science News - 0 views

www.sciencenews.org/...other_fine%2C_feathered_cousin

scibyte41 dinosaur

shared by Mars Base on 05 Apr 12 - No Cached
  • From 125-million-year-old rocks, scientists have unearthed the remains of a new species of extensively feathered dinosaurs that weighed up to about 1,400 kilograms and stretched 9 meters from nose to tail.
  • fossils, from one adult and two younger dinos, were unearthed in northeast China
  • region known for keeping soft tissues of ancient animals well-preserved
  • ...17 more annotations...
  • Based on the shapes of the jaw and skull bones found in the fossils, the team concluded that the three animals belonged to the same species and were tyrannosaurs
  • broader classification of two-legged meat-eaters called theropods
  • biggest of the newly described creatures — the largest extensively feathered dino known to date — was about one-quarter the weight of its relative, Tyrannosaurus rex
  • smaller dinosaur is named Yutyrannus hauli, which translates to “beautiful feathered tyrant
  • new species had feathers that were at least 15 centimeters long and look as if they covered the dinosaur’s skin
  • might have given the dinosaur a shaggy appearance
  • the full extent of this covering is difficult to confirm because the specimens aren’t complete.
  • For the vast majority of dinosaurs we only have bone. We don’t have feathers or featherless skin
  • Full-feathered dinosaurs that have been discovered so far have been much smaller
  • much more likely to lose body heat because of their size
  • scientists thought these petite creatures used a fluffy layer to stay warm
  • study authors think that the newfound dinos might have also needed some insulation
  • But Norell is not convinced
  • Many large animals that live in warm climates, such as modern giraffes and wildebeests, have external covering but don’t need it for insulation, he says.
  • feathers might also have helped the dinosaurs show off and attract mates.
  • Other traits the new dinos had include a high, bumpy nose plate, known as a midline crest
  • unclear what type of posture the animals maintained, Sullivan estimates that the full-grown dino stood about 2.5 meters tall.
Mars Base

New dinosaur found in Portugal, largest terrestrial predator from Europe -- ScienceDaily - 0 views

www.sciencedaily.com/...140305191427.htm

scibyte123 dinosaur

shared by Mars Base on 06 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • new dinosaur species found in Portugal may be the largest land predator discovered in Europe, as well as one of the largest carnivorous dinosaurs from the Jurassic
  • Scientists discovered bones belonging to this dinosaur north of Lisbon
  • They were originally believed to be
  • ...11 more annotations...
  • a dinosaur species from North America
  • Closer comparison of the shin bone, upper jawbone, teeth, and partial tail vertebrae suggest
  • a new species name
  • had blade-shaped teeth up to 10 cm long, which indicates it may have been at the top of the food chain in the Iberian Peninsula roughly 150 million years ago
  • scientists estimate that the dinosaur could reach 10 meters long and weigh around 4 to 5 tons
  • The number of teeth, as well as size and shape of the mouth, may differentiate the European and the American
  • the mouth bones have a different shape and structure
  • is not the largest predatory dinosaur we know
  • With a skull of 115 cm, Torvosaurus gurneyi was however one of the largest terrestrial carnivores at this epoch
  • an active predator that hunted other large dinosaurs, as evidenced by blade shape teeth up to 10 cm
  • evidences of closely related dinosaurs suggest that this large predator may have already been covered with proto-feathers
Mars Base

