I have some paleontology questions mulling around in my head but don't know where to ask them. Anyone know of a place?
I have some paleontology questions mulling around in my head but don't know where to ask them. Anyone know of a place?
One of our members, BobtheEnforcer, started a paleo blog. You might ask him.
http://diagenesis.blogspot.com/
What's your favourite dinosaur Parallaxicality?![]()
Oh I have loads.Like everyone I love T-Rex. When I was a kid I used to love Stegosauruses, but I've fallen out of love with them recently. My personal fave though has to be Deinocheirus, because those hands look wicked.
Last edited by parallaxicality; 2009-Apr-17 at 08:16 PM.
This is a good site. Lots of activity
http://www.thefossilforum.com/
I also belong to a few other paleo discussion groups but they are for professionals
Those hands do look pretty awesomeI liked the velociraptor but was so disappointed to read they were quite small? The movie Jurassic Park portrayed them as mighty fierce big predators, i liked that they were smart dinos- Problem solving and all that.
Actually, the velociraptors in Jurassic Park were Deinonychus...es, which were pretty big. Michael Crichton had an occasionally annoying habit of sticking to the absolute total and utter cutting edge of science, and, right when he wrote the book in about 1991, one particular paleontologist claimed that deinonychus wasn't a separate genus from velociraptor, and said that they should be considered as one. After the book was published, the idea was dropped, which just goes to show you can't trust the absolute cutting edge.
The raptor family were very intelligent, certainly more intelligent than any reptiles today, though how intelligent they were is open to debate. The smartest dino is believed to have been Troodon, which was a velociraptor relative.
Last edited by parallaxicality; 2009-Apr-18 at 09:59 AM.
Ahh okay, then my favourite is the Deinonychus! Thanks for clearing that up. Is it true a predatory dino has eyes on either side of its head for hunting, and herbivores eyes were closer and positioned head on facing forward?
Actually, the opposite. Predators tend to have eyes facing forward, to give them depth perception, while prey animals tend to have eyes on the sides of their heads to give them 360 degree vision.
D'oh. That makes more sense of course.
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So, have you posted your questions?
One of them. I was a bit confused by the answer, but I'll have to think for a bit before I probe deeper
Which post?
I'm in Questions and Answers. My username is Gelatinous Squid