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Skull of largest European dino, revealed

Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,551 ✭✭✭Rubecula


    If it is the largest, then it's food must have been smaller. So why is it so big?

    I suspect there may be large herbivores that we have yet to discover.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,056 ✭✭✭maggy_thatcher


    Rubecula wrote: »
    If it is the largest, then it's food must have been smaller. So why is it so big?

    I suspect there may be large herbivores that we have yet to discover.

    According to the article, it was a Sauropod, which is a herbivore.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor


    Rubecula wrote: »
    If it is the largest, then it's food must have been smaller. So why is it so big?

    I suspect there may be large herbivores that we have yet to discover.

    Turiasaurus was a herbivore. And I think among with its bones, the tooth of a truly gigantic theropod was found.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,551 ✭✭✭Rubecula


    I stand corrected. For some reason I read it and thought it was a theropod.

    I may have been over tired. My apologies folks. :o


  • Administrators, Computer Games Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 32,421 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭Mickeroo


    Its quite interesting that the largest Dinos were all herbivores. Its similar to how the largest animals alive today generally eat krill, or on land, plants. Its a much steadier food supply than meat I suppose, a carnivore might have to go days even weeks without food more often.

    I know I'm stating the obvious, just thinking out loud so to speak :)


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 689 ✭✭✭stylie


    Its teeth to me seem most unusual, any speculation to the plant matter it ate ?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor


    Mickeroo wrote: »
    Its quite interesting that the largest Dinos were all herbivores. Its similar to how the largest animals alive today generally eat krill, or on land, plants. Its a much steadier food supply than meat I suppose, a carnivore might have to go days even weeks without food more often.

    I know I'm stating the obvious, just thinking out loud so to speak :)

    It occurs to me that an excesively large predator would probably end up depleting prey populations, maybe? Large prey usually take much longer to recover their populations (as they breed slower than small prey), so if a huge voracious predator ate them faster than they can breed, they would soon go extinct...
    stylie wrote: »
    Its teeth to me seem most unusual, any speculation to the plant matter it ate ?

    Since they seem rather strong and thick I guess it was eating harder stuff than say, diplodocoids?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,551 ✭✭✭Rubecula


    Could it have been an Omnivore? Eat plants as a choice, but able to scavenge on carcasses? Yes it is a bit way out there I know, however something I learned in Uni is that even reindeer will actively eat lemmings for the extra protein they need at times. (Not common I believe but it does happen apparently) Horses can be and have been fed a mix of meat with their feed for added stamina.

    So is it possible a big animal like this could evolve to use meat as a "boost" to their feed, stamina etc?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,279 ✭✭✭Adam Khor


    Rubecula wrote: »
    Could it have been an Omnivore? Eat plants as a choice, but able to scavenge on carcasses? Yes it is a bit way out there I know, however something I learned in Uni is that even reindeer will actively eat lemmings for the extra protein they need at times. (Not common I believe but it does happen apparently) Horses can be and have been fed a mix of meat with their feed for added stamina.

    So is it possible a big animal like this could evolve to use meat as a "boost" to their feed, stamina etc?

    I was actually thinking the same yesterday. Not only do herbivores today eat meat in occassions, but most of them actually don´t seem as well equiped to do so as some sauropods. I mean, look at Turiasaurus or Jobaria, or even old Camarasaurus; to me they look pretty capable of munching on a smaller animal or a carcass.
    images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSYlYL94igREfkXRzrq8tG3FruJbL9ijVGMVdQR9zY3CTLjl8Twog


    images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQi-bBgWOc5GAyRRnAICQji3hL8ujC7utwSh4fvWsxTg7owgJmabQ

    The same has been said about prosauropods, too:

    images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQXWQqhyoTAYo5lgoo5w45iUauSegUfEfZexNG-rHcaNFeKPeUVhdxAMJR2MA

    images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQH7SZtd8GbtMtu-lENfgwFWzB2USSPoqEIM6ObaVd1u5XSUwCraQ

    images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR86RhviyF1fQLcN-yhB4vn3BXLGABiH_g87NYrNtt4kF-bz4c3

    Oh and just to add more cool pics, here's a hippo scaring some lions away from their kill- although they later return and they both all feed on the carcass together.
    Agreed, the hippo was particularly interested on the stomach contents of the buffalo, but still...

    199318.jpg

    199319.jpg

    199320.jpg



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 30,746 ✭✭✭✭Galvasean


    And there was me thinking Lusotitan was Europe's biggest :o


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