It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
IMAGE: LIFE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE 120-MILLION-YEAR-OLD BIRD CRATONAVIS ZHUIview more
CREDIT: ZHAO CHUANG
It is now widely accepted that birds are descended from dinosaurs. It is also understood that this transition encompasses some of the most dramatic transformations morphologically, functionally, and ecologically, thus eventually giving rise to the characteristic bird body plan.
However, paleontologists still scratch their heads to understand how this fantastic evolutionary event occurred.
Now, a new, complete 120-million-year-old fossil bird from China further complicates this issue by exhibiting a dinosaur-like skull articulated with a bird-like body. In addition, the fossil specimen, named Cratonavis zhui, preserves a surprisingly elongate scapula and first metatarsal, making it stand out from all other birds including fossil ones.
The study, published in Nature Ecology & Evolution on Jan. 2, was conducted by paleontologists from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Cratonavis is positioned between the more reptile-like long-tailed Archaeopteryx and the Ornithothoraces (which had already evolved many traits of modern birds) in the avian evolutionary tree.
To study the fossil skull, the scientists first used high-resolution computed tomography (CT)-scanning. They then digitally removed the bones from their rocky tomb and reconstructed the original shape and function of the skull.
The result demonstrates that the Cratonavis skull is morphologically nearly identical to that of dinosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus rex rather than being bird-like. "The primitive cranial features speak to the fact that most Cretaceous birds such as Cratonavis could not move their upper bill independently with respect to the braincase and lower jaw, a functional innovation widely distributed among living birds that contributes to their enormous ecological diversity," said Dr. LI Zhiheng, a lead author of the study.
As for the bizarre scapula and metatarsal in Cratonavis, Dr. WANG Min, a lead and corresponding author of this study, said, "The scapula is functionally vital to avian flight, and it conveys stability and flexibility. We trace changes of the scapula across the Theropod-Bird transition, and posit that the elongate scapula could augment the mechanical advantage of muscle for humerus retraction/rotation, which compensates for the overall underdeveloped flight apparatus in this early bird, and these differences represent morphological experimentation in volant behavior early in bird diversification."
The new study shows that the first metatarsal was subjected to selection during the dinosaur-bird transition that favored a shorter bone. It then lost its evolutionary lability once it reached its optimal size, less than a quarter of the length of the second metatarsal.
"However, increased evolutionary lability was present among Mesozoic birds and their dinosaur kins, which may have resulted from conflicting demands associated with its direct employment of the hallux in locomotion and feeding," said coauthor Dr. Thomas Stidham. For Cratonavis, such an elongate hallux likely stems from selection for raptorial behavior.
The aberrant morphologies of the scapula and metatarsals preserved in Cratonavis highlight the breadth of skeletal plasticity in early birds, said coauthor Dr. ZHOU Zhonghe. Changes in these elements across the theropod tree show clade-specific evolutionary lability resulting from the interplay among development, natural selection, and ecological opportunity.
Photograph of the 120-million-year-old bird Cratonavis zhui
Digital reconstruction of the skull of Cratonavis zhui
Decoupling the skull and skeleton in a Cretaceous bird with unique appendicular morphologies
ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE
2-Jan-2023
Tuesday, December 21, 2021
A dinosaur embryo has been found in a fossilized egg
Caitlin O'Kane Tue, December 21, 2021
A well-preserved dinosaur embryo has been found inside a fossilized egg. The fossilized dinosaur embryo came from Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province in southern China and was acquired by researchers in 2000.
Researchers at Yingliang Group, a company that mines stones, suspected it contained egg fossils, but put it in storage for 10 years, according to a news release. When construction began on Yingliang Stone Natural History Museum, boxes of unearthed fossils were sorted through.
"Museum staff identified them as dinosaur eggs and saw some bones on the broken cross section of one of the eggs," Lida Xing of China University of Geosciences, Beijing, said in a news release. A embryo was found hidden within, which they named "Baby Yingliang."
The embryo is that of the bird-like oviraptorosaurs, part of the theropod group. Theropod means "beast foot," but theropod feet usually resembled those of birds. Birds are descended from one lineage of small theropods.
Reconstruction of a close-to-hatching oviraptorosaur egg.
Credit: Lida Xing/iScience
In studying the embryo, researchers found the dinosaur took on a distinctive tucking posture before hatching, which had been considered unique to birds. The study is published in the iScience journal.
Researchers say this behavior may have evolved through non-avian theropods. "Most known non-avian dinosaur embryos are incomplete with skeletons disarticulated," said Waisum Maof the University of Birmingham, U.K. "We were surprised to see this embryo beautifully preserved inside a dinosaur egg, lying in a bird-like posture. This posture had not been recognized in non-avian dinosaurs before."
The oviraptorosaur embryo
While fossilized dinosaur eggs have been found during the last 100 years, discovering a well-preserved embryo is very rare, the researchers said in the release.
The embryo's posture was not previously seen in non-avian dinosaur, which is "especially notable because it's reminiscent of a late-stage modern bird embryo."
The researchers will continue to study the rare specimen in even more depth. They will attempt to image its internal anatomy. Some of its body parts are still covered in rocks. Their findings can also be used in more studies of fossil embryos.
A perfectly preserved dinosaur egg highlights link to modern birds
Tom Metcalfe Tue, December 21, 2021
A 66-million-year-old fossil of a complete baby dinosaur in its egg, apparently just a few days before it would hatch, shows the remarkable similarities between theropod dinosaurs and the birds they would evolve into, according to a study published Tuesday.
The fossilized bones of the embryo, named “Baby Yingliang” after the museum in southern China where it was discovered, can be seen curled-up inside its 6-inch elongated eggshell and looking almost exactly like a modern bird at that stage, although it has tiny arms and claws rather than wings.
