It may be difficult to watch this video without smiling. Original caption: "Official video for the wonderful song by Fenn Rosenthal.Made in only 24 hours using 2D frame by frame animation. Directed by Hannah Jacobs, Katy Wang and Anna Ginsburg."
Source: instagram.com
Sophie the Stegosaurus
The most complete skeleton of a young adult stegosaur who died around 150 million years ago is the first whole dinosaur to go on exhibition in over a century in the grand entry hall of London's Natural History Museum's Earth wing (a place I have haunted since childhood, and worked in as a volunteer). She was originally discovered in Wyoming, which was a subtropical forest when Sophie roamed the world.
Sophie was bought from a private dealer, and named after daughter of the hedge fund manager who paid for her. She is a mere 5.6 metres long by 2,9 tall, compared to the largest known specimen that measures over 9 metres.
Before being mounted the bones were CT and laser scanned for research purposes, before being set up to wow those entering that lovely and quirky building. Richard Fortey wrote a worthy book on the back half of the place some years back that I'd recommend to anyone who loves this special place. Owning the most complete known specimen will no doubt allow the museum's scientists to discover some interesting things about how these beasts lived and died.
Loz
Source: facebook.com
earthstory reblogged
What’s this? Paleontologists have discovered a blue-tongue stegosaurus!
This is @tchallastoebeans ‘s lovely blue tongued skink, Timmy, as a stegosaurus!
earthstory reblogged
captain-truffles-deactivated202
Other dinosaur draws at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, PA. The T. rexes are fantastic, but their entire collection is extraordinary!
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Lego Dinosaur Fossil Models (3D renders)
earthstory reblogged
Stegosaurus armatus
Stegosaurus armatus is one of the most recognizable dinosaurs of all. With a name that means “plated reptile,” Stegosaurus is a favorite among dinosaur enthusiasts. An herbivore, this dinosaur roamed western North America during the late Jurassic Period, between 145 and 150 million years ago.
Stegosaurus had small, simple teeth and weak jaw muscles. Scientists believe these reptiles were not effective chewers and ate vegetation that grew low to the ground, most likely ripping and swallowing most of it whole.
Growing up to 25 feet long, Stegosaurus had tall, bony plates that lined its back. While these plates probably offered protection, they were also crisscrossed by blood vessels and may have been used to regulate the animal’s body temperature or to signal to other Stegosaurus individuals. Stegosaurus also featured paired spikes on its tail, which it used for protection against large carnivorous dinosaurs such as Allosaurus. A few Allosaurus fossils have even been found with what are believed to be wounds inflicted by the tail of Stegosaurus.
Photo Credit: Joshua Franzos for Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Dinosaur vertebrae from Utah - probably a stegosaurus
Stegosaurus bones in collection
earthstory reblogged
Not sure where this came from, but it’s a walking/bouncing Stegosaurus
Australia's dinosaur trackway reveals the largest prints ever found.
In the remote regions of northern Western Australia rests the most species rich assemblage of dino tracks in the world, with at least 21 species represented, including a giant herbivorous sauropod which left prints a full 1.7 metres across (the previous record holder from Mongolia measured 1.06). Long known to the autochthonous inhabitants and taking their place in their myth and song cycles (where they represent the prints of the creator spirit Marrala, or Emu Man), researchers have recently been investigating the prints, impressed into 130 million year old Cretaceous sandstones now exposed at low tide by the erosion of the waves on the Kimberley shoreline. Back in them days the area was a huge river delta, covered with dense forests interspersed with sandy areas, including the one preserved here.
Researchers surmise from the size of the prints and skeletons that the creature measured some 5.5 metres at the hip. The Red Continent has long been poor in fossil dinosaurs, and the trackway provides the best record of their presence in the whole western half of the landmass, and the only glimpse of species diversity in the period in question, including the only evidence of Stegosaurus (see http://bit.ly/2o0TR8f). All four main groups of dinosaurs were represented, including 2 and 4 legged herbivores, five predators and 6 different armoured creatures.
The scientists were asked to investigate by the local people after the suite was selected for a LNG terminal, which will now be sited elsewhere after the location obtained National heritage status in 2011.
