The Therizinosaur Thread

Adam Khor

Only the abstract I'm afraid:

http://palaios.ku.edu/27/6/fiorillo.pdf

But this opens so many possibilities. For starters it means therizinosaurs probably returned to what would today be North America at the end of the Cretaceous. The track was found in Denali National Park, where the tracks of Albertosaurus, hadrosaurs and troodonts have been found as well. I wonder if any of these North American therizinosaurs made it to the south. Who knows! Maybe we'll find a Therizinosaur in Hell Creek one day!

PS- If this creature was living in Alaska, it probably had a thick feather/dino-fuzz coat. Interesting if we consider Beipiaosaurus from the early Cretaceous was also seemingly well adapted to cold climate. :>

Galvasean

Gotta love therizinosaurs, big friggin' sloth bear monsters!

Manach

Galvasean wrote: »

big friggin' sloth bear monsters!

That should be name of the latest summer-block buster movie

Adam Khor

More dino tracks from Alaska: http://newsminer.com/view/full_story/19093160/article-Dinosaur-hunter-finds-fossils-in-Wrangell-Mountains?instance=home_features_bullets1

Adam Khor

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0043911

From the same formation as Falcarius but seemingly from a later time.

Galvasean

greenriverensis, really???????????

Adam Khor

Of smell, hearing and balance at least. (Is balance a sense? I don´t care)

http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112752520/ct-brain-study-therizinosaurs-black-sheep-dinosaur-122012/

Galvasean

Balance is definitely a sense. The whole '5 senses' idea has never really been held up in scientific circles, despite being one of those things people 'know'.

Side note: THIS is the best image they could come up with for therizinosaurs :rolleyes:

Rubecula

apparently (and according to QI) balance is one of about 11 senses we have, some creatures have a few more.

Capt'n Midnight

Rubecula wrote: »

some creatures have a few more.

Look at the vision of the mantis shrimp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantis_shrimp#Eyes

Adam Khor

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Look at the vision of the mantis shrimp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantis_shrimp#Eyes

Not to mention sharks...

Rubecula

Adam Khor wrote: »

Not to mention sharks...

I was thinking of sharks and rays when I actually said that. But even pidgeons have a sort of magnetic sense (and so do cattle it seems)

Who knows what senses the more advanced dinosaurs may have had?

Galvasean

Spider-sense!

Rubecula

Galvasean wrote: »

Spider-sense!

I dunno about anyone else but seeing a dromeosaur walking across the ceiling looking for a meal would freak me right out.

Capt'n Midnight

Elephants can hear lower frequencies than we can. We can't hear mice sing because it's too high pitched.

So perhaps the sauropods would use very low frequency since they have chests big enough.

We still aren't sure that humans don't have functionality from this
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vomeronasal_organ


certainly a larger nose would help

some snakes can track body heat and the tuatara has that third eye


It's amazing how often we've designed new sensors and then found that they pre existed in nature - the fixed focus of trilobites eyes and the fractal antenna of moths

Adam Khor

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Elephants can hear lower frequencies than we can. We can't hear mice sing because it's too high pitched.

So perhaps the sauropods would use very low frequency since they have chests big enough.

Actually, the inner ear of Tyrannosaurus rex seems adapted to perceive infrasounds like those produced by elephants, which may suggest that:
a) T. rex could produce and communicate with infrasounds
b) T. rex's prey- such as large hadrosaurs or ceratopsians- could produce and communicate with infrasounds, and T. rex found it very convenient as it could detect them from great distances
or c) both of the above.

I've read that T-Rex had a similar adipose tissue thing on its feet that allowed it to walk silently despite its great size- again, just like elephants. I am not sure how exactly this elephant sense works but, they are known to perceive the infrasounds produced by other elephants- and earthquakes- via their feet, so maybe T. rex could do the same?

And truth is, many large animals use infrasounds, from giraffes and rhinos to tigers, crocodiles and cetaceans, and perhaps more interestingly, cassowaries (which have the deepest call of any bird and seemingly use their helmet/crest to either amplify or perceive infrasounds (Parasaurolophus, Cortyhosaurus and friends, anyone?).

Adam Khor

http://www.ploscollections.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0063423;jsessionid=9FC937EF0D16A51EA761B589DBCD56BA

Galvasean

Interesting creature. Apart from the teeth it's very 'classic theropod' looking.

Adam Khor

As proven by tracks of both found together.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-30110-8

Very interesting considering that these tracks are from about 69 million years ago, a time from which no therizinosaur fossils are known from North America. Now it is only a matter of time before they are found. Who knows! There's a chance T. rex itself may have coexisted with something similar to Therizinosaurus at the very end of the Cretaceous (Therizinosaurus and Tarbosaurus (Tyrannosaurus bataar?) in the picture)

Adam Khor

Inside the head of Nothronychus:

Nothronychus was a therizinosaur, not unlike the later, Asian Therizinosaurus, but somewhat smaller. This study takes an in depth look at its skull, braincase, etc. Among other things, it would appear (unsurprisingly) that Nothronychus was capable of hearing (and most likely producing) infrasounds.

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0198155

Adam Khor

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-41560-z.pdf