Thursday, 31 December 2009

Ophiacodon, a close relative to the Gorgons: Just what was it getting up to in the Permian swamps?


Ophiacodon was a Pelycosaurian mammal like reptile, a more primitive relative of the Gorgonopsids, living about 290 million years ago. It has often been portrayed as an aquatic organism, sculling through lakes and rivers, swallowing up fish and amphibians.

The shape of the skull is perplexing for a river animal. Modern crocodiles have flat heads to reduce resistance when the head is swung sideways in an attack, but Ophiacodon has the opposite condition; with a deep narrow snout. This created extraordinairy drag when the head of Ophicodon was swung sideways in an underwater attack.




Another anatomical feature that defies an aquatic existence is the tail. The tail is relatively short, thin and narrow. In all modern swimming reptiles the tail is deep and powerful, so that it can propel these animals efficiently through the water. Ophiacodon was clearly incapable of doing this with such a meak tail, and this was clearly not a swimming organ.




Even more confusing is the contradicting array of aquatic specialisations. The wrist and ankle joints are weak, inhibiting terrestrial locomotion, the head massive making it awkward and ungainly on land, with eyes placed on the top to allow Ophiacodon to see above water whilst keeping the rest of its head submerged.






The teeth are many; the jaws may contain up to 166 teeth. These teeth are however relatively small for a fish eating animal, unable to stab through slippery mucous covered amphibians, these were useless for catching large prey.


It seems likely that Ophiacodon was aquatic after all. With such weak ankle joints it was hardly able to move freely on land. I hypothesise that this animal was living in very shallow water, possibly only 1 foot deep. This was enough to support its weight without putting strain on its ankles. The curved lower jaws could have been used to spoon up small fish and amphibians burrowing in the sediment or hiding in the weeds. The teeth would only have allowed small animals to be consumed and the narrow, but tall head suggests rather than sideways movements to catch prey, Ophiacodon was dipping its head vertically into the shallow water to scoop out prey.



An explanation for the small tail: In such shallow water the tail would have been useless to get around. Although 1 foot deep water could help relieve the weight of that massive head it was unable to completely submerge the animal, preventing it from swimming away. Instead Ophiacodon slowly shunted itself about the shallows with its weak legs ,the thin tail dragging uselessly behind. Skin traces show that this animal had no scales on its skin, possibly to prevent drag when moving through the water, however there are bony scutes on the underbelley, suggesting that it was often dragged along the beds of shallow rivers and needed to be protected.


The eyes are placed on top of the deep head, allowing Ophiacodon to keep its eyes above the water even when feeding on the shallow riverbed. This permitted it to watch out for predators that may be stalking it from the riverbank. In water only 30 cm deep a 3 meter long reptile is completely visible and vulnerable. By spotting predators early on Ophiacodon could retreat into deeper water.


The nostrils open low down on the snout close to the tips of the jaws. Perhaps a blocking mechanism allowed the reptile to smell under water without drowning. The eyes were stationed above the water and may have been an unreliable means of finding prey. Ophiacodon may have smelt out the tunnels of burrowing amphibians, running its low set nostrils along the riverbed, then travelling upstream to the burrow and scooping out the inhabitant.






Ridges above the eyes prevented the sun from interfering with its vision. Perhaps the deep head had the use of creating an area of shade below the eyes, preventing reflections that may have otherwise distorted the movements of its prey.

I hope this is a convincing enough reconstruction of Ophiacodon's unusual lifestyle based on as much evedence as I could find. Next time I will be exploring more relatives of the Gorgons, possibly the poisonous Therocephalians.

Wednesday, 30 December 2009

Mr inappropriate



Mr inappropriate pisses off the folks of Britain in the channel 4 show Balls Of Steel.


Tuesday, 29 December 2009

I'm ok, I'm not crazy!

Crazy man on dating profile
Cookie monster in rehab
Arson beetle

Manatees; the killer within!


