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Ferromirum oukherbouchi: Devonian-Period Shark Had Large Eyes and Unique Jaws

Saturday, November 21, 2020

Ferromirum oukherbouchi reconstructed in association with invertebrates (orthocerid cephalopods and thylacocephalans) from the Devonian of Maider region, Morocco. Image credit: Frey et al., doi: 10.1038/s42003-020-01394-2.

Paleontologists in Morocco have found fossil fragments from a previously undescribed genus and species of symmoriiform shark that lived during the Late Devonian period.

The newly-identified shark, Ferromirum oukherbouchi, swam in Earth’s oceans some 365 million years ago (Devonian period).

It had a slender body measuring about 33 cm (13 inches) in length, very large eyes and specialized jaws.

“The excellently preserved fossil we’ve examined is a unique specimen,” said senior author Dr. Christian Klug, a paleontologist in the Paläontologisches Institut und Museum at the University of Zurich.

Dr. Klug and his colleagues from Switzerland, the United States and the Netherlands investigated the morphology and biomechanics of the superbly preserved jaws of Ferromirum oukherbouchi.

“What we discovered in the process was that unlike in humans, the two sides of the lower jaw were not fused in the middle,” they said.

“This enabled the animals to not only drop the jaw halves downward but at the same automatically rotate both outwards.”

Ferromirum oukherbouchi: (a) photo and (b) line drawing of the specimen; (c) head region including parts of the rostrum, sclerotic ring, mandibular arch, hyoid arch, branchial skeleton and shoulder girdle in ventral view; (d) soft tissue remains, including liver and spiral valves; (e) pelvic and caudal region. Scale bars – 100 mm in (a, b) and 30 mm in (c-e). Abbrevations: chy – ceratohyal, cop – copula, cbr – ceratobranchials, fs – fin spine, liv – liver, mc – Meckel’s cartilage, p.pl – pelvic plate, pq – palatoquadrate, ros – rostrum, scl.r – sclerotic ring, scor – scapulocoracoid, stc – stomach content, spv – spiral valves. Image credit: Frey et al., doi: 10.1038/s42003-020-01394-2.

“Through this rotation, the younger, larger and sharper teeth, which usually pointed toward the inside of the mouth, were brought into an upright position,” added first author Dr. Linda Frey, also from the Paläontologisches Institut und Museum at the University of Zurich.

“This made it easier for animals to impale their prey.”

“Through an inward rotation, the teeth then pushed the prey deeper into the buccal space when the jaws closed.”

This mechanism not only made sure the larger, inward-facing teeth were used, but also enabled Ferromirum oukherbouchi to engage in what is known as suction feeding.

“In combination with the outward movement, the opening of the jaws causes sea water to rush into the oral cavity, while closing them results in a mechanical pull that entraps and immobilizes the prey,” the researchers said.

“We believe that the described type of jaw joint played an important role in the Paleozoic era.”

“With increasingly frequent tooth replacement, however, it became obsolete over time and was replaced by the often peculiar and more complex jaws of modern-day sharks and rays.”

The discovery of Ferromirum oukherbouchi was reported in a paper in the journal Communications Biology.

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L. Frey et al. 2020. A symmoriiform from the Late Devonian of Morocco demonstrates a derived jaw function in ancient chondrichthyans. Commun Biol 3, 681; doi: 10.1038/s42003-020-01394-2

Source: www.sci-news.com/

The Canceled Jurassic Park Game We Never Got To Play

Saturday, November 21, 2020

Jurassic Park: Survival was a video game that was originally planned to be released in November of 2001. The game would have been released on the Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and PC. The action-adventure game was to be developed by Savage Entertainment and published by Universal-Vivendi and Konami. The game was set to function as an independent narrative within the original Jurassic Park trilogy. Unfortunately, development ceased and the game was canceled.

Jurassic Park: Survival would have followed the story of a character named David Vaughn. This character was a security technician for the U.S. government occupying Isla Sorna. Vaughn was part of a security team that was assigned to work alongside a number of scientists on the island. They were also assigned to make sure to control and contain the growing dinosaur population. Things would take a turn for the worst with the introduction of a super-secret organization.

This secret organization seeks to obtain the power to create more dinosaurs, so it launches a full-scale assault and takes control of the entire island. David Vaughn transforms from security chief to survivalist and must save his colleagues, stop rogue agents, and escape the island in one piece.

What happened to Jurassic Park: Survival?

Jurassic Park: Survival would have adopted a third-person perspective that would have let players immerse themselves in the park environment. During the game's development, IGN's Douglass C. Perry wrote, "JPS looks to straddle the line between Tomb Raider-like exploration and Metal Gear Solid-style action." The gameplay closely resembles elements of Resident Evil, which could have made it the first horror-dinosaur-survival game. Jurassic Park: Survival teeters between a run-and-gun action playstyle and a much more tempered espionage approach.

Jurassic Park has evolved into a massive and successful franchise. Jurassic Park: Survival would have given players a new and semi-fresh take on the series. Despite Jurassic Park 3 is a commercial success, Jurassic Park: Survival was abandoned and forgotten. Alleged payment conflicts between the rights-holders at Universal and the developer were what led to the project being "canned," according to a Jurassic Park fan-site.

If you were one of the players that were left craving the gameplay design of Jurassic Park: Survival, then look to Jurassic World Aftermath. Universal has trademarked a new video game with just such a title.

Source: www.looper.com/

Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous: Where Dinosaurs Are The Protagonists

Friday, November 20, 2020

Few premises are as exciting as entering an island full of dinosaurs. The Netflix Jurassic World youth series, “Camp Cretaceous,” is a story that follows the lives of six friends who will have to face the unexpected when the prehistoric beasts keep proving, once again, that they cannot be tamed by any human.

Producers of the series, Scott Kreamer and Colin Trevorrow, discussed this new adventure in detail:

What do you think is the reason why Jurassic World remains relevant and still appeals to the younger generation?

Trevorrow: I think it has everything to do with dinosaurs. I think there’s a new fan every day and every minute in different parts of the world and so it’s not like we have to create new ones, all we have to do is tell stories that those fans will find authentic and scary, that will give them that satisfaction that Jurassic Park gives them with all the movies we’ve made. It’s not an easy job but it’s never ceased to interest us.

What would you say is the spirit of Jurassic?

Trevorrow: These films talk a lot about family, about people who often work together to survive, and what attracts me most about the whole franchise is the reminder that the dinosaurs bring us that we are really new to this planet, we are recent, we are just guests. If we don’t work to coexist with each other and with the animals of the planet, we could become extinct like the dinosaurs. I think this is a powerful reminder of that whole idea.

Will there be another season? Will it be about the same time as Fallen Kingdom?

Kreamer: Well, people enjoy the series, so we think there will be more stories related to these characters. What can be tricky is that Fallen Kingdom happens three years after Jurassic World, so that could be a challenge just talking from the production side.

Was it a challenge to create series that would be appealing to children without being too childish?

Kreamer.: That was very exciting, I’ve been writing children’s animation for a long time. It was very exciting for me and the writers to be able to tell a real story with real themes. Starting with Darius, who has to deal with a loss and the feelings of all these kids with problems and feelings that you can identify with. It was definitely a challenge for us but at the same time, it was very exciting and liberating for the writers, who not only had to give their best, but also in the long run enjoyed and appreciated the opportunity to write this story.

What is it about dinosaur stories that we always want more?

Kreamer: I’m not quite sure. I think that dinosaurs are the closest thing we have to mythological figures, the difference is that we have the certainty that these animals did live. We were talking to my eight-year-old son and he was talking about how dinosaurs have a mythological quality and how the idea of being next to something this big, an animal of these proportions, is a dream. I think it’s something that naturally appeals to all of us.

Do you have a favorite dinosaur from your childhood that you would like to include in the series?

Kreamer: Yes, it’s a bit of a cliché, but since I was a kid there was nothing like a T-Rex for me and one of the challenges of making this series for me was that, given the events in Jurassic World, there weren’t enough T-Rexes in history and I would like there to be more. I was very grateful that Colin had the idea to put one in this series. For me, it is perfect to see this animal in every episode.

Trevorrow: I would say that one of the things I am most grateful for is the fact that I was able to choose my favorite dinosaurs from all the movies. I was careful and I chose only a few, for me they are the main characters, and even though there are still some missing, it is very exciting.

Source: https://philly.metro.us/

Palaeontologists Describe a Preservation Process Unique to Resins

Friday, November 20, 2020

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

A team of paleontologists described two amber pieces found in sites in Teruel (Spain) with remains from vertebrates corresponding to the Early Cretaceous. Both pieces have their origins in the same conservation process of resins, described for the first time by the researchers. One of these remains corresponds to the finding of the oldest mammalian hair in amber worldwide, and the remains found in the other piece correspond to dinosaur feathers.

The team, whose results have been published in the journal Scientific Reports, is formed by Sergio Álvarez Parra and Xavier Delclòs, both from the University of Barcelona; Mónica M. Solórzano Kraemer, from the Senckenberg Natural History Museum (Frankfurt, Germany); Luis Alcalá, from Dinópolis (Teruel), and Enrique Peñalver, from the Geological and Minning Institute of Spain (Valencia).

The origin of both pieces is in the resin formed about 105 and 110 million years ago, corresponding to the Early Cretaceous. The cretaceous sites of amber are abundant in the Iberian Peninsula, and its study has provided many findings of global relevance. In particular, Teruel province has many of these sites.

Dinosaur feathers and mammalian hair

One of the pieces was found years ago in the amber site in Sant Just, in Utrillas, and another in Ariñi, in the Santa María mine, both in Teruel. The piece from Sant Just includes remains of dinosaur feathers distributed in the convex surface of amber with a stalactite shape.

The amber from Ariño presents three mammalian hairs with its characteristic microscopic scale pattern, exceptionally preserved. The parallel disposition of the three hairs and their similar proportions allow researchers to identify it as a small lock from a mammal and it corresponds to the oldest finding of hair in amber. "The determination of both findings is very complex, but it is likely for the feather remains to correspond to the extinct birds Enantiornithes, like other feathers in amber. Regarding the lock of hair, we should consider that the surface scale pattern is similar to the current mammalian hair," notes Sergio Álvarez, researcher at the UB and first author of the study. "Ariño was already known for its vertebrate fossils, such as the dinosaurs Proa valdearinnoensis and Europelta carbonensis, but no-one thought we could find remains from vertebrates included in amber," adds Álvarez.

A new conservation process for resin

In the study, the researchers described for the first time a process they call "pull off vestiture," through which small portions of the feather and fur of a living being are trapped after being in contact with a sticky mass of resin, the necessary amount of time for it to harden.

The dinosaur and the mammal to which the feathers and the lock of hair correspond, respectively, from the studied amber pieces taht were in contact with resin while they were resting or sleeping in or near a tree. Later, with movement, these epidermal structures were torn off. When the resin hardens, the entire structures are removed, but the closer portions are not covered by the resin and are not preserved.

A similar but not identical process has been observed in sticky traps that three of the researchers installed on resin trees in Madagascar. These traps also retained hairs from mammals that touched them although, due to their high stickiness, they quickly ripped them off at minimal contact. "The feature of the process described in this research is that a somewhat long time must pass between the animal's contact with the resin and the pulling off of the vestiture," points out Xavier Delclòs, professor at the Faculty of Earth Sciences and member of the Biodiversity Research Institute (IRBio) of the UB. "Thus, the findings of this study and the new process shed light on the complexity of ecosystems during the Cretaceous," concludes the researcher.

Both amber pieces in the study are in the Palaeontological Museum of Aragon (Fundación Conjunto Paleontológico de Teruel—Dinópolis) and both add more value to the large palaeontological heritage of the province of Teruel.



More information: Sergio Álvarez-Parra et al. Cretaceous amniote integuments recorded through a taphonomic process unique to resins, Scientific Reports (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-76830-8

Journal information: Scientific Reports 

Provided by University of Barcelona 

Source: https://phys.org/

What Paleontology Is and How to Work in This Field

Friday, November 20, 2020

Paleontology focuses on the many living things that once existed but disappeared. People who work in this field compare it to time travel. (GETTY IMAGES)

Paleontology combines geology and biology in the study of dinosaurs and other ancient life forms.

MANY AMAZING PLANTS AND animals that once existed on this planet are now extinct, but there are remnants of these life forms. Ancient fossils and DNA provide a glimpse into the world as it was for dinosaurs and other long-gone organisms, and humans can examine living species that are related to those that have vanished.

Someone who is fascinated by the flora, fauna and creatures of the distant past and who is inspired by the wonder of nature might consider studying paleontology.

What Is Paleontology and What Does a Paleontologist Do?

Paleontology focuses on the many living things that once existed but disappeared, and the academic discipline generally hones in on species from at least 12,000 years ago. People who work in this field compare it to time travel.

"I get to see things that very few other people get to see and, through my work, I can resurrect entire lost worlds," says Nizar Ibrahim, a paleontologist and National Geographic Explorer who was part of a team that recently found tail bones of a Spinosaurus dinosaur in the Sahara Desert. The bones were a noteworthy discovery because their structure indicates that the Spinosaurus, which was larger than the Tyrannosaurus Rex, could swim.

Ibrahim, an associate professor of biology at the University of Detroit Mercy, says he enjoys the process of reconstructing the past. "We're piecing together an entire ancient ecosystem, and in some cases, resurrecting creatures that are entirely new to science, and that's a pretty magical experience."

Bill DiMichele, president of the nonprofit Paleontological Society, says paleontology sometimes feels surreal because discoveries are often awe-inspiring.

"The worlds of the past present us with life forms almost beyond our imagination – if fossil evidence did not reveal their existence, no one ever would have thought of them," DiMichele wrote in an email.

"Who could imagine reptiles the size of a bus, or the bizarre plants of Coal Age tropical swamps, or the strange animals of the Burgess Shale? Who could have envisioned vast extinction events, wiping out nearly all the species living in our oceans? – yet it happened, more than once. Not only is the material of paleontology wondrous, and beautiful, but it opens the door to ask questions about, as it is now popular to say, 'how the world works.'"

Examination of the past sometimes disproves prevailing assumptions about what is biologically inevitable, he explains.

Paleontology requires a combination of earth science and biological science, and it encompasses all forms of ancient life, including not only dinosaurs but also microorganisms, according to paleontologists.

Lawrence Witmer, the Chang Ying-Chien Professor of Paleontology at Ohio University – where he is also a professor of anatomy – says a common misconception about paleontologists is that they only do field work.

"The image that a lot of people have is some scruffy-looking person traipsing around the badlands, looking for the glint of fossils," he says. While this is the essence of what some paleontologists do, he notes, it is not the only thing they do.

"There are other folks like myself that actually do other things that are more laboratory-based or (who are) working in museums, looking at the skeletons of dinosaurs that were collected in previous years," says Witmer, whose research illuminates the characteristics of ancient creatures' soft tissues. His insights supplement knowledge based on those creatures' skeletons, which helps to clarify evolutionary history.

Paleontologist Jobs and How to Start a Paleontology Career

Paleontology experts note a wide range of jobs in the field, each of which may require slightly different academic credentials.

Aspiring paleontology researchers generally need to obtain a science doctorate in order to pursue that career, DiMichele says, but people who wish to manage fossil collections can opt for either a master's or doctorate.

There are also jobs in fossil preparation, which involves artfully removing rock from a fossil and then figuring out how to display that fossil. Someone could pursue that type of job with a bachelor's degree, and it may even be possible to secure a position in that field without attending college, DiMichele explains.

"It must also be noted that many advances in the field of paleontology are made by amateurs, those for whom paleontology is an avocation rather than a profession," he adds.

Experts note that despite the frequency of dinosaur imagery and stories in pop culture, jobs associated with dinosaurs are rare. They say that it can be difficult to secure a first permanent position as a professional paleontologist.

Thomas D. Carr, a paleontologist who has identified several new dinosaur species previously unknown to science, says paleontology is a prestigious profession that is difficult to enter.

"This is a competitive field, so the student should be top in their class and have a lot of interest in the topic," says Carr, an associate professor of biology at Carthage College in Wisconsin and director of its Institute of Paleontology. "Also, top grades are going to make all the difference to stand out in this field."

Paleontologists note that mentorship is crucial and urge prospective paleontology students to seek out a program where they will have a good mentor.

Experts note that salaries vary widely within the field of paleontology, depending on the employer and a worker's rank in the organization's hierarchy, but they caution that pay tends to be generally modest.

Whitmer estimates that a newly hired paleontology assistant professor at a college or university would earn a salary in the range of $60,000 to $80,000 and says that museums often pay less than academic institutions.

"None of us are getting into this field to be rich," Witmer explains. "We're getting into this field because it allows us to do something for which we have a passion and, hopefully some aptitude."

Source: www.usnews.com/

Prosobonia sauli: Researchers Discover Now Extinct Species of Polynesian Sandpiper

Thursday, November 19, 2020

The extinct Kiritimati sandpiper (Prosobonia cancellata), a close cousin of the newly-discovered Henderson sandpiper (Prosobonia sauli). Illustration by George Edward Lodge, 1907.

A new species of sandpiper has been identified from multiple Holocene fossil bones collected several decades ago on Henderson Island, an uninhabited island in the South Pacific Ocean.

The newly-described species of sandpiper is scientifically named Prosobonia sauli after Cook Islands-based ornithologist and conservationist Edward K. Saul. The bird’s common name is the Henderson sandpiper.

The fossilized bones of the bird were collected from caves and overhangs on Henderson Island in 1991 and 1992 during the Sir Peter Scott Commemorative Expedition to the Pitcairn Islands.

The Henderson sandpiper is the fifth known species of Polynesian sandpiper. All but one of the species, the endangered Tuamotu sandpiper (Prosobonia parvirostris), are extinct.

“We think Prosobonia sauli probably went extinct soon after humans arrived on Henderson Island, which archaeologists estimate happened no earlier than the eleventh century,” said lead author Dr. Vanesa De Pietri, curator of natural history at the Canterbury Museum.

“It’s possible these humans brought with them the Polynesian rat, which Polynesian sandpiper populations are very vulnerable to.”

Compared to the Tuamotu sandpiper, the Henderson sandpiper had longer legs and a wider, straighter bill, indicating how it foraged for food.

It probably adapted to the habitats available on Henderson Island, which are different to those on other islands where Polynesian sandpipers were found.