Warm and fuzzy T. rex? New evidence surprises - 0 views

www.physorg.com/...012-04-fuzzy-rex-evidence.html

scibyte41 dinosaur

shared by Mars Base on 05 Apr 12 - No Cached
  • Artists' depiction of Yutyrannus huali. Artwork by Lida Xing and Yi Liu.
  • discovery of a giant meat-eating dinosaur sporting a downy coat has some scientists reimagining the look of Tyrannosaurus rex.
  • making it the largest feathered dinosaur ever found.
  • ...11 more annotations...
  • Scientists have long debated whether gigantic dinosaurs lost their feathers the bigger they got or were just not as extensively covered.
  • this is the first direct sign of a huge, shaggy dinosaur
  • name is a blend of Latin and Mandarin, which translates to "beautiful feathered tyrant."
  • recovered from a quarry in China's Liaoning province by a private fossil dealer
  • Most striking were the remains of down-like feathers on the neck and arm
  • coverage was patchy, scientists suspected the species had feathers over much of its body
  • would have felt like touching "long, thick fur
  • compared it to the feathers of an emu.
  • Y. huali would have reached T. rex's chest.
  • dino-fuzz likely provided insulation, though camouflage or showing it off like a peacock could not be ruled out.
  • Since T. rex is related to this newfound feathery species, chances are good that T. rex was feathered as well
Mars Base

Researchers film rare striped rabbit in Sumatra (w/ Video) - 0 views

phys.org/...iped-rabbit-sumatra-video.html

scibyte48 rabbit

shared by Mars Base on 26 May 12 - No Cached
  • With cameras set up in Sumatra looking for medium- and small-sized wild cats, such as leopards, a research group involving the University of Delaware's Kyle McCarthy, found images of something else entirely -- a rabbit. Not just any ordinary rabbit, but a Sumatran striped rabbit, one of the world's rarest species and one that had been captured on film only three times before.
  • while his group plans on continuing their study of small cats, they are now also focusing on the rare rabbit species
  • This is the most data that anybody has compiled on these rabbits ever
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • 10 photographs of the Sumatran striped rabbit on two separate occasions in locations 790 meters apart
Mars Base

Dinosaurs may have been warm-blooded: study - 0 views

phys.org/...06-dinosaurs-warm-blooded.html

scibyte53 dinosaur

shared by Mars Base on 28 Jun 12 - No Cached
  • found evidence that dinosaurs probably had a high metabolic rate to allow fast growth -- another indicator of warm-bloodedness
  • cold-blooded, meaning they cannot control their body temperatures through their own metabolic system
  • bones of warm-blooded animals such as birds and mammals had never been properly assessed
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • found the rings in all 41 warm-blooded animal species they studied
Mars Base

Biggest Burmese Python Found in Florida-17.7 Feet, 87 Eggs - 0 views

news.nationalgeographic.com/...e-florida-eggs-biggest-science

scibyte59 Animal

shared by Mars Base on 16 Aug 12 - No Cached
  • Captured in Everglades National Park, the "monstrous" constrictor will eventually be displayed at the Florida Museum of Natural History,
  • Florida
  • a 17.7-foot-long (5.4-meter-long) Burmese python, the biggest snake of that species ever found in the southeastern U.S. state,
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • a necropsy on the euthanized python revealed she was carrying 87 eggs—also a state record for the species
  • The Everglades is home to a growing population of the invasive Asian pythons, many of which originate from snakes that either escaped into or were dumped into the wild in the 1990s
  • To biologist
  • those 87 eggs are "just more evidence that they are pretty much established—they're breeding in the Everglades
  • Python Patrol, focuses not on eradicating invasive pythons but on stopping the spread of the snake to sensitive areas, such as bird breeding spots
  • don't think we can necessarily get rid of every last one. We just want to keep them from moving elsewhere
  • pythons are going to be part of the native fauna in the next few decades
Mars Base