Fion Waisum Ma, a paleontologist at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom, said the head is particularly striking in its similarity to the head of a newly hatched bird — a resemblance heightened by a beak that was a feature of this dinosaur species, called an oviraptorosaur. Ma is one of the lead authors of the fossil study published in the journal iScience. Scientists from China, Canada and elsewhere in the U.K. were also involved.
Oviraptorosaurs, a type of theropod dinosaur with hollow bones and three-toed limbs, were very close to the dinosaur ancestry that evolved into modern birds. As well as beaks, they had feathers on their arms. They could not fly, but there’s evidence they spread the feathers out above their nests to keep the eggs beneath them warm, said John Nudds, a paleontologist at the University of Manchester in the U.K, who was not involved in the study.
Embryonic dinosaur fossils are extremely rare — paleontologists have only found them at about half a dozen sites. And this is the first time any have shown signs of a distinctive posture known as “tucking” — with the head under the right arm — although some other dinosaur embryos have shown distinct “egg teeth” that they may have used to break out of their shells, Nudds said. Life reconstruction of a close-to-hatching oviraptorosaur dinosaur embryo, based on the new specimen ‘Baby Yingliang’. (Courtesy Lida Xing)
Ma said that until now the tucking posture had been seen only in birds.
“Some embryos are quite well preserved, but they don’t show this posture,” she said. “And some are very fragmentary, so it is difficult to see their posture clearly.”
Baby birds adopt the posture, with their head “tucked” under their right wing, in the egg just a few days before they hatch; and embryos that fail to get it right are seldom able to hatch properly.
Ma said tucking seems to help baby birds make their first cracks in the eggshell by restricting the movement of their head.
“It’s easier to stabilize the beak and to direct it to the same place when they try to break the eggshell,” she said.
The researchers suggest the tucking posture evolved because oviraptorosaurs had a hard shell, like those of birds, instead of a soft shell, like those of turtles — an early form of shell that was still common about 70 million years ago among dinosaurs like the sheep-sized protoceratops.
Scientists think hard egg shells gave better protection from the environment than soft egg shells, and so oviraptorosaurs and related dinosaur species may have evolved the tucking posture to break through their harder eggshells, Ma said.
Baby Yingliang was in a cache of fossils that were delivered in 2000 to the Yingliang Stone Nature History Museum in the Chinese city of Nan’an, possibly after they had been found at a construction site in the nearby city of Ganzhou.
But it wasn’t until 2015 that one of the museum staff examined the fossil egg and noticed that what appeared to be bones could be seen in a fracture.
The fossilized egg has now been scientifically analyzed, and the fossil split so that the complete skeleton of the embryo can be seen curled up in its shell.
The study suggests the fossil is 66 million to 72 million years old. The baby dinosaur would’ve been about 10 inches from beak to tail when it was hatched, and might have grown to more than 6 feet long as an adult.
Image: Baby Yingliang dinosaur embryo (Lida Xing)
Modern chicken eggs take about 21 days to hatch, although they are much smaller than this dinosaur, and scientists don’t know how long Baby Yingliang had been developing in its egg before it was fossilized. It seemed to be about to hatch within a few days, Ma said.
Many dinosaur experts have hailed the fossil as one of the best-preserved embryos they have ever seen. But some are not certain, however, that what the researchers have interpreted as a tucking posture in the embryo is actually that.
“This is an interesting discovery, but I am skeptical about the ‘tucking’ behavior as it is primarily based on a single specimen,” said Shundong Bi of the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. “I think more evidence is needed.”
The interpretation of the tucking posture depended on the dinosaur egg containing a pocket of air, like the eggs of birds. But that could not be seen in this fossil and had not been seen in other dinosaur eggs, Bi said in an email.
Friday, May 07, 2021
Dinosaur skull scans reveal clues about flight—and communication
Riley Black
NAT GEO
6/5/2021
It’s a golden age for paleontology: In recent years, scientists have gathered all kinds of clues about the way dinosaurs looked and lived, from awe-inspiring fossil reconstructions to preserved footprints and bite marks on bones. Now, paleontologists are showing that some of the most tantalizing indications of how these extinct animals behaved are enclosed inside their skulls.
A pair of studies published today in the journal Science details a technique using x-ray imaging to study the preserved inner ears and eye sockets of dinosaurs and other prehistoric reptiles. These scans are allowing paleontologists to learn about aspects of dinosaurs’ lives that might otherwise have been lost to time.
“Inner ear shape has always been linked to the lifestyle and behavior of an animal,” says University of Edinburgh paleontologist Julia Schwab, who was not involved with the research. For instance, human inner ears allow us to hear sounds within a specific range of frequencies, from a leaf falling on a sidewalk to a thunderclap, and the inner ear shape is linked to our bipedal species' sense of balance.
Dinosaur skulls evolved to be thick and protect the brain and associated structures, like the tubular canals of the inner ear, keeping those precious clues intact for tens of millions of years. But those protective bones make it difficult to see the structures encased within. So in one of the studies, led by Yale University paleobiologist Bhart-Anjan Bhullar, the team created a set of scans from 124 archosaurs—a group that includes dinosaurs, other ancient reptiles, crocodilians, and living birds—spanning 252 million years ago through today.
The results offered more detail than the paleontologists hoped. By identifying patterns in the structures of the animals’ inner ears and eyes, the researchers were able to glean new information about what the dinosaurs could see, and what kind of movement their inner ears were tuned for. This provides another way of tracking the evolution of flight in dinosaurs and, by extension, their modern descendants: birds.
