Funny Animals

Archive for the ‘Extinct Species’ Category

Past studies of dinosaurs living near the south pole pointed to the idea that dinosaurs hibernated. This idea evolved from studying a few bones that showed lags in growth. Since there were times when the bones did not grow, it was assumed that it was due to hibernation. Bones do not grow during hibernation.

A recent study by a Montana State University student, Holly Woodward, who traveled to Australia to study dinosaur bones,  found that the lags are possibly not due to hibernation. She studied bones from 18 different dinosaurs living during the Early Cretaceous years. The study that Dr. Thomas Rich did in 1998 had involved only 2 bones.

Holly found that the lags were present in the larger dinosaurs but not in the smaller ones concluding that it must mean they did not hibernate.

Is it possible that the dinosaurs had some type of covering they grew to keep them warm in the 6 months of darkness and cold?

The theory of hibernation may no longer be considered a possibility, but now, how did they survive?

A splendid lion. The most magnificent of all the types of lions known to man.

The Barbary Lion which lived in North Africa has now been extinct for quite a long time.

The lion was huge and had a massive mane that covered close to half of the cats body. The mane went from their head and neck area, over the shoulders and down a great deal of their back. Then their stomach was totally covered by the mane. It was a long and thick mane. The color was darker then lions manes seen today. Around the lions face, the mane was a golden color. As it moved outward, away from the face, it got darker and then black. Both the females and young male lions also had very nice manes about their necks and upper chest areas of their torso.

It is possible that the male lion could have weighed close to 550 pounds. Females would be smaller and only weigh about 350 pounds.

They are believed to be as long as 11 feet. They were very strong with short legs. The lion was only about 3 feet tall. That is close to a foot less in height then our lions of today.

Even though the Barbary Lion was short, it was about 50 percent larger then any of our modern day lions.

The area that the Barbary Lion roamed was the northern parts of Africa. It covered an area that went from the Atlas Mountains in the western area to the Nubia which is in the eastern parts. Today it would be called Morocco and the northern parts of Sudan.

At that time the lion was referred to as the Atlas or Nubian Lion.

Back in the times that dinosaurs roamed the dry ground of the earth, there has also recently been found evidence that a dino type fish swam the oceans.

The fish consumed plankton. A type of filter feeder fish. It lived somewhere between 66 and 172 years ago.

Scientist feel this fish is the missing link in the evolution of fish, mammals and the eco system of the ocean.

Scientist have been looking for the missing link. They recently were checking over the remains of a huge Jurassic Fish Leedsichthys in Glasgow. They feel the Jurassic fish is one example of what the huge filter feeder fish that swam the oceans during the dinosaur era. They were comparing the remains with a new specimen they had excavated in Peterborough.

A gap existed between the time the new specimen swam the oceans and the modern day feeder filter fish which appeared 100 million years later.

With the finding of fossils, they have filled in the space a little. There has been finds of fossils showing that the giant feeder filter fish have been swimming in the oceans longer then first thought.

One type of the fossil found in Kansas was first thought to be a type of swordfish, but after studing it, they found it to have no teeth and a large mouth. It also had long thin bone plates which enabled it to pull out small amounts of plankton.

The new specimen was tagged Bonnerichthys in honor of the family in Kansas who found the fossil.

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Experts from China and the UK had discovered the fossils of a new type flying reptile that lived 160,000,000 years ago.

The scientific name of the found is named Darwinopterus. Darwinnopterus is a hawk-like reptile with a head and neck just like advanced pterosaurs. This creature equipped with long jaws and rows of sharp teeth made them a very good predator to other flying species. The 20 pieces of fossils was found in north-east China show similarities to both primitive and more advanced flying reptiles.

Pterosaurs, also known as pterodactyls, were flying creatures that flourished between 65 and 220 million years ago. The discovery of the fossils could be the missing link in the evolution change of this creature from long tailed pterosaurs to more advanced short-tailed ones.

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You would expect this to be a giant fossil of a T Rex. Instead, we have an 8 foot fossil in lenght. It is estimated that it could be a 5 or a 6 year old dinosaur. The body is nearly an adult, but not quite yet. This T Rex is a minature version of the larger size one.

It has the tiny arms, huge jaws and the legs built for speed that the T Rex had. They are calling it Raptorex kriegsteini. The type was named after the man that purchased the fossil from a sales person. His name is Henry Kriegstein. Henry is a collector of fossils. He has now handed it over to science to be studied.

The fossilized animal appears to have roamed the earth about 40 million years before the larger scale T Rex has been recorded as being alive.

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Who would have ever thought you would be reading an ad in the sales column about a T Rex being sold?

It is true, in Las Vegas, a T-Rex is going to be sold that was found 17 years ago in South Dakota.

The T-Rex skeleton consist of 170 bones and is only a bit over 1/2 the size of the 40 foot long huge T Rex that roamed the world 66 million years ago.

The T-Rex will be put on the auction block on Oct 3rd so be sure to be there if you are interested.

It will be at the Venetian hotel casiono in Las Vegas.

Be prepared to pay out a bit of money though. The last auction for a T Rex went for $8.3 million.