Humans and Tigers Can Timeshare Territory - ScienceNOW - 0 views

news.sciencemag.org/...and-tigers-can-timeshare-.html

scibyte62 Tiger

shared by Mars Base on 06 Sep 12 - No Cached
  • A field study of tigers in Nepal suggests that, in some cases, people and animals can coexist by "timesharing" the same territory
  • Nepal's Chitwan National Park, established in 1973, covers about 1000 square kilometers and is one of only 28 reserves in the world that can support more than 25 breeding female tigers—likely the smallest number needed to maintain genetic diversity
  • Local residents
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • collect firewood, soldiers patrol forest roads to deter poachers and other criminals, and a growing number of ecotourists visit the area each year
  • conducted their research from January through May—during the dry season before the monsoon rains began—in both 2010 and 2011, each year deploying at least 75 camera traps spaced no more than 1 kilometer apart.
  • And overall tiger numbers in the park didn't drop when more humans were around: In 2010, the team estimates, the area hosted about 4.4 tigers per 100 square kilometers. The next year, that number jumped by about 40%—even though the number of humans measured by the “camera traps” rose by 55%.
  • analyses show that tigers were more likely to be found at sites away from human settlemen
  • also found that the tigers in and around Chitwan park were much more likely to be active at night than tigers living elsewher
  • Timesharing the environment might not work well with many threatened species or in many areas
  • the notion of humans and endangered animals sharing the same terrain by shifting their behavior—and particularly by shifting when each species uses the habitat—should be incorporated into conservation plans when it makes sense
Mars Base

Dinosaur fossils from China help researchers describe new 'Titan' -- ScienceDaily - 0 views

www.sciencedaily.com/...140129184853.htm

scibyte118

shared by Mars Base on 30 Jan 14 - No Cached
  • paleontologists has characterized a new dinosaur based on fossil remains found in northwestern China
  • The species, a plant-eating sauropod named Yongjinglong datangi, roamed during the Early Cretaceous period, more than 100 million years ago
  • At roughly 50-60 feet long, the Yongjinglong individual discovered was a medium-sized Titanosaur
  • ...19 more annotations...
  • Anatomical evidence, however, points to it being a juvenile; adults may have been larger.
  • Until very recently, the United States was the epicenter for dinosaur diversity, but China surpassed the U.S. in 2007 in terms of species found
  • The anatomical features of the bones bear some resemblance to another Titanosaur that had been discovered by paleontologists in China in 1929
  • the team was able to identify a number of unique characteristics
  • The shoulder blade was
  • nearly 2 meters, with sides that were nearly parallel, unlike many other Titanosaurs whose scapulae bow outward
  • an unfused portion of the shoulder blade indicated to the researchers that the animal under investigation was a juvenile or subadult
  • The scapula was so long, indeed, that it did not appear to fit in the animal's body
  • if placed in a horizontal or vertical orientation
  • Instead
  • suggest the bone must have been oriented at an angle of 50 degrees from the horizontal.
  • a full-grown adult might be larger than this 50-60 foot long individual
  • The ulna and radius were well preserved, enough so that the researchers could identify grooves and ridges they believe correspond with the locations of muscle attachments in the dinosaur's leg
  • the vertebrae had large cavities in the interior that the team believes provided space for air sacs in the dinosaur's body
  • It's believed that dinosaurs, like birds, had air sacs in their trunk, abdominal cavity and neck as a way of lightening the body
  • the longest tooth they found was nearly 15 centimeters long
  • the discovery point to the fact that Titanosaurs encompass a diverse group of dinosaurs,
  • it was once thought that sauropods dominated herbivorous dinosaur fauna during the Jurassic but became almost extinct during the Cretaceous
  • n other parts of the world, particularly in South America and Asia, sauropod dinosaurs continued to flourish in the Cretaceous
Mars Base