What’s more, the results from both studies offer exceedingly rare clues to what dinosaurs might have sounded like. Dinosaur vocalization is notoriously difficult to reconstruct. The sound-producing organs of their bodies generally decay soon after death, and relatively few species had bony features related to sound. But the anatomy of a dinosaur’s inner ear offers some insight into what the animals could hear, and therefore what sounds they might have made.
“Honestly, I never thought that we’d be taking a crack at dinosaur noises,” Bhullar says. A skull hardwired for flight
For their research, Bhullar and his team examined scans from a wide array of species, including theropods such as Velociraptor and a stubby-armed animal called Shuvuuia; non-dinosaur reptiles, such as pterosaurs; extinct toothed birds, such as Hesperornis; and living birds and crocodiles for comparison.
When the paleontologists looked at scans of sickle-clawed dinosaurs called troodontids that thrived during the Cretaceous period 145 to 66 million years ago, they found that these dinosaurs had similar inner ears to early, flying birds from the preceding Jurassic period, which began 201 million years ago. That was something of a surprise, given most known troodontids were terrestrial dinosaurs that didn’t fly.
But the similarities in the inner ear reveal an evolutionary trait necessary for airborne creatures, raising new questions about how flight evolved.
Bhullar hypothesizes that troodontids, which were about the size of turkeys, inherited ears suited to flight from a more ancient common ancestor with birds—perhaps a flying dinosaur, similar to feathered species such as Anchiornis, that lived 165 million years ago. And an inner ear adapted to the complex movements of flight, helping animals balance while in the air, could have had other uses on the ground.
“I do think that even non-flighted dinosaurs that were closely related to birds were moving around in complex ways,” Bhullar says, such as climbing trees or running up inclines. In dinosaurs closely related to birds, these behaviors may have helped the inner ear develop in such a way that allowed for flight—an activity that requires complex movements and limb control.
Nighttime stalkers
Not all bird-like dinosaurs moved like their avian relations, however. Some dinosaurs, the researchers found, moved and likely hunted in ways that run counter to paleontological expectations.
The turkey-size dinosaur Shuvuuia, for example, has long been a mystery to paleontologists. Known for its short arms tipped with large, single claws and toothless or nearly toothless jaws, this genus belongs to a group of bipedal theropods called alvarezsaurs. Bhullar and colleagues were surprised to find that Shuvuuia has an inner ear similar to that in four-legged animals with relatively simple locomotion.
The second Science study may offer insight into Shuvuuia’s odd inner ear. This study looked at both the inner ears and the eyes of dinosaurs to gain insight into the behavior of the extinct animals.
“Both studies complement each other,” says study author and Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History biologist Lars Schmitz—and together they indicate that Shuvuuia truly was an odd dinosaur.
Shuvuuia had long inner ear canals, broadening the range of the dinosaur’s hearing. Schmitz and colleagues propose this dinosaur had excellent hearing, comparable to the auditory ability of modern barn owls. Such precise hearing, combined with Shuvuuia’s large eyes, suggest this dinosaur was active at night.
Precisely what Shuvuuia was hunting is unclear—perhaps small mammals, or social insects like ants. But Schmitz notes that there are many reasons a dinosaur might have evolved to prefer the darker hours. “Body size, foraging style, climate, competition,” all matter, Schmitz notes.
Dinosaur song
The new analyses also led to a greater understanding of how these animals may have communicated with one another. The researchers found that ancestors and early relatives of dinosaurs evolved a longer region of the inner ear called the cochlea, which is associated with hearing high-frequency sounds.
The most likely reason, the paleontologists propose, is that this adaptation allowed adult animals to hear the squeaks and chirps of their hatchlings, similar to the attentive parenting of modern-day alligators and crocodiles. The singing birds of today therefore may trace their vocal abilities to the squeaks that tiny, scaly reptiles made as they hatched over 200 million years ago.
“We gently suggest that modern bird song, in all its mellifluous glory, is a retention in adults of juvenile high-pitched chirps,” Bhullar says.
This wealth of information about dinosaur behavior, gleaned by peering into fossilized skulls, represents the rapidly progressing technologies used to study the prehistoric past.
“I think the availability of modern imaging and rendering techniques is a big factor,” Schmitz says, adding that discoveries about the sensory systems of modern animals can also help paleontologists better examine and understand the anatomy and behavior of long-extinct species, which means even as living animals inform what we know about dinosaurs, the dinosaurs are changing how we see the creatures around us.
Pint-sized Mongolian menace shows dinosaurs loved the nightlife, too
By Will Dunham
REUTERS 6/4/2021
Reuters/HANDOUT The fossilized skeleton of the small bird-like dinosaur Shuvuuia deserti
(Reuters) - Under the cover of darkness in desert habitats about 70 million years ago, in what is today Mongolia and northern China, a gangly looking dinosaur employed excellent night vision and superb hearing to thrive as a menacing pint-sized nocturnal predator. Scientists said on Thursday an examination of a ring of bones surrounding the pupil and a bony tube inside the skull that houses the hearing organ showed that this dinosaur, called Shuvuuia deserti, boasted visual and auditory capabilities akin to a barn owl, indicating it could it hunt in total darkness.
Their study, published in the journal Science, showed that predatory dinosaurs overall generally possessed better-than-average hearing - helpful for hunters - but had vision optimized for daytime. In contrast, Shuvuuia (pronounced shu-VOO-ee-ah) loved the nightlife.
Shuvuuia was a pheasant-sized, two-legged Cretaceous Period dinosaur weighing about as much as a small house cat. Lacking the strong jaws and sharp teeth of many carnivorous dinosaurs, it had a remarkably bird-like and lightly built skull and many tiny teeth like grains of rice.
Its mid-length neck and small head, coupled with very long legs, made it resemble an awkward chicken. Unlike birds, it had short but powerful arms ending in a single large claw, good for digging.
