Birds of a feather....

[Fubar512]

I've recently had a conversation with someone, regarding whether or not dinosaurs were the forerunners of modern birds, and then, I stumble across this:

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtm.../scidino120.xml

[SayethWhaaaa]

It was really a lagre, p*ssed of turkey...?!

[Caveman]

well thats alittle.....dissapointing...... man and i used to think that one was awsome

[Fubar512]

How the mighty have fallen... The terror of Jurassic park...is now the "Killer 'Keet"

 

[SayethWhaaaa]

Hehe, I knew the F-22 was a turkey!

 

Lets see who tries to kick me a new a**hole for saying that

[TX3RN0BILL]

Well, Crichton and Spielberg at least will still be untouchable because both the novel and the movie say that the dinosaur's DNA sequences were incomplete so they used DNA from reptiles and amphibians to plug the holes with whatever they thought would fit... hence, we got some kick-ass dinosaurs to see in the Jurassic Park trilogy...

[JediMaster]

Besides, everyone knows it's Utahraptor that's like the big, scary ones seen in the film, not velociraptors.

[Longestpants]

Besides, everyone knows it's Utahraptor that's like the big, scary ones seen in the film, not velociraptors.

 

Hey!

 

That's not what your MOM said!

[FalconC45]

That's old news. Raptor spieces had feathers. IMHO, the feathers were to manage body heat and for mating purposes, like peacocks. During my chicago trip, my folks and I visit the Field museum. I'm a huge dino'pile and couldn't wait to see their dinosaur collection and "Sue" the T. Rex. Their collection of dinosaur and ice age fossils was impressive. My mom took a lot of pics of me drooling over them heh.

 

I was very impressed by "Sue" though. This fossil was nearly complete. This T. Rex was huge. There are theories that suggested that Tyrannosaur species might had feathers too. Anyway, there was a scholar talking to a small crowd about the fossil. He was talking bout the normal stuff that I already knew so I just wheeled around the display, acting like a sponage, studying intensly. After the crowd dispersed I went to him and waited for him to spot me. I wanted to "pick" his brain . He saw me and he started to speak to me. He started to say that this fossil was the most expensive fossil in the museum. That peaked my interest, so with my communication computer (I can't verbally speak), I asked him How expensive? I can't quite remember the price but it was in the millions including the steel supporting structure to display the fossil.

 

After that he showed me some very interesting things about the fossil. "Sue" apparently had a tough and painful life. This scholar pointed me A LOT of infections and injuries on the fossil. "Her" jaw for example had few holes. At first I thought those were bite marks but he told me those were from infection in "her" jaw, not from bites. After looking at them, I agreed. The holes were different than from bite marks from a Tyrannosaurus Rex. I've seen few of them enough to tell. Then he showed me another infection on "her" lower left leg. You can clearly see the abnormal bone growth caused by infection of a bad break or other injury. I told him that "Sue" indeed was in pain in "her" life. He wholeheartly agreed with me. He said "Sue" might had a awful limp while walking. He continued to say that Tyrannosaur species lived up to 28 to 30 years old. Recently they discovered that you can age by cutting up a rib to count the rings much like tree rings. He said they are puzzled by the short lives of this species. Because of the age difference of today's animals. Like for example giant turtles and Elephants. Even today's predators have longer lives despite the life styles they have.

 

I suggested that it might because back then the life styles were very brutal. He agreed. He also said despite the short lives, these creatures were built tough. He continued on to tell me about "her" other injuries. "Sue" had few broken ribs, one of "her" arms nearly ripped out, and a possible broken tail with addition of the two infections.

 

I wrote you guys a mini book here. If you guys want me to continue just say so. He and I discussed if Tyrannosaurus Rex was a hunter or a scavager. You might surprised what he said

 

Falcon

[JediMaster]

Perhaps they lived shorter because of disease? As War of the Worlds mentions, we've spent millions of years adapting to the viruses and bacterias that live here. Maybe those dinos just didn't have immune systems quite as strong and they died from injuries or illness far more often than old age.

[FalconC45]

Perhaps they lived shorter because of disease? As War of the Worlds mentions, we've spent millions of years adapting to the viruses and bacterias that live here. Maybe those dinos just didn't have immune systems quite as strong and they died from injuries or illness far more often than old age.

 

I highly doubt it. Diseases were in that age but I doubt it those were deadly enough to cause high death rates. Unless dinosaurs immigrate to unknown area due to land bridge then yes. But locally I don't think so. You forget that predators eat raw flesh so they really need a good immune system to take care of bacterias in the raw meat.

 

Most people don't realize that these dinosaurs had a real tough and brutal world to live in. From predators to fighting for food and right to mate was really tiring from my talk to the Field museum's scholar. Sue might of died of old age since she was 30. About the disease thing, they were becoming a factor when the final dinosaur mass exiction took place. So diseases were becoming stronger over the decades but the meteor strike was the "golden bb" to the dinosaurs.

 

Falcon