Manatees, large aquatic herbivores, slow moving and docile mammals that have nothing better to do than slowly munch aquatic plants.

Look again, for the manatee is much more than it appears. Every year hundreds of tourists disappear in Florida's springs and pools. These deaths are attributed to alligators and other predators, but no one suspects the cuddly flabby manatees, no one.
Above; the manatee uses its camouflage to stalk prey in shallow water.
Except of course me, Jurassic Albatross is on a manatee awareness campaign. If you yourself or someone you know is associating with dugongs, Manatees and all manner of sea cows or blubbery mammals, then tell them of the malevolent killer hidden within.
Above: In an attempt to warn the public I am placing these signs in all known manatee hunting grounds.
The manatees attract humans into the water, nuzzling the victim and flapping their flippers in a cute manner that is appealing to unwary tourists and snorkelers. They leave the human unharmed, most of the time.

Docile as they may seem, these animals are perfectly capable of killing a human. Hunting in packs they slowly surround the intended prey, spurting water from their snouts is cute and seemingly harmless to a human, but this contains a venom that slowly causes the human to weaken. When they pass out and fall into the water the manatees begin to engulf the prey, their huge rolls of fat contain muscles that reach over the body, suffocating it in under a membrane of skin and digesting it slowly, alive!
Above you can see the classic manatee hunting strategy. In the centre of the picture one manatee distracts the unwary snorkeler. Meanwhile in the bottom left of the photo you can see a second manatee sneaking up from behind to engulf its prey!
The chilling truth is that the manatee has good reason to kill us. We destroy their habitat and ram them with our boats, injuring and lowering their populations. To stop these killings now we must be passive and respect their habitat by...



FIGHTING BACK, burn the bastards!
WARNING! THE ABOVE IS MADE UP RUBBISH

2009, a year in pictures.





Scientists discover Darwin was wrong!
Chuck Norris will always be with us;




And that is all we need to know has happened this year.

Monday, 28 December 2009

Inostrancevia; king of the Gorgons!


Gorgonopsid season has not started with a basic intro to the Gorgons, therefore here is a quick bacground paragraph:
Well these animals were belonging to a group of reptiles called Therapsids, quite close tho the ancestry of mammals. Therefore Gorgons had no scales and possibly possessed whiskers to sense prey. These animals probably had a degree of warm bloodedness which I will go into in a later post.



The largest Gorgonopsid was Inostrancevia from Russia, terrorizing the planet 251 million years ago in the late Permian period. Primeval; an ITV science fiction TV series is misleading and inaccurate, portraying Gorgonopsids as huge and scaly elephant sized beasts 6 meters long. There is little evidence to suggest that these animals got this big.




Inostrancevia should not however be underestimated. At 4.3 meters this animal was formidable, perfectly capable of killing humans if it got the chance.

The stance of these animals is also subject to debate. In Primeval the Gorgonopsid stands with its legs directly under the body like modern mammals. This certainly appears more convincing than the sprawling posture some reconstructions have shown. The museum of Melbourne has reconstructed Inostrancevia as a high sprawler, able to walk with the legs held at a 45 degree angle when running, however adopting a lizard like stance of 90 degrees when walking normally. The leg joints, similar to those of a modern crocodile, suggest the high sprawling means of locomotion, implying that these animals were not as fast as the TV shows may say, but the prey of the Gorgons was even slower.


Above; a Gorgon attacks a Parieasaur.


Huge turtle relatives called Parieasaurs roamed the Permian period. These armoured reptiles were clearly unable to run with tiny back legs that stuck out to the side. It was the armour that presented a problem for the Gorgons.

Friday, 25 December 2009

Santa Clause wants to eat your kids!!!!!


Its true, Santa can't just subside on minced pies and sherry all the time, he needs dietary supplements. Since children and elves are the only available resource Santa has taken to eating them for dinner.

His tactic is simple, let your prey come to you. He targets his victims in shopping centres, enticing them onto his lap to "ask what they want for Christmas". Santa then opens his mouth and gobbles the child in one bite. Ever wondered what he needs such a large belly for?