"Shuvuuia might have run across the desert floor under cover of night, using its incredible hearing and night vision to track small prey such as nocturnal mammals, lizards and insects. With its long legs it could have rapidly run down such prey, and used its digging forelimbs to pry prey loose from any cover such as a burrow," said paleontologist Jonah Choiniere of the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, the study's lead author
"It's such a strange animal that paleontologists have long wondered what it was actually doing," added paleontologist Roger Benson of the University of Oxford in England, who helped lead the study.
The researchers looked at a structure called the lagena, a curving and finger-like sac that sits in a cavity in the bones surrounding the brain and is connected to the part of the ear that lets reptiles and birds keep balance and move their heads while walking. Acute hearing helps nocturnal predators locate prey. The longer the lagena, the better hearing an animal has.
The barn owl, a proficient nocturnal predator even in pitch-black conditions, has the proportionally longest lagena of any living bird. Shuvuuia is unique among predatory dinosaurs with a hyper-elongated lagena, almost identical in relative size to a barn owl's.
The researchers also looked at a series of tiny bones called the scleral ring that encircle the pupil of the eye. It exists in birds and lizards and was present in the ancestors of today's mammals. Shuvuuia had a very wide scleral ring, indicating an extra-large pupil size that made its eye a specialized light-capture device.
The study found that nocturnality was uncommon among dinosaurs, aside from a group called alvarezsaurs to which Shuvuuia belonged. Alvarezsaurs had nocturnal vision very early in their lineage, but super-hearing took more time to evolve.
"Like many paleontologists, I once considered that nighttime in the age of dinosaurs was when the mammals came out of hiding to avoid predation and competition. The importance of these findings is that it forces us to imagine dinosaurs like Shuvuuia evolving to take advantage of these nocturnal communities," Choiniere said.
Benson added, "This really shows that dinosaurs had a wide range of skills and adaptations that are only just coming to light now. We find evidence that there was a thriving 'nightlife' during the time of dinosaurs."
(Reporting by Will Dunham in Washington, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
Modern birds can trace their origins to theropods, a branch of mostly meat-eaters on the dinosaur family tree. In some birds, like this cassowary, the resemblance to extinct
What do sparros, geese and owls have in common with a velociraptor or the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex? All can trace their origins to a bipedal, mostly meat-eating group of dinosaurs called theropods ("beast-footed") that first appeared around 231 million years ago, during the late Triassic Period.
The earliest birds shared much in common with their theropod relatives, including feathers and egg-laying. However, certain traits – such as sustained, powered flight – distinguished ancient birds from other theropods, and eventually came to define modern-bird lineage (even though not all modern birds fly).
Today, all non-avian dinosaurs are long extinct. But are birds still considered to be true dinosaurs?
In a word: Yes.
"Birds are living dinosaurs, just as we are mammals," said Julia Clarke, a paleontologist studying the evolution of flight and a professor with the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin.
In spite of the physical differences that distinguish all mammals from other species, every animal in that group — living and extinct — can trace certain anatomical characteristics to a common ancestor. And the same is true for birds, Clarke told Live Science.
"They're firmly nested in that one part of the dinosaur tree," she said. "All of the species of birds we have today are descendants of one lineage of dinosaur: the theropod dinosaurs." What makes a bird, a bird?
Modern birds have feathered tails and bodies, unfused shoulder bones, toothless beaks and forelimbs that are longer than their hind limbs. They also have a bony plate near their tails called a pygostyle. Other types of extinct theropods had one or more of these features, but only modern birds have all of them, according to Takuya Imai, an assistant professor with the Dinosaur Research Institute at Fukui Prefectural University in Fukui, Japan.
In a primitive bird from Japan called Fukuipteryx — a 120-million-year-old avian that Imai described in November 2019 and the earliest known bird with a pygostyle — the preserved structure closely resembled the pygostyle of a modern chicken, Imai previously told Live Science. In other words, some structures in modern birds can be traced back to some of their earliest ancestors.
However, primitive birds still had much in common with non-avian theropods, said Jingmai O'Connor, a paleontologist specializing in dinosaur-era birds and the transition from non-avian dinosaurs, at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthroplogy in Beijing, China.
In fact, early birds were "very dinosaur-like" compared to modern birds, O'Connor told Live Science in an email. "Some had long, reptilian tails, teeth and claws on their hands," she said. And many theropod dinosaurs that were not birds had true feathers, "which are feathers that have a central part down the middle and branching barbs," according to Clarke.
Paleontologists distinguish between animal groups through precise measurements of subtle variations in bones and other fossilized body tissues, including "little bumps and tubercles [a rounded bulge on a bone] that are related to reorganizing different muscle groups," Clarke said. This morphological data is translated into numbers that are then processed by algorithms to pinpoint how animals are related, O'Connor explained. By using these algorithms in a system known as cladistics, experts can differentiate ancient birds from their theropod relatives.
Early birds
The earliest known bird is Archaeopteryx ("ancient wing"), which lived around 150 million years ago in what is now southern Germany. The creature weighed around 2 pounds(1 kilogram) and measured about 20 inches (50 centimeters) in length; fossil evidence shows that it sported plumage on its tail and body. The shape of its forelimbs and feathers also suggests that Archaeopteryx was capable of powered flight, a trait associated with most modern birds. However, unlike birds today, Archaeopteryx retained individual, clawlike fingers at the tips of its wings.
Fossils of birds from the early Cretaceous Period (145.5 million to 65.5 million years ago) have been found in northeastern China, such as Confuciusornis, which lived around 125 million years ago, and had a beak and long tail-feathers. Some Confuciusornis fossils, described in 2013, even included medullary bone, a spongy tissue found in female birds that are sexually mature, Live Science previously reported.