Samson, is considered to be the 3rd closest to being a total skeleton of the T Rex that has ever been found. He is also amongst the 42 skeleton remains of all species found to have over 10 per cent of their bones.

Samson will not be alone at the auction. There will be other species auctioned off including a duck billed species and a 7 foot long shark fossil. It should be a rather interesting auction.

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Emory University palaeontologist Anthony Martin has found evidence of dinosaur burrows in Montana, and this time has found them again halfway around the world – in Victoria, Australia. This discovery suggests that dinosaurs of different species, different hemispheres even, shared this particular trait during the Cretaceous Period.

This find has help scientist comprehend how biological creatures may have adapted to Earth’s change in climate during periods of global warming and cooling. In 2006, Marin found a 95 million year old skeletal remains  of a small adult dinosaur, which they later named Oryctodromeus cubiculans, or “digging runner of the lair.”

The researches went on to hypothesize that besides caring for their young in dens, burrowing might have enabled some dinosaurs to survive extreme environments. Martin discovered the burrow at Knowledge Creek, west of Melbourne, and claimed to be lucky to find an almost identical burrow to the one he had previously found. The burrow was etched into the outcrop at about six feet long and one foot wide, spiralling down into an enlarged chamber.

The fossils found at the burrow site are believed to be around 110 million years old, the time when scientists claim Australia split from Antarctica, and dinosaurs roamed in prolonged polar darkness along forested river plains. It was one of the last global warming events recorded, about 10 degrees Fahrenheit higher than today.

During winter, the temperatures then could skydive to below freezing. Palaeontologists have previously thought that dinosaurs sheltered themselves against the harsh weather by hiding behind large tree roots or hollows. This find indicates that they may have dug burrows into the soft river banks instead.

Scientists believe that the burrows were made by small herbivores prevalent in the area. They claim that the find is fascinating as it provides evidence which connects dinosaurs that are probably completely unrelated, filling another gap in understanding the evolution of these giant beasts.

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Researchers at Oregon State University have made new findings about the way birds breathe and their lung capacity for flight, something which disproves the link between them and dinosaurs. This forces palaeontologists to rethink their belief that modern birds are direct descendants of the great rulers of the ancient earth, the dinosaurs.

These studies were published in the Journal of Morphology, and funded by the National Science Foundation. It’s been known that the femur in birds is largely fixed and make birds run with their knees, unlike nearly all their counterparts on earth. What was discovered, though, is that this position of bird bones and muscle keeps the air-sac lung from collapsing when it inhales.

Warm-blooded birds need about 20 times the amount of oxygen that their cold blooded friends, the reptiles, and thus have evolved a unique lung system which allows a high rate of gas exchange and activity level. This thigh structure is what helps support their high breathing rate.

Every other animal that walks on land, be it squirrels, lizards, humans or dogs, all have a moveable thigh bones. This leads to implications that birds do not descend from dinosaurs, adding to a growing body of evident that challenge one of the most firmly held beliefs concerning evolution.

This batch of newest findings shows that birds are more likely to have evolved separately from dinosaurs. However, scientists say that this does not entirely remove the possibility that dinosaurs are the great-great-great-grandparents of modern day birds. They still share some similarities and may have shared a common ancestor, the small reptilian “thecodont”, which may have branched out into birds and dinosaurs.

OSU research on avian biology was one of the spearheading groups that questioned the dinosaur-bird link, as far back as the 1960s. Since then, others have also raised doubts, but the old theories die hard. There’s a lot of museum politics involved in this, and the dinosaurs-to-birds theory evidently fuels many paycheques, leading to the belief being played out into a largely accepted fact, with an asterisk pointing out in small type that “some scientists disagree”.

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The Ocean Dinosaur- Shonisaurus

Shonisaurus (pronounced ‘show-nee-sore-us’) actually meant “Shoshone Mountain Lizard” in Greek, however, its habitat is not on the mountains but rather, in the seas. They are the largest Ichthyosaurs (or, marine reptiles that hold likeliness to dolphins and fishes) that lived in the Norian stage of the Triassic period.

These huge ocean dinosaurs weigh approximately 30 tons and are able to grow up till 69 feet and possibly more – though fossils exceeding that have not been excavated. The first remains of the Shonisaurus were found at Nevada, west of USA, in 1920.

Scientists are saying that the Shonisaurus had elongated pointy mouths which resembled that of a long beak, housing sharp teeth in the front part. Their bodies were whale-like and humongous, attached to it are flippers and a two-pronged tail that help propel their huge frames forward.

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Fossils of largest snake uncovered

The idea of the giant “Anaconda” as the largest snake could be erased off with recent discovery of fossils of the biggest snake. The fossils were uncovered in northeastern Colombia, which snake expert Jack Conrad described as heavier than bison and longer than a city bus. Study has shown that the giant snake stretched 42 to 45 feet long and could have weighed more than 2,500 pounds.

Jason, paleontologist of the Head of the University of Toronto Missisauga, added that the beast could have feed on something the size of a cow. Ancient relatives of crocodiles in its rainforest, 58 million to 60 million years ago, might have been the prey for such giant snake.

This recent has just marked a new record for the maximum length of snake. The previous record holder was Titanoboa that broke the record for snakes by about 11 feet.

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