New dino discovery!

In addition to T-Rex, Sauropods, the "Long Neck" dinosaurs, rank as some of my favourites as well. I was poking around for Sauropod info, and lo and behold, I found out about a nifty critter called "Brachytrachelopan" (Brack-ee-track-el-opan").

This Sauropod is pretty interesting... it's small for a Sauropod, only 30 feet long, but what's even more interesting is its extremely short neck. A sauropod with a stubby neck! How weird...

Here's a picture of it.

Dude, I seriously think this planet was the base for some serious genetic experiments by aliens or something... Theres so much wierd stuff..

Heres one question I started to pose lately.. if evolution controls plants and animals... how do some plants adapt themselves to be 'compatible' with animals? Why are fruit so delicious? How do the plants know whats good? What about those plants that have burrs that are made to attach to fur? How did the plants seemingly become *aware* that there were traveling animals, and that they were furry? (XD, almost spelled it furrie)

WTF is with the platypus!?!? If thats not a genetic experiment, I don't know what is!

Hmmm... well, I suppose that could be explained by symbiosis and natural selection. The trees with the tastier fruit get their seeds spread further because more animals eat said fruit, which in turn means their tasty genes get passed on when the animal poops out the seeds and makes a new tree... and some animals and plants develop relationships with eachother that are beneficial to both species.

As for Brachytrachelopan's short neck... the paleontoligists who dug it up think its short neck was probably an adaptation for browsing on low-growing plants, as opposed to feeding on leaves high up in the trees like their long necked bretheren.

That's really interesting. We find new dinosaurs like every year. Didn't we just find that new raptor last year? Weird. Anyway, yeah Sauropods have always fascinated me, the Elephant sof the past, as some call them. So, this info was really cool for me. Also a big T-Rex lover, though.

I like the small bitey things most, myself...troodons, raptors, what have you. Anything that looks vaguely like Hellrunner, Battle Rover, and/or Rev Raptor :p. Though I have a fondness for Zatton and its incredible ability to make a sauropod look cute and bouncy. I mean, cute isn't too hard, but bouncy?

Stubby neck I can see working how you said...all the other guys are munching higher-up stuff, so this lot of critters goes for stuff a bit lower down.

...and now I'm picturing one bouncing around, Tigger-style. Thanks a lot, brain.

Heee... bouncy Brachytrachelopan... now I wanna draw that. xp

I found another picture... this is of one next to a more conventional Sauropod (A diplodocus, I think), for a size/shape comparison. It's so teeny...

Wasnt there a dinosaur that was discovered and deemed a *new* species, only to recently have been found to have been assembled incorrectly? XD

Hmm... you may be thinking of that thread I posted about "Megaraptor"... Megaraptor's been known for a while now, (the remains were discovered sometime in the mid 90s), but only from a single claw...

All this time it was thought to have been the toe claw from a giant raptor, but they recently found more of the animal and the "toe claw" of the "giant raptor" was little more then the hand claw from a carnosaur similar to Allosaurus or Megalosaurus. So Megaraptor wasn't a KewLziEz giant raptor, it was just yet-another-carnosaur, nothing special.

In leau of this, Utahraptor once again regains its title of "Largest Raptor", and now also gets to hold onto the title "Largest Bird", since cladistic biology has recently placed the Dromeosaurids (the raptors) into the maniraptoran group. The maniraptors, in turn, encompass the group "Aves", which are modern birds. So, by this logic,

Raptors = birds. Birds = Theropods. Theropods = Dinosaurs. Birds are no longer their own separate group, they are a type of theropod. Which means dinosaurs never went extinct, you can find 'em just about everywhere. ^____^

Interesting. I am more for the raptors, than saurapods. Streamline bodies, long legs for jumping, running, ect. Long claws and snouts with curved teeth. Once it bites something, there is no geting away. I like that. Ultimate predator sorta deal.

(I know you are stalking my posts, and I'm watching)

^ Don't worry about that. I have a stalker that needs to grow up.

I thought that long-necked sauropods used their long necks for underwater grazing. That would also explain the nostils on top of their head (snorkels!). Also, they found that sauropods (apatosaurus to be specific) couldn't reach their heads high, but can lower them to a surprising degree. Then again, something else is bound to change everything (again...). Either way, ankylosaurs> sauropods and non-avian theropods. :P I may give pardon if theropods are depicted with feathers however, makes 'em look better.