Another piece of fossil evidence links ancient birds to their modern relatives through their digestion, in the form of the earliest known bird pellet — a mass of indigestible fish bones coughed up by a Cretaceous avian in China around 120 million years ago. Fly, robin, fly
One defining feature of birds is their ability to fly, requiring large forelimbs covered with asymmetrically-shaped feathers and roped in powerful muscles, O'Connor said.
"In the lineage evolving towards birds, most likely a lineage within the Troodontidae [a family of birdlike theropods], flight is what separates birds from their closest non-avian dinosaur (probable troodontid) kin," said O'Connor.
Then, after the evolution of flight, the small bones in birds' hands "become reduced and fused up to create this kind of stiffened structure that supports the feathers of the wing," Clarke said.
After the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period, birds continued to evolve and diversify, developing more specialized features related to flight, such as an elongated structure in their breastbones (called a keel), and powerful pectoralis muscles to power the downstroke during flight, Clarke said.
"You see bigger and bigger pectoralis that are associated with this deep keel. And that evolved after the origin of flight and is present in living birds," she said.
Today, there are approximately 10,000 bird species worldwide. Birds might be as tiny as a hummingbird or as big as an ostrich; they might soar like an eagle or dive like a penguin. Nevertheless, they still belong to the same group of theropod dinosaurs that hatched Archaeopteryx 150 million years ago.
So, the next time you wonder what dinosaurs may have looked like when they walked the Earth, look no farther than the seagull eyeing your french fries at the beach, the crow scolding you from a fence, or the nearest pigeon pecking at crumbs on the sidewalk.
About 120 million years ago, a "dancing dragon" lived in China's Jehol Province. The discovery of a fossil belonging to the small feathered dinosaur is new to ... One-of-a-Kind Dinosaur Specimen Discovered in China Offers View Into Dinosaur-Bird Evolution Wulong bohaiensis. The skeleton described in the new paper is remarkably complete. The name means “Dancing Dragon” in Chinese and was named in part to ...
Once upon a time Benjamin Franklin suggested that the official bird for the United States should be the Turkey. He was prescient in his arguement for this North American native.
Every Thanksgiving the President of the US pardons a turkey from the ceremonial fate that turkeys suffer for the founding of that nation.
President Bush holds a platter at Baghdad airport on Thanksgiving. The turkey had been primped to adorn the buffet line, while the 600 soldiers were served from steam trays
Now if this turkey had been around the tables may have been turned.
The Associated Press Tuesday, April 4, 2006; 11:07 PM
SALT LAKE CITY -- Fossils discovered in southern Utah are from a new species of birdlike dinosaur that resembled a 7-foot-tall brightly colored turkey and could run up to 25 mph, scientists said Tuesday.
"For my own part I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly. You may have seen him perched on some dead Tree near the River, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the Labour of the Fishing Hawk; and when that diligent Bird has at length taken a Fish, and is bearing it to his Nest for the Support of his Mate and young Ones, the Bald Eagle pursues him and takes it from him.
"With all this Injustice, he is never in good Case but like those among Men who live by Sharping & Robbing he is generally poor and often very lousy. Besides he is a rank Coward: The little King Bird not bigger than a Sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the District. He is therefore by no means a proper Emblem for the brave and honest Cincinnati of America who have driven all the King birds from our Country . . .
"I am on this account not displeased that the Figure is not known as a Bald Eagle, but looks more like a Turkey. For the Truth the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America . . . He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on."
New study finds dinosaur fossils did not inspire the mythological griffin
UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH
IMAGE:
PAINTING OF A GRIFFIN, A LION-RAPTOR CHIMAERA, ALONGSIDE THE FOSSILS OF PROTOCERATOPS, A HORNED DINOSAUR. THE LATTER ARE SAID TO HAVE INFORMED THE LORE AND APPEARANCE OF THE FORMER, BUT OUR STUDY SUGGESTS THAT THERE IS NO COMPELLING CONNECTION BETWEEN DINOSAURS AND GRIFFINS.
A popular and widely-promoted claim that dinosaur fossils inspired the legend of the griffin, the mythological creature with a raptorial bird head and wings on a lion body, has been challenged in a new study.
The specific link between dinosaur fossils and griffin mythology was proposed over 30 years ago in a series of papers and books written by folklorist Adrienne Mayor. These started with the 1989 Cryptozoology paper entitled ‘Paleocryptozoology: a call for collaboration between classicists and cryptozoologists’, and was cemented in the seminal 2000 book ‘The First Fossil Hunters. The idea became a staple of books, documentaries and museum exhibits.
It suggests that an early horned dinosaur of Mongolia and China, Protoceratops, was discovered by ancient nomads prospecting for gold in Central Asia. Tales of Protoceratops bones then travelled southwest on trade routes to inspire, or at least influence, stories and art of the griffin.
Griffins are some of the oldest mythological creatures, first appearing in Egyptian and Middle Eastern art during the 4th millennium BC, before becoming popular in ancient Greece during the 8th century BC.
Protoceratops was a small (around 2 metres long) dinosaur that lived in Mongolia and northern China during the Cretaceous period (75-71 million years ago). They belong to the horned dinosaur group, making it a relative of Triceratops, although they actually lack facial horns. Like griffins, Protoceratops stood on four legs, had beaks, and had frill-like extensions of their skulls that, it’s been argued, could be interpreted as wings.
In the first detailed assessment of the claims, study authors Dr Mark Witton and Richard Hing, palaeontologists at the University of Portsmouth, re-evaluated historical fossil records, the distribution and nature of Protoceratops fossils, and classical sources linking the griffin with the Protoceratops, consulting with historians and archeologists to fully understand the conventional, non-fossil based view of griffin origins. Ultimately, they found that none of the arguments withstood scrutiny.
