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back-to-child days-age: What´s your favourite dinosaur
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subzero9285
Banned
DilophosaurusHaden said:
Procompsognathus!
When I was a kid, I was obsessed with small dinosaurs. I wanted to study "ancient chickens" when I was like 8.
I swear this isn't a joke or a lie, I love the smaller ones. I'm even considering changing my major to paleontology just to do this stuff. I love dinos <3 <3.
When I was a kid, I was obsessed with small dinosaurs. I wanted to study "ancient chickens" when I was like 8.
I swear this isn't a joke or a lie, I love the smaller ones. I'm even considering changing my major to paleontology just to do this stuff. I love dinos <3 <3.
MrPing1000
Member
subzero9285
Banned
If you love Dinosaurs you should go for it, if you're passionate about this it could be your dream career.notsol337 said:
The Lamonster
Member
Ceratosaurus is my favorite.
Also a bit larger than in the film as well.Danielsan said:Dilophosaurus, which didn't actually spit nor did it have the weird neck flaps.
ground slothBooser said:
Flizzzipper
Member
Yep, I grew up around Dino-Riders time and Deinonychus was my fav with that big ass claw! Then Jurassic Park came out and I was confused.selig said:The Velociraptor of non-Jurassic park child hood was the Deinonychus
Spaceman Spiff
Member
This thread makes me so, so happy.
As for my favorite, yeah, it's Tyrannosaurus rex. Always has been, always will be. Sometimes I think I should pick something that's more obscure and enigmatic, just to be contrary, but T. rex is such a legendary, charismatic animal. It was first described over a century ago, and no other dinosaur since has grasped the public's imagination to the same extent, and with good reason. Sure there are fragmentary theropods that are somewhat larger, but nothing else combines size, speed, anatomical sophistication, and sheer firepower like the original "tyrant reptile king".
As for my favorite, yeah, it's Tyrannosaurus rex. Always has been, always will be. Sometimes I think I should pick something that's more obscure and enigmatic, just to be contrary, but T. rex is such a legendary, charismatic animal. It was first described over a century ago, and no other dinosaur since has grasped the public's imagination to the same extent, and with good reason. Sure there are fragmentary theropods that are somewhat larger, but nothing else combines size, speed, anatomical sophistication, and sheer firepower like the original "tyrant reptile king".
subzero9285
Banned
Spaceman Spiff said:This thread makes me so, so happy.
As for my favorite, yeah, it's Tyrannosaurus rex. Always has been, always will be. Sometimes I think I should pick something that's more obscure and enigmatic, just to be contrary, but T. rex is such a legendary, charismatic animal. It was first described over a century ago, and no other dinosaur since has grasped the public's imagination to the same extent, and with good reason. Sure there are fragmentary theropods that are somewhat larger, but nothing else combines size, speed, anatomical sophistication, and sheer firepower like the original "tyrant reptile king".
What do you think about the suggestions that it really wasn't a great predator, but rather a scavenger?
viewtifulsub
Member
The Librarian
Banned
I loved that show when I was eight. I need to look it up again.sub_zer0 said:
Spaceman Spiff
Member
notsol337 said:
subzero9285 said:
Listen to this, notsol337.
Dinosaurs are the only thing I was ever truly passionate about, and ever since I was a kid all I ever wanted to do was be a paleontologist. My major is currently geology, but after I get my Bachelor's degree, I will almost certainly be specializing in paleontology for the Master's and beyond. I just can't see myself doing anything else.
If you're seriously into paleontology, then by all means go for it.
subzero9285
Banned
The Lamonster
Member
oh god that looks so awesomeWhite Man said:
Spaceman Spiff
Member
subzero9285 said:
Not much to be perfectly honest, and most other paleontologists would likely tell you the same.
Jack Horner has largely been responsible for popularizing the obligate scavenger hypothesis in recent years, but even he admits that much of it is simply to be contrary and get people to look at the available evidence and not assume T. rex was an arch predator simply because it looks so scary and formidable.
If you actually look at his arguments, most of them don't really hold up. I'll only go through a few in an attempt to keep this brief:
-- Horner believes that T. rex teeth are too long to resist the forces associated with prey capture. However, biomechanical analyses done to estimate the force needed to generate the puncture marks seen in dinosaur bones attributed to T. rex teeth indicate that it had a maximum bite force in the region of 15,000 to almost 40,000 lbs, depending on the study. T. rex teeth are almost circular in cross-section, and specialized to withstand torsional forces.
-- He also maintains that the hind limb anatomy of tyrannosaurs, particularly the ratio of the tibia to femur indicates that it was a slow walker. I find this point amusing because the same evidence used to suggest T. rex was a slowpoke shows that the herbivorous dinosaurs it was going after were even slower! Furthermore, relative to femur length, the tibia and other lower limb elements in T. rex are more elongated than in other giant theropods. No other animal as big as tyrannosaurs would have been any faster.
-- Horner claims that T. rex had "beady little eyes", (his words, not mine), and that it must have lacked the visual acuity of smaller theropods. This is refuted by studies that show that as overall mass increases, eye size does not scale correspondingly to skull length. T. rex eyes are no smaller than would be expected in an animal its size. Horner also conveniently forgets to note the forward-facing eye sockets and binocular vision that's been hypothesized in T. rex. Most other theropods lack these adaptations may not have had the depth perception enjoyed by T. rex.
Most convincingly of all, though, are hadrosaur and ceratopsian fossils preserving trauma from failed predation attempts by T. rex that later healed-- one specimen documents a T. rex biting off one of the brow horns of an adult Triceratops! There's also hadrosaur fossils with unhealed bite punctures to the head and neck, indicating that those individuals weren't quite as fortunate.
I could go on and on, but this post is dangerously long already. Besides, Thomas Holtz had a paper out last year that point-by-point devastates that scavenger hypothesis with hard, quantifiable data. Nobody believes that T. rex didn't scavenge on occasion, like any carnivore, but the weight of the evidence certainly doesn't support Horner's claims that it was restricted to that lifestyle.
Sorry if the reply ended up being more of a thesis, but this is stuff I tend to take rather seriously!
subzero9285 said:
Thanks, and no problem!
subzero9285
Banned
Spaceman Spiff said:Sorry if the reply ended up being more of a thesis, but this is stuff I tend to take rather seriously!
Don't be sorry, I find this subject as fascinating as you do, and thank you for the thorough explanation.
gutter_trash
Banned
Triceratops was my favorite when i was a kid.
The rhino is my favorite animal
The rhino is my favorite animal
Zaraki_Kenpachi
Member
MrPing1000 said:
KODA!
Man this made me pull out my dinosaur books to start reading them again. Dinosaurs are so awesome.
Zaraki_Kenpachi
Member
This thread keeps making me think of the dinosaur thing from fantasia which was also pretty awesome.
The Take Out Bandit
Member
Triceratops, it just looks cool!
Ford Prefect
GAAAAAAAAY
That was my favorite, because of Jurassic Park (which I don't even think I saw 'til I was twelve). Actually, I guess I have no idea, because that doesn't really make sense in my childhood time line.Danielsan said:Dilophosaurus, which didn't actually spit nor did it have the weird neck flaps.
Skittleguy
Ring a Bell for me
I want this on dvd now...
a Master Ninja
Member
Fuck yeah!JayDubya said:
Ankylosaurus FTW.
The kids :lolKdoubleA said:
ElectricBlue187
Member
I wish I knew which one was the biggest badass, i'd pick that one
Awesome awesome thread.
These guys are ridiculously cool. They were the really little yellow dudes that would jump over pretty much any non-electrocuted fence in Dino Park Tycoon... which I have this incredible urge to play right now. Wish I still had a copy.ghst said:i'll throw in hypsilophodon. i loved those little guys.
heliosRAzi
Banned
timetokill
Banned
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CancerTeeth
Neo Member
Ahhhh, I wanted to be a paleontologist so badly until I was 15 and gravitated more in the direction of art. Favorite was definitely the Deinonychus, fucking badass sickle claw.
â Narayan
Member
Yea boyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!Dax01 said:
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