No... that's an old theory that was discredited a long time ago. Sauropods in swamps were discredited back in the 70s or so. Their legs are too pillarlike for them to live in swamps without getting stuck; in fact, Sauropod trackways show that they *avoided* swamps. Pictures of Brachiosaurus in deep, deep water with only their nostrils protruding are inaccurarte too; the water pressure would've crushed their lungs. It was thought back then that Sauropods weren't able to support their weight, but now that we know dinosaurs were more active and whatnot, Sauropods are envisioned in a Uber Elephant/Giraffe niche.


As for Sauropods not being able to lift their necks... it depends on who you ask, really. Some say they can, others say they don't. Sauropods are seen as generalist herbivores, using their long necks to reach just about anything, from the treetops to low growing plants. Brachytrachelopan is an example of a Sauropod that evolved to become more specialised, feeding specifically on low growing plants.

And I like ankylosaurs as well. But I think it's pretty clear the things you and I like are mirror opposite to eachother. xp

Not really swamps so much as a water's edge where they stay far away and use their necks as an extention.
sorta like that but less tacky. Also, they discovered that if the neck of a sauropod was lifted like a giraffe, the bones would srape each other and break. Also inaccurate is the whip-tail and the rearing up. But, I guess it sounds kewler if they could actually do that.

Sauropods weren't considered KeWlziEz, last I checked. o_O

And Wikipedia seems to differ on their inability to tailwhip... from the Apatosaurus article:

That is one cool sauropod. I really like the way it's almost hunched over. It's pretty darn cool.

Personally, I think feathered dinosaurs are ugly. Nor do I like that short-necked sauropod.

I find the whip thing unlikely because I read "The one problem with this scenario is one that Nathan has pointed to. It is not clear that sauropod whip tails could withstand such
high levels of stress, nor are the expected signs of damage present." from a website that cannot be simply altered by an internet wanderer. Conflicting reports hurt my brain... Anyhoo, I think This looks more fierce thanThis. Also take into account that ALL theropods that were discovered with well-preserved skin had feathers. I think they look weird without them because they look like plucked chickens wearing chainmail if they don't have 'em. Just my opinion, though. Amargasaurus > all other sauropods. :ph43r:

Sounds like a quote from a messageboard versus debate to me. Probably from the enchantedlearning dinosaur discussion boards. I'll take the words of an actual paleontolgist (most of whom agree that Sauropods were tailwhippers) over the word of some kid on a messageboard. ;p

The Sauropod "Shunosaurus" had a small tailclub, similar to an ankylosaurus. This is definitive proof that at least *some* Sauropods used their tails as weapons.

A false statement. Skin impressions from Tyrannosaurus, Albertosaurus, Carnotaurus and Allosaurus have been found and all of them clearly displayed the pebbly, reptillian skin present on most dinosaurs; indeed, feathers on a large theropod would be detrimental as their sheer size provides them with all the insulation they need. Feathers would only generate unwanted heat. Only small theropods had feathers. They needed the extra insulation to keep warm.

Not to beat a dead horse (sorry Mr.Ed!), but I got the feathers statement from a dinosaur show on the science channel, probably Paleoworld or something. I also saw a big, two-fingered theropod with feathers on a rerun of a show on Animal Planet. I give more credit to recent TV shows than articles on the internet (with the exception of "Walking with Dinosaurs", which just took a theory and ran with it :rolleyes: ). Besides, with all the conflicting data out there, the truth is relative. Site your sources for comparing purposes.

Would this large, feathered, two fingered theropod happen to be Guanlong wucaii? http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4692962.stm It was recently discovered in China, and is known as T-Rex' oldest relative. It is believed that Tyrannosaurs are unrelated to other large theropods such as Allosaurus, and that they evolved from small, (possibly feathered) ceolurosaurs. Skin impressions of more advanced Tyrannosaurs such as Albertosaurus shows that as their size incresed, they lost the feathers. And Carnosaurs such as Allosaurus, Giganotosaurus, etc, are completely unrelated to the feathered coelurosaurs, and would not posess feathers.

Personally, I trust articles and scientific papers more then TV documentaries, which can be sensationalist or biased. A good example is the documentary "Valley of the T-Rex", which capitalised on the T-Rex = 100% Scavenger theory, and made it *sound* as if the case for the scaenger T-Rex was airtight; all while conveniently ignoring the physical evidence of predatory activity by Tyrannosaurs in the form of healed Tyrannosaur bite marks on an Edmontosaurus, for example.

Well there is a theory that baby T-rex had feathers, much like modern baby birds have down, but instead of shedding down and growing adult feathers, adult T-rex just shed the down and were bald adults.