Ideas that Protoceratops would be discovered by nomads prospecting for gold, for instance, are unlikely when Protoceratops fossils occur hundreds of kilometres away from ancient gold sites. In the century since Protoceratops was discovered, no gold has been reported alongside them. It also seems doubtful that nomads would have seen much of Protoceratops skeletons, even if they prospected for gold where their fossils occur.
“There is an assumption that dinosaur skeletons are discovered half-exposed, lying around almost like the remains of recently-deceased animals,” said Dr Witton. “But generally speaking, just a fraction of an eroding dinosaur skeleton will be visible to the naked eye, unnoticed to all except for sharp-eyed fossil hunters.
“That’s almost certainly how ancient peoples wandering around Mongolia encountered Protoceratops. If they wanted to see more, as they’d need to if they were forming myths about these animals, they’d have to extract the fossil from the surrounding rock. That is no small task, even with modern tools, glues, protective wrapping and preparatory techniques. It seems more probable that Protoceratops remains, by and large, went unnoticed — if the gold prospectors were even there to see them.”
Similarly, the geographic spread of griffin art through history does not align with the scenario of griffin lore beginning with Central Asian fossils and then spreading west. There are also no unambiguous references to Protoceratops fossils in ancient literature.
Protoceratops is only griffin-like in being a four-limbed animal with a beak. There are no details in griffin art suggesting that their fossils were referenced but, conversely, many griffins were clearly composed from features of living cats and birds.
Dr Witton added: “Everything about griffin origins is consistent with their traditional interpretation as imaginary beasts, just as their appearance is entirely explained by them being chimaras of big cats and raptorial birds. Invoking a role for dinosaurs in griffin lore, especially species from distant lands like Protoceratops, not only introduces unnecessary complexity and inconsistencies to their origins, but also relies on interpretations and proposals that don’t withstand scrutiny.”
The authors are keen to stress that there is excellent evidence of fossils being culturally important throughout human history, and innumerable instances of fossils inspiring folklore around the world, referred to as ‘geomyths’.
Richard Hing said: “It is important to distinguish between fossil folklore with a factual basis — that is, connections between fossils and myth evidenced by archaeological discoveries or compelling references in literature and artwork — and speculated connections based on intuition.
“There is nothing inherently wrong with the idea that ancient peoples found dinosaur bones and incorporated them into their mythology, but we need to root such proposals in realities of history, geography and palaeontology. Otherwise, they are just speculation.”
Dr Witton added: “Not all mythological creatures demand explanations through fossils. Some of the most popular geomyths — Protoceratops and griffins, fossil elephants and cyclopes, and dragons and dinosaurs — have no evidential basis and are entirely speculative. We promote these stories because they’re exciting and seem intuitively plausible, but doing so ignores our growing knowledge of fossil geomyths grounded in fact and evidence. These are just as interesting as their conjectural counterparts, and probably deserve more attention than entirely speculated geomythological scenarios.”
The study is published in Interdisciplinary Science Reviews.
Comparisons between the skeleton of Protoceratops and ancient griffin art. The griffins are all very obviously based on big cats, from their musculature and long, flexible tails to the manes (indicated by coiled “hair” on the neck), and birds, and differ from Protoceratops in virtually all measures of proportion and form. Image compiled from illustrations in Witton and Hing (2024).
CREDIT
Dr Mark Witton
JOURNAL
Interdisciplinary Science Reviews
METHOD OF RESEARCH
Literature review
SUBJECT OF RESEARCH
Not applicable
ARTICLE TITLE
‘Did the horned dinosaur Protoceratops inspire the griffin?’
ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE
21-Jun-2024
Scientists reveal new species of horned
dinosaur that roamed northern U.S.
An artist's impression of Lokiceratops as it would have appeared in swamps of northern Montana 78 million years ago, complete with two Probrachylophosaurus moving past in the background.
June 20 (UPI) -- American scientists announced Thursday the discovery of a new species of horned dinosaur which at 11,000 pounds and 22 feet long is the largest centrosaurine ever found in North America and roamed the swamps of what is now the badlands of Montana in the late Cretaceous period 78 million years ago.
The new dinosaur was identified and subsequently christened Lokiceratops rangiformis by Colorado State University affiliate faculty member Joseph Sertich and Utah University Professor Mark Loewen due to an ostentatious set of curving blade-like horns on the rear of its "frill" and an asymmetrical horn that bear comparison with the antlers of caribou, Colorado State University said in a news release.
The find, detailed in a peer-reviewed study published in the scientific journal PeerJ, is named for Loki, a mythological human-like Norse god with horns and its Triceratops descendant and translates, approximately, to "Loki's horned face that looks like a caribou."
"The dinosaur now has a permanent home in Denmark, so we went with a Norse god, and in the end, doesn't it just really look like Loki with the curving blades?" said Loewen, co-author and paleontologist at the Natural History Museum of Utah in Salt Lake City.
Speaking as a replica was put on display to the public at the museum, co-author and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute paleontologist Sertich said: "It's one of those stories with a happy ending, where it didn't go to somebody's mansion. It ended up in a museum, where it will be preserved forever so people can study it and enjoy visiting it."
The original is on permanent display at the Museum of Evolution on the Danish island of Lolland, south of Copenhagen, Denmark, to which both men are scientific consultants.
Sertich and Loewen reconstructed the head and frill/horns array from dinner plate-sized and smaller-sized bone fragments found in 2019 in northern Montana, just south of the Canadian border
Once they had pieced the skull together they realized they had a new dinosaur species, the largest ever North American find from a group of horned dinosaurs called centrosaurines.
It has the largest frill horns ever seen on a horned dinosaur but does not have the nose horn common to most centrosaurines.