Loz
Image credit: Damian Kelly/University of Queensland/EPA http://bit.ly/2okXa9n http://bit.ly/2nKTOiV http://bit.ly/2o2gYli http://bit.ly/2oyWW2i http://bit.ly/2n7JKfN Original paper, paywall access: http://bit.ly/2nZ1q1V
Source: facebook.com
earthstory reblogged
If you’re having a bad day, just watch this until it gets better :D
Yeah I already need this.
The Mesozoic Park: Stegosaurus
Common Name: Stegosaurus (STEG-uh-SAWR-us) Size: 7 - 9 meters (23 - 30 feet) Age: Late Jurassic (155 - 150 million years ago) Geographic range: North America and Europe Liked: salads with a side of pine cones Disliked: Being called walnut brain Taxonomy: Animalia > Chordata > Ornithischia > Stegosauria > Stegosauridae > Stegosaurus > Stegosaurus armatus
Stegosaurus joins the ranks of T-Rex and Triceratops as one of the most popular and recognizable dinosaurs. The large plant-eating dinosaur roamed North America and Europe in the late Jurassic Period approximately 150 to 155 million years ago.
The bus-sized dinosaur is known for its two rows of bony plates that lined its back. The plates, known as scutes, made the dinosaur appear larger than it really was.
Stegosaurus means "roofed lizard" which originated in the 19th century by paleontologists who thought the scutes laid flat on the dino's back like roof shingles. However, we now know the plates were in two alternating rows, pointy side up, from the neck down to the dinosaur's tail. Each of the roughly 17 plates were composed of a bony material known as osteoderms. They were not solid, but had lattice-like structures with blood vessels.
The presence of blood vessels within the scutes indicate that they may have been used for temperature regulation; however, this was not the primary function. More than likely Stegosaurus used its plates for attracting mates and other display purposes.
Stegosaurus was equipped with a flexible tail, complete with bony, dermal spikes called "thagomizers". Based on fossil records, researchers believe the spikes were used as defense against predators because at least 10 percent of Stegosaurus spikes discovered had damaged tips.
Stegosaurus has a reputation of having a tiny brain, most likely compared to a walnut. Armored dinosaur experts have determined the brain is actually closer in shape to a bent hot dog. The dino had a long and narrow skull and short forelimbs in relation to its hind legs. As such Stegosaurus couldn't move very fast.
-ALT
This article is a part of our "Mesozoic Park" series that is leading up to the release of Jurassic World. For more information, please see our introductory post at: http://on.fb.me/1ELwHW5 or if you already know about the series but missed a few articles you can find links to the first 10 posts at "Update #1," here: http://on.fb.me/1ED1tOH
Image Credit: Smithsonian Source Credit: http://bit.ly/1L01HTG http://bit.ly/1A92txt http://bit.ly/1JSflrT http://bit.ly/1FiYFZt
Source: facebook.com
Sophie the Stegosaurus The most complete skeleton of a young adult stegosaur who died around 150 million years ago is about to become the first whole dinosaur to go on exhibition in over a century in the grand entry hall of London's Natural History Museum's Earth wing (a place I have haunted since childhood, and worked in as a volunteer). She was originally discovered in Wyoming, which was a subtropical forest when Sophie roamed the world. Sophie was bought from a private dealer, and named after daughter of the hedge fund manager who paid for her. She is a mere 5.6 metres long by 2,9 tall, compared to the largest known specimen that measures over 9 metres. Before being mounted the bones were CT and laser scanned for research purposes, before being set up to wow those entering that lovely and quirky building. Richard Fortey wrote a worthy book on the back half of the place some years back that I'd recommend to anyone who loves this special place. Owning the most complete known specimen will no doubt allow the museum's scientists to discover some interesting things about how these beasts lived and died. Loz Image credit: http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/dec/04/sophie-stegosaurus-london-natural-history-museum
THE THAGOMIZER In a 1982 issue of Gary Larson's excellent comic "The Far Side", a caveman lecturer pointed to a picture of the tail spikes of a stegosaur and called it the "Thagomizer, after the late Thag Stimmons." While it is obviously anachronistic to feature dinosaurs and hominids in the same cartoon, the term Thagomizer has been adopted as an unofficial term for a stegosaur's tail spikes by the Smithsonian Institute, and used in documentaries by the BBC. For more: http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/2011/03/watch-out-for-that-thagomizer/ Original cartoon: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/65/Thagomizer.png -LMcG