Bacteria-eating viruses 'magic bullets in the war on superbugs' - 0 views

www.sciencedaily.com/...131016212558.htm

scibyte107 ViewerFeedback

shared by Mars Base on 27 Oct 13 - No Cached
  • A specialist team of scientists from the University of Leicester has isolated viruses that eat bacteria -- called phages -- to specifically target the highly infectious hospital superbug Clostridium difficile
  • predominantly been funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC).
  • been investigating an alternative approach to antibiotics, which utilizes naturally occurring viruses called bacteriophages, meaning 'eaters of bacteria'.
  • ...24 more annotations...
  • since the discovery of the first antibiotic, penicillin, antibiotics
  • have saved countless lives and impacted on the well-being of humanity
  • the future impact of antibiotics is dwindling
  • with more and more bacteria
  • 'out-evolving' these miracle drugs
  • bacteriophages
  • are specific in what they kill and will generally only infect one particular species, or even strain, of bacteria
  • Following attachment to their hosts, they inject their DNA into the bacterium, which then replicates many times over, ultimately causing the bacterial cell to burst open
  • team have
  • , a specific mixture of phages have been proved, through extensive laboratory testing, to be effective against 90% of the most clinically relevant C. diff strains currently seen in the U.K
  • US-based biopharmaceutical company and pioneers in developing phage-based therapeutics
  • have already made progress in developing phages targeted against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a pathogen that causes acute, life-threatening lung infections in cystic fibrosis patients
  • funding further development and testing
  • phages developed
  • is to have a phage mixture ready to go into phase 1 and 2 clinical trials
  • Evaluations of the efficacy of bacteriophage therapy and optimisation of dosing regimes will be carried out
  • bacteria primarily affect our digestive system
  • pose a serious threat when our natural digestive environment is disrupted or depleted, such as after chronic antibiotic use
  • antibiotics also destroy the 'good' gut bacteria, in turn increasing the potential for relapse or new infections
  • The key advantage of using phages over antibiotics
  • A phage will infect and kill only a specific strain/species of bacteria.
  • Antibacterial resistance is a major and growing threat to health globally
  • This study
  • examines a new way to kill bacteria to circumvent resistance formation
Mars Base

'Lost world' discovered in remote Australia - 0 views

phys.org/...st-world-remote-australia.html

scibyte108

shared by Mars Base on 30 Oct 13 - No Cached
  • An expedition to a remote part of northern Australia has uncovered three new vertebrate species isolated for millions of years
  • University and a National Geographic film crew were dropped by helicopter onto the rugged Cape Melville mountain range on Cape York Peninsula
  • leaf-tail gecko, a gold-coloured skink—a type of lizard—and a brown-spotted, yellow boulder-dwelling frog, none of them ever seen before
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • The virtually impassable mountain range is home to millions of black granite boulders the size of cars and houses piled hundreds of metres high
  • Cape Melville, a plateau of boulder-strewn rainforest on top
  • a small boulder-dwelling frog, the Blotched Boulder-frog, which during the dry season lives deep in the labyrinth of the boulder-field where conditions are cool and moist
  • In the absence of water
  • tadpole develops within the egg and a fully formed frog hatches out.
  • The Cape Melville Leaf-tailed Gecko, which has huge eyes and a long, slender body, is highly distinct from its relatives
  • National Geographic, the team plans to return to Cape Melville within months to search for more new species, including snails, spiders, and perhaps even small mammals
Mars Base

Claims of fairness in apes have critics crying foul | Zoology | Science News - 0 views