"This new dinosaur pushes the envelope on bizarre ceratopsian headgear, sporting the largest frill horns ever seen in a ceratopsian," said Sertich.
"These skull ornaments are one of the keys to unlocking horned dinosaur diversity and demonstrate that evolutionary selection for showy displays contributed to the dizzying richness of Cretaceous ecosystems."
However, as formidable as its appearance makes it seem Lokicertatops' elaborate headgear had everything to do with showing off and nothing to do with predation as it was, like Triceraptops, a harmless plant eater.
Comparing dinosaur horns to feathers on birds, Sertich noted how they have evolved distinct colors and patterns to differentiate the species to which they belong from other similar bird species.
"We think that the horns on these dinosaurs were analogous to what birds are doing with displays. They're using them either for mate selection or species recognition," he said.
Lokiceratops was excavated from the same rock layer as four other dinosaur species suggesting all five were alive 78 million years ago in the swamps and coastal plains along the eastern shore of a then-sea down the middle of the continent, three of which were closely related but only found in that region.
"It's unheard-of diversity to find five living together, similar to what you would see on the plains of East Africa today with different horned ungulates," Sertich said.
The discovery of Loki is evidence these three species appeared within a relatively short period but were geographically limited to this distinct locale -- a process often seen among birds on islands or otherwise isolated habitats -- unlike the wide range of mammals, such as elk, now found all across the western United States.
However, these regional differences had been ironed out by the end of the Cretaceous era, leaving just two species of horned dinosaurs from Canada to Mexico which Sertich postulated could have been due to regional differences in climatic conditions being replaced with a homogenous climate.
The end of the Cretaceous period spelled the end for the horned dinosaurs, and indeed the dinosaur era itself, with the Chicxulub impactor when a 7-mile-wide asteroid slammed into the north coast of what is now Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula at 45,000 miles-per-hour.
The study offers both the most comprehensive genealogy of horned dinosaurs and demonstrates that there was far greater diversity among the dinosaurs than previously understood.
"Lokiceratops helps us understand that we only are scratching the surface when it comes to the diversity and relationships within the family tree of horned dinosaurs," said Loewen.
What do you get when you cross Norse mythology with a 78-million-year-old ancestor to the Triceratops? Answer: Lokiceratops rangiformis, a plant-eating dinosaur with a very fancy set of horns.
The new dinosaur was identified and named by Colorado State University affiliate faculty member Joseph Sertich and University of Utah Professor Mark Loewen. The dinosaur’s name, announced today in the scientific journal PeerJ, translates roughly to “Loki’s horned face that looks like a caribou.”
Loewen and Sertich, co-lead authors of the PeerJ study, dubbed the new species Lokiceratops (lo-Kee-sare-a-tops) rangiformis (ran-É¡i-FOHR-mees) because of the unusual, curving blade-like horns on the back of its frill – the shield of bone at the back of the skull – and the asymmetrical horns at the peak of the frill, reminiscent of caribou antlers.
“The dinosaur now has a permanent home in Denmark, so we went with a Norse god, and in the end, doesn't it just really look like Loki with the curving blades?” Loewen said, referring to the trickster god’s weapon of choice.
Loewen, a paleontologist at the Natural History Museum of Utah, and Sertich, a paleontologist with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, are both scientific consultants for the Museum of Evolution in Denmark, Lokiceratops’ new home.
"It's one of those stories with a happy ending, where it didn't go to somebody's mansion," Sertich said. “It ended up in a museum, where it will be preserved forever so people can study it and enjoy visiting it.”
New dinosaur discovery
Lokiceratops was discovered in 2019 in the badlands of northern Montana, two miles (3.2 kilometers) south of the U.S.-Canada border. Sertich and Loewen helped reconstruct the dinosaur from fragments the size of dinner plates and smaller. Once they had pieced the skull together, they realized the specimen was a new type of dinosaur.
Estimated to be 22 feet (6.7 meters) long and weigh 11,000 pounds (5 metric tonnes), Lokiceratops is the largest dinosaur from the group of horned dinosaurs called centrosaurines ever found in North America. It has the largest frill horns ever seen on a horned dinosaur and lacks the nose horn that is characteristic among its kin.
“This new dinosaur pushes the envelope on bizarre ceratopsian headgear, sporting the largest frill horns ever seen in a ceratopsian,” Sertich said in a press release announcing the dinosaur’s unveiling at the Natural History Museum of Utah, where a replica is displayed. “These skull ornaments are one of the keys to unlocking horned dinosaur diversity and demonstrate that evolutionary selection for showy displays contributed to the dizzying richness of Cretaceous ecosystems.”
Sertich likened dinosaur horns to feathers on birds. Birds use feather colors and patterns to differentiate their own species among other, similar species of birds.
"We think that the horns on these dinosaurs were analogous to what birds are doing with displays,” Sertich said. “They're using them either for mate selection or species recognition.”
What Loki’s horns tell us about dinosaurs
Lokiceratops was excavated from the same rock layer as four other dinosaur species, indicating that five different dinosaurs lived side by side 78 million years ago in the swamps and coastal plains along the eastern shore of Laramidia, the western landmass of North America created when a seaway divided the continent. Three of these species were closely related but not found outside the region.
"It's unheard-of diversity to find five living together, similar to what you would see on the plains of East Africa today with different horned ungulates,” Sertich said.
Unlike the broad range of large wild mammals that roam the U.S. West today, such as elk, these ancient animals were geographically limited, he added. Loki’s discovery provides evidence that these species evolved rapidly within a small area, a process sometimes seen in birds.
By the time Triceratops came onto the scene 12 million years later, regional differences had been homogenized into just two species of horned dinosaurs from Canada to Mexico – possibly in response to a more homogenous climate, Sertich said.
The study shows that dinosaur diversity has been underestimated and presents the most complete family tree of horned dinosaurs to date.
"Lokiceratops helps us understand that we only are scratching the surface when it comes to the diversity and relationships within the family tree of horned dinosaurs," Loewen said.
The skull of Lokiceratops rangiformis, mounted and on exhibit at the Museum of Evolution in Maribo, Denmark.
Lokiceratops rangiformis gen. et sp. nov. (Ceratopsidae: Centrosaurinae) from the Campanian Judith River Formation of Montana reveals rapid regional radiations and extreme endemism within centrosaurine dinosaurs
ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE
20-Jun-2024
New, giant horned dinosaur discovered in the ancient swamps of Montana
Lokiceratops rangiformis is among the largest and most ornate horned dinosaur ever found, with two huge blade-like horns on the back of its frill.
UNIVERSITY OF UTAH
IMAGE:
PORTRAIT RECONSTRUCTIONS OF ALL FOUR CENTROSAURINE DINOSAURS THAT LIVED TOGETHER IN THE KENNEDY COULEE ASSEMBLAGE OF NORTHERN MONTANA AND SOUTHERN ALBERTA.
A remarkable, new species of horned, plant-eating dinosaur is being unveiled at the Natural History Museum of Utah. The dinosaur, excavated from the badlands of northern Montana just a few miles from the USA-Canada border, is among the largest and most ornate ever found, with two huge blade-like horns on the back of its frill. The distinctive horn pattern inspired its name, Lokiceratops rangiformis, meaning “Loki’s horned face that looks like a caribou.” The new species was announced today in the scientific journal PeerJ.
More than 78 million years ago, Lokiceratops inhabited the swamps and floodplains along the eastern shore of Laramidia. This island continent represents what is now the western part of North America created when a great seaway divided the continent around 100 million years ago. Mountain building and dramatic changes in climate and sea level have since altered the hothouse world of Laramidia where Lokiceratops and other dinosaurs thrived. The behemoth is a member of the horned dinosaurs called ceratopsids, a group that evolved around 92 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous, diversified into a myriad of fantastically ornamented species, and survived until the end of the time of dinosaurs. Lokiceratops (lo-Kee-sare-a-tops) rangiformis (ran-É¡i-FOHR-mees) possesses several unique features, among them are the absence of a nose horn, huge, curving blade-like horns on the back of the frill—the largest ever found on a horned dinosaur—and a distinct, asymmetric spike in the middle of the frill.
Lokiceratops rangiformis appeared at least 12 million years earlier than its famous cousin Triceratops and was the largest horned dinosaur of its time. The name Lokiceratops translates as “Loki’s horned face” honoring the blade-wielding Norse god Loki. The second name, rangiformis,refers to the differing horn lengths on each side of the frill, similar to the asymmetric antlers of caribou and reindeer.
“This new dinosaur pushes the envelope on bizarre ceratopsian headgear, sporting the largest frill horns ever seen in a ceratopsian,” said Joseph Sertich, a paleontologist with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and Colorado State University, and co-leader of the study. “These skull ornaments are one of the keys to unlocking horned dinosaur diversity and demonstrate that evolutionary selection for showy displays contributed to the dizzying richness of Cretaceous ecosystems.”
Lokiceratops rangiformis is the fourth centrosaurine, and fifth horned dinosaur overall, identified from this single assemblage. While ceratopsian ancestors were widespread across the northern hemisphere throughout the Cretaceous period, their isolation on Laramidia led to the evolution of huge body sizes, and most characteristically, distinctive patterns of horns above their eyes and noses, on their cheeks and along the edges of their elongated head frills. Fossils recovered from this region suggest horned dinosaurs were living and evolving in a small geographic area—a high level of endemism that implies dinosaur diversity is underestimated.
“Previously, paleontologists thought a maximum of two species of horned dinosaurs could coexist at the same place and time. Incredibly, we have identified five living together at the same time,” said co-lead author Mark Loewen, paleontologist at the Natural History Museum of Utah and professor in the Department of Geology & Geophysics at the University of Utah. “The skull of Lokiceratops rangiformis is dramatically different from the other four animals it lived alongside.”
Horned dinosaurs were more diverse than previously thought, and some groups had relatively small distributions across the island landmass of Laramidia during the Late Cretaceous
Scientists have argued about the patterns of evolution within the group of horned dinosaurs over the years. “We now recognize over 30 species of centrosaurines within the greater group of horned dinosaurs, with more like Lokiceratopsbeing described every year,” said co-author Andrew Farke from the Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology. This study shows that centrosaurine ceratopsid species and clades were confined to small geographic areas. “The endemism present in centrosaurines is greater than in any other group of dinosaurs,” said undergraduate University of Utah student and co-author Savhannah Carpenter. “Rapid evolution may have led to the 100- to 200-thousand-year turnover of individual species of these horned dinosaurs,” said Loewen. This rapid evolution is most consistent with sexual selection acting upon these animals. “Sexual selection acting on the genes responsible for the horns of the frill would produce modifications to cis-regulatory elements that would express differences in the size and shape of individual frill horns producing the variations in patterns we see in these animals,” said coauthor Jingmai O’Connor of the Field Museum in Chicago.
Reconstruction of Lokiceratops surprised by a crocodilian in the 78-million-year-old swamps of northern Montana, USA.
Lokiceratops rangiformis gen. et sp. nov. (Ceratopsidae: Centrosaurinae) from the Campanian Judith River Formation of Montana reveals rapid regional radiations and extreme endemism within centrosaurine dinosaurs
ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE
20-Jun-2024
COI STATEMENT
Andrew A. Farke is an Academic Editor for PeerJ. Brock A. Sisson is owner of Fossilogic LLC, which produces cast replicas of Lokiceratops elements..