Of course Santa is able to swallow a whole child because of his magic powers, the same that allow him to visit every ones houses in in under 12 hours and fit down blocked or non existent chimneys.

Another thing is his cloaking abilities, Santa is thousands of years old. You don't get cheeks that rosy when you live in Lapland and eat minced pies, elves and children and rely on sherry for hydration. The truth is Santa's true form is that of a dry crone that hides its hideous form by using a cloaking device "borrowed" from Harry Potter.

Tuesday, 22 December 2009

Gorgonopsids season part 1: Rubidgeans




Gorgonopsids may be familiar if you have watched Primeval, featuring a huge 20ft giant, but this was as large as they got, most were the size of an average Labrador.

Gorgonopsids were still nasty predators. These animals were reptiles, closely related to mammals, possessing enormous canines. One species called Rubidgea had canines longer than those of Tyrannosaurus!



The Rubidgeans were the most deadly Gorgonopsids, with huge buttressed skulls and deep lower jaws. There is a pair of broad ventral flanges either side of the skull to support powerful muscles that would have kept the jaw stable when tackling large prey.

Broomicephalus, a member of the same family has a head wider than its length. This gave it a very cat like appearance. The broadness of the skull creates a stable structure when the jaw is open, allowing it to tackle prey larger than itself with great ease.

The sabre teeth are especially thin, suggesting Broomicephalus used the teeth to slash through its preys flesh, causing deep wounds.


The skull suggests a very inertial bite force, by which the jaw was pulled closed. As its angle changes relative to the pterygoideus muscles the jaw is pulled forewords, meaning that inertia is the only thing closing the jaw. This creates a fast and short bite that is not very firm in its grip, used to quickly slash the prey and wound it.

Sunday, 20 December 2009

Therapy buddies vs Godzilla, the Japanese film companies are really running out of ideas!

Truthfully the Japanese film companies ran out of good ideas a long time ago, but this has all changed with the new blockbuster; Godzilla vs the Therapy buddies.

In this thrilling science fiction horror film the therapy buddies become super sized by Richard Kopelle to save the world from Godzilla, who somehow has come back to life because of DNA or radiation or something.

Of course this film is merely a fictitious plot of the therapy buddies to publicise and promote their cause for world peace and love.

The plot of the film is original and new. Godzilla is reincarnated because of an accident in an experiment in an arctic laboratory. Some of his DNA is mixed with radiation to create another Godzilla.

He runs rampage across the globe, trampling cities in his wake, but there is help at hand. Therapy buddies, super sized by Richard Kopelle (or should I say Richard Kopelle 2) to soothe the angry beast with their therapeutic words.

Godzilla dies and there is a sad and emotional ending where Richard Kopelle observes it being throttled by a large therapy buddy.

The film was produced by Steven Spielberg (who's beard was infiltrated by the buddies) and has been given the award for the most soothing film of the year.

Feel the words

Saturday, 19 December 2009

Thursday, 17 December 2009

Tuesday, 15 December 2009

Gerald; the continuation!!!!


After moving into the deep sea Gerald opened his book of english essays, but they melted because it was under water.


So Gerald got pissed and decided to kill abandon his Gerald fish friends and go back onto land to meet his turkey friends. But they were pissed because he had abandoned them. So Gerald ended up with no friends.

Monday, 14 December 2009

Warning!!!!!!!!! If Mr Spock knows your mother you must be alerted. I am legally abliged to notify you of this matter of national concern!

I have been forced by the government of the United Kingdom (god bless e'm) to warn you of a new issue of national concern that is affecting everyone in the country.

Mr Spock is on a rampage. If he knows your mother then please notify the police force by calling the emergency services.

This sick pervert is targeteng peoples mothers for their earlobes, trying to find the pointiest ones. The reason is because his have dropped off due to a rare disease that only Vulcans catch.