www.sciencenews.org/..._apes_have_critics_crying_foul

scibyte78

shared by Mars Base on 16 Jan 13 - No Cached
  • Chimpanzees often share and share alike when cooperating in pairs, suggesting that these apes come close to a human sense of fairness, a controversial new study finds.
  • chimps tend to fork over half of a valuable windfall to a comrade in situations where the recipient can choose to accept the deal or turn it down and leave both players with nothing
  • Yerkes National Primate Research Cente
  • ...23 more annotations...
  • just as people do, chimps turn stingy when supplied with goodies that they can share however they like
  • But psychologis
  • of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
  • considers the new results “far from convincing.
  • In Proctor’s experiments, pairs of chimps interacted little with each other and showed no signs of understanding that some offers were unfair and could be rejected
  • study suggests that there is no fairness sensitivity in chimpanzees
  • coauthored two earlier studies in which chimps given food generally shared as little as possible with partners, who accepted most offers
  • Apes on the receiving end affirmed an offer by pulling food within reach using a mechanical device or refused an offer by doing nothing for 30 seconds.
  • In the new study, chimps and preschool children were tested in a way that Proctor contends is closer to a cooperation task known as the ultimatum game that is used in experiments with adults.
  • In the game’s standard version, one player splits a pot of money with another player
  • If the receiver accepts the proposer’s offer, both players keep their shares.
  • If the receiver rejects the offer, both players get nothing.
  • Proposers fork over 40 percent to 50 percent of the pot in most human cultures
  • A concern with fairness and a fear of retaliation for lowball offers prompts these generous offers
  • Her group studied six adult chimps at an outdoor research facility and 20 preschool children ages 2 to 7
  • Four pairs of chimps and 10 pairs of kids played a modified ultimatum game, in which a proposer can offer one of two tokens to a receiver
  • Accepted tokens got handed to an experimenter in exchange for rewards
  • Proposers opted for even splits much more frequently when a partner could reject offers
  • Two pairs of chimps split banana slices equally substantially more often than expected by chance
  • In both species, receivers exchanged all tokens for rewards, even those for unfair deals.
  • Neither chimps nor kids were trained that refusal was an option, but the mere threat of a partner’s retaliation motivated proposers to share equally
  • Jensen disagrees with that conclusion. Receivers’ acceptance of all offers “suggests that they were not sensitive to unfairness but were motivated only by getting rewards,
  • undermines any suggestion that chimp or child proposers assumed that their offers could be rejected
Mars Base

Scarred Duckbill Dinosaur Escaped T. Rex Attack - 0 views

news.nationalgeographic.com/...us-dinosaur-wound-scar-science

scibyte85 dinosaur

shared by Mars Base on 01 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • A scar on the face of a duckbill dinosaur received after a close encounter with a Tyrannosaurus rex is the first clear case of a healed dinosaur wound, scientists say.
  • A teardrop-shaped patch of fossilized skin about 5 by 5 inches (12 by 14 centimeters) that was discovered with the creature's bones and is thought to have come from above its right eye
  • The lucky dinosaur was an adult Edmontosaurus annectens, a species of duckbill dinosaur that lived
  • ...27 more annotations...
  • about 65 to 67 million years ago
  • The skull
  • also showed signs of trauma
  • from the size and shape of the marks on the bone
  • paleontologist at the Palm Beach Museum of Natural History
  • speculate the creature was attacked by a T. rex
  • , though still unproven, that both the skin wound and the skull injury were sustained during the same attack,
  • . The wound "was large enough to have been a claw or a tooth,"
  • also compared the dinosaur wound to healed wounds on modern reptiles, including iguanas, and found the scar patterns to be nearly identical.
  • Phil Bell, a paleontologist with the Pipestone Creek Dinosaur Initiative in Canada
  • not convinced, however, that it was caused by a predator attack
  • The size of the scar is relatively small
  • , and would also be consistent with the skin being pierced in some other accident such as a fall.
  • certainly the marks that you see on the skull, those are [more consistent] with Tyrannosaur-bitten bones,"
  • Prior to the discovery, scientists knew of one other case of a dinosaur wound.
  • But in that instance, it was an unhealed wound that scientists think was inflicted by scavengers after the creature was already dead
  • It's very likely that this particular
  • wasn't the only dinosaur to sport scars, whether from battle wounds or accidents
  • Just how Edmontosaurus survived a T. rex attack is still unclear
  • . "Escape from a T. rex is something that we wouldn't think would happen,"
  • Duckbill dinosaurs
  • were not without defenses.
  • , for example, grew up to 30 feet (9 meters) in length, and could swipe its hefty tail or kick its legs to fell predators.
  • Furthermore, they were fast
  • had very powerful [running] muscles, which would have made them difficult to catch once they'd taken flight,"
  • Duckbills were also herd animals, so maybe this one escaped with help from neighbors
  • Figuring out the details of the story is part of what makes paleontology exciting
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