The name is too lodgical to explain to my viewers clearly less superior minds.

Anyway, if Mr Spock comes anywhere near anyones mother just use the power of waffles to protect you and your family. For first class waffle protection hire waffle man to save you from Spock and his poiny ear fetish.

For now, live long and prosper.

The adventures of gerald!!!!!!!!!!!!!




Once upon a time in a land not so far away, lived Gerald. Gerald liked doing english essays in his spare time. He also enjoyed squeeziung turkeys to make them squark.

Turkeys were Geralds best friends, they were his only friends and they followed him everywhere, even when he went to write an english essay on the bottom of the sea. In fact Gerald holds the world record for almost everything to do with english essays.

If you look in the Guinnes world record book for the longest english essay, Gerald is there. If you look up the smallest english essay, Gerald is there, he's always there.


You may be surprised to know then, that Gerald is in fact the scientific name of a deep sea fish with an ironiocally long nose, look it up.
Therefore, Gerald is not really called Gerald. Gerald decided to find his real name. So he went on an adventure to a tediousley boring meeting in the society of tediousley boring meetings to sort it out. Nothing came up, the tediousley boring meetings society got bored of trying to find Geralds real name and decided to have a meeting about Mr Spock instead.

Gerald was sad, if the tediousley boring meetings society could not sort out his name, no one could.

Then he had a brainwave, perhaps he was a Gerald fish after all. So he went to the library of english essays to see if there was an essay on the gerald fish, he found a photo of one and compared it with his own.

The likeness was undeniable, Gerald was a Gerald fish.

Gerald stole a high pressure submarine and went to the deep sea with all of his english essays to live with his fellow Gerald fish friends. He took a turkey along too.

When he got to the deep sea he found the Gerald fish. "Hello" said the Gearlad fish. Gerald smiled, these were his true friends.


He got out of the submarine. His turkey immediately drowned, but Gerald didn't care, he had the Gerald fish now. They swam off together and lived happily ever after 2km below the Pacific ocean.






Sunday, 13 December 2009

Therapy buddies vs Raptors, everything is going to be alright, but not for the therapy buddies.



Feel the words, the therapy buddies new plan of world domination; dinosaurs. But yet again they have failed.

Dinosaurs are very vicious creatures whilst a buddy is a "soft, gentle creature". They were never going to get along.

Sources tell me that Richard Kopelle has been killed by the therapy buddies, seeing no need for his "help" any more.

Above: The therapy buddies killing Kopelle, using the power of 20 soothing messages to explode his brain with love and gentleness.


The therapy buddies have used their time travelling abilities to go back in time and bring back some Raptors. Then they used their soft and gentle voice to coress and hypnotize the dinosaurs into obeying their treacherous commands. Unfortunately the buddies hypnotic powers were too weak for the dinosaurs and they rebelled, eating all of the therapy buddies and automatically destroying their time machine, whizzing them back to the Jurassic.

Since the dinosaurs rebelled, the buddies have needed Kopelle's help yet again. Using a sample of his DNA the therapy buddies have successfully created a clone of Kopelle. He is called Richard Kopelle 2!

With Richard Kopelle 2 the therapy buddies are regaining their numbers lost in the dinosaur rebellion.

Their next plan is to use people with beards, including Richard Kopelle 2. They plan to hide in peoples beards, hypnotising them to do all sorts of devilish deeds that the buddies need to be carried out to achieve world control.

Above: Bearded beware; for you are the buddies next targets.



Finally they will use a particularly beardy elf to go to Lapland, hiding the buddies in his beard of course. When they are there they will leap into Santa's beard, big enough to fit 6 billion therapy buddies. When Santa climbs down every chimney of every house the buddies will leap into the pile of presents beneath the christmas tree and on Christmas day every house will have its own therapy buddy to watch them and control them.

So, how must we prevent the therapy buddies from occupying every house in the world? There's only one thing for it, booby trap our Christmas trees with exploding baubles. This would kill Santa and the 6 billion therapy buddies concealed within his beard, preventing the buddies from stealing Christmas and controlling us all. Wohoo world saved!!!!!!!!!!!

Warning! Do not take any of the above seriously. It is the made up, inordinate, megalomaniaocal babble of a paranoid crazy person who lives in a small cave on Venus where he drinks mermaid urine from a wicker wastebasket that says "recycle reuse" with a tinky winky telleytubby straw that he bought in the Insect Circus Museum gift shop last year.

Utahraptor, Velociraptors bigger cousin and mascot of Jurassic Albatross

Saturday, 12 December 2009

Raptors,they win the mascott challenge. But not with Velociraptor.


Raptors came in all different shapes and sizes. The ones in the video above were probably comparable to Utahraptor, about 20 feet long and 6ft tall. From this you can see where the Jurassic Park's Velociraptors came from.

To be honest Velociraptor was a pussy. It was the size of a turkey for goodness sake. Deinonychus and especially Utahraptor were the true predators. Utahraptor had a killing claw 24cm long!

Utahraptor was one of the earliest of the Raptors, living 120 million years ago in the early Cretaceous period of North America.

Unlike other Raptors Utahraptor had much thicker legs that were more robust. This suggests that Utahraptor was very powerfully built, unable to run fast, but well adapted take down large slow moving prey. The leg bones were even twice as thick as those of Allosaurus, an animal twice the size of Utahraptor.

Utahraptor was probably a predator of the large long necked Brachiosaurs , using its massively powerful legs to leap at its prey, clinging onto its back and inflicting deep wounds with its killing claws as it used them to grip onto the animals flanks.

So why is Utahraptor the Jurassic Albatross mascott? Well for starters it had feathers. Raptors from China have been found with feathers preserved on their bodies, suggesting Utahraptor had them too. Therefore it fits in with the albatross/ bird catergory. Also because it is prehistoric, as the word Jurassic suggests. Finally because Raptors are cool and Utahraptor is the biggest. I will prepare a suitable image right away.



When grannies fight back!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Albatross, 5 things that you didn't know about them.








  1. They have the longest wingspan of any bird in the world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  2. Can glide for several hours without flapping whings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  3. There are 21 typpes of Albatross!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  4. There are three different islands in the world called Albatross Island; one in Georgia, one in Namibia and another off Tasmania. All are well known Albatross breeding colonies!!!!!!!!!!!
  5. 19 of the 21 types of Albatross are threatened to extinctioin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Monty Python loves them too.

It is possible to draw on microsoft paint with a mouse; the life and times of Allosaurus the flesh grazer


Above: Reconstruction of Allosaurus, by the author. Done on microsoft paint.


Allosaurus has probably been the most influential dinosaur after Tyrannosaurus, appearing in movies and documentaries since its discovery in 1869. It lived 150 million years ago in the late Jurassic period. In North America it was the most abundant meat eating dinosaur; taking up 75% of the Therapod fossils in the Morrison formation.


Allosaurus on average grew up to 8.5 meters in length, and weighed about 2 tons. This predator was clearly a generalist, able to attack almost any animal in its ecosystem. Fossils of long necked dinosaurs like Camarasaurus have been found with deep scars, where the Allosaurus's claws and teeth ripped into the flesh of the animal as it fed.
Allosaurus had long gripping arms with meat hook claws to grab small prey. The jaw was relatively weak for a dinosaur of its size and probably had a bite force similar to that of a lion today. Allosaurus did have a powerful skull, that was good at withstanding pressure from the upper jaw, along with an abnormally large and powerful neck.

This suggests that even with a weak bite Allosaurus was somehow still exerting pressure on its upper jaw. Using its ability to open its jaw incredibly wide, it used its powerful neck muscles to drive the upper jaw into the flesh of its prey, dragging the teeth across the hide of the animal and tearing off huge chunks of flesh.

Perhaps Allosaurus was a flesh grazer, running up to a gigantic herbivore, gripping onto it with its meat hook claws. The Allosaurus may then have torn away a chunk of flesh, running away before the prey can defend itself. Then the chunk of meat would be taken to safety where the Allosaurus could consume it in peace.

This method leaves the prey animal badly injured, but alive, soon able to regrow and the flesh wound. By keeping the prey population alive Allosaurus could have existed in huge and dense numbers, only taking what it needed from its victim, leaving it alive for their next meeting, or to breed and provide new feeding opportunities for the predators.
Today cookie cutter sharks attack whales and dolphins hundreds and thousands of times their size. These tiny sharks do not kill their prey, but take a chunk and swim off. The advantages of this method of predation is clear when you do the math: If cookie cutter sharks were true predators, every whale they attacked would be killed and eaten.

By flesh grazing the predator keeps the prey alive and their populations steady, ensuring a constant and even supply of food that will hopefully never die out because of over hunting. In effect flesh grazing is a way that predators can exist in large numbers, but still maintain a sustainable population of prey animals in their habitat.



More raptors

Thursday, 10 December 2009

Raptor


Raptors or Dromaeosaurids were small meat eaters that hunted in packs. My friend Max was wondering if he could win a battle with a Velociraptor. Lets find out.

First contender; Raptor. This animal was 8 feet long and was about the size of a turkey. It lived 70 million years ago in the Cretaceous period. The thing is Velociraptor was one of the smallest Raptors. Achillobator and Austroraptor grew up to 20 feet in length! To be fair I will stick with Velociraptor.

Velociraptor had an armourment unlike any modern animal. Its fingers were tipped with huge scythe like claws for gripping and slashing prey. The two hind legs were equipped with a killing claw on each foot. Contrary to popular belief these claws had a blunt edge and were used to grip onto prey, not slash it open.

The main weapon of Velociraptor was its teeth. These could be used to bite into the preys neck and sever the jugular.

The bones of Velociraptor were hollow and its legs powerful. This made it lightweight, fast and maneuverable, but weakly built and easy to injure.

The attack style of Velociraptor is well known. From bone beds and trackways of Raptors we know that they were social animals that hunted in packs. A remarkable fossil of a Velociraptor gripping onto the back of a large pig like dinosaur called Protoceratops shows us that this animal probably lept onto its victims back, slashing and biting until it was dead.

Next contender; Max. An intelligent bipedal primate mammal from the Holcoene Epoch, a much later era than Velociraptor. Max is warm blooded like Velociraptor and is larger. Being over 5 feet tall this creature has strongly built bones to withstand great forces. Mammals as a group have much stronger bones than other animals.

Max also has a bigger brain than a Raptor. It too is social, living in family groups of about 4 or 5. Its hands have an opposable thumb, allowing it to grip objects and wield them as tools and weapons.

Time to go head to head. Max is travelling home after a long days education at its schooling system. Meanwhile a lone Raptor stalks Max, using its keen eyesight to keep track of its victim.

Raptor attacks and Max jumps back, narrowly missing the Velociraptors leap. The Raptor circles Max. Its main aim is to get onto the back of Max. There it will be able to reach the neck and sever the jugular.

Max uses its intelligence to its advantage, using stones and sticks to try and divert the Raptors attention. Suddenly the Raptor leaps at the stick. Max turns and runs, but Velociraptor is capable of speeds of about 40 miles per hour. Max only achieves 15 miles per hour due to its heavily built bones and stocky body.

This is the chance the Raptor has been waiting for, Max has turned its back. It leaps at Max, using its killer claw to grip into its back and its mouth firmly gripping around Max's neck.

Max screams out the word "Help!"; an alarm call commonly used in humans.

Using his weight Max falls backwards, crushing the Velociraptors delicate bone structure and snapping its ribs.

But its not over, Velociraptor has hollows in its vertebra that make room for air sacks. These are part of its breathing system and is considered 3 times more efficient than our own. Therefore a Raptors recovery period is much faster than a mammals.

Max uses its opposable thumb to grip a nearby chunk of wood. Although injured and unable to fend for itself for much longer help is at hand.

Humans have extensive colonies called Towns. Max's alarm call has alerted a nearby group of other humans. The leader of the group or alpha male Tom, a good friend of Max, surprise attacks the Raptor. Using its footwear as a projectile and throwing it into the head of the limping Velociraptor. Its kinetic and loosely structured skull is popped apart by the shoe, killing it instantly.

But Raptors are also social, a pack of 10 individuals has smelt the blood of the injured human and is approaching the scene. The victorious human group is oblivious to their approach. The alpha male Raptor sees that his mate is dead. Instinctively angered by its only chance of breeding being destroyed it contemplates an attack. He sees Max as the weakest member of the human herd. Claws outstretched, the raptor strikes!!!!!!!!

Raptors are nasty buggers, try fighting this Max

Tuesday, 8 December 2009

Sunday, 6 December 2009

Tyrannosaurus WAS a carnivore!


People have been wondering about the biology of Tyrannosaurus for may years. Some people now believe that Tyrannosaurus was a scavenger.
To be honest when you look at this animal you know that it means business. Others look at the tiny arms and blunt edged teeth and say scavenger. It could not slice flesh or grab prey with its arms, therefore it had to be a scavenger.

It was not that fast, only about 20 miles per hour and the teeth were more adapted for crushing bone than slicing flesh, a feature of a svavenger. The arms were too small. How could Tyrannosaurus possibly kill for a living?


Calculations of Tyrannosaurus's capability as a scavenger within an ecosystem have shown that if it had a reptilian metabolism it could have subsided on scavenged meat for its entire life, but who's to say it was a cold blood?


Whether an animal is warm blooded or cold blooded can affect the amount of energy it needs to live and therefore how much it ate. Cold bloods need less energy because they do not need to produce their own body heat. Something like a mammal however needs extra food to provide enough energy to fuel its internal furnace.


Tyrannosaurus definitely was a warm blooded animal. The hollow bones suggest it. A distant relative of Tyrannosaurus; Dilong has been found in China with a fossilised coat of feathers. These feathers would only have been used for insulation, useless for a cold blooded animal to absorb heat, but perfect to insulate it.

If ancestors of Tyrannosaurus were definitely warm blooded we can assume it was too. By this theory supposedly Tyrannosaurus needed more energy than the calculations suggest and may not have been able to survive completely on scavenged carcasses.



Tail vertebra of a Hadrosaur (duck billed dinosaur) have been found with neural spine broken and snapped off. The indents in the bone are shaped in an arch formation like a bite. The smoking gun is the shape of the indent, which is identical to the teeth of Tyrannosaurus.


Proof that the Hadrosaur was alive during the attack is the fact that there is healed bone around the broken vertebra. Therefore the Hadrosaur had to have survived the bite for a long time for the bone to have healed to such an extent.


Last is the body proportions. Tyrannosaurus, although slow and heavy as an adult, was fast and long legged as a juvenile. Recently discovered bone beds show groups of Tyrannosaurus of all ages that died together at the same time. This suggests pack hunting or grouping behaviour.


Perhaps the longer legged juveniles chased the prey into an ambush like female lions today. The larger adults then attack the exhausted prey, using their huge jaws full of teeth not to slice meat, but grip and crush the prey, killing it instantly.


The arms were small because Tyrannosaurus didn't need them. When you have a head the size of a small car you can just crunch your victims to death. This is unlike other predatory dinosaurs that used their arms to grab prey and tear it up.


The fact is, Tyrannosaurus was probably both a scavenger and a predator. Most lions will happily scavenge from a carcass of an already dead animal. Hyenas will happily attack a wildebeest if weakened or alone. Since Tyrannosaurus was the only large meat eater (with exception of Raptors which used large numbers to bring down the largest of prey animals) in its ecosystem we can safely assume that it had to have occupied niche of top carnivore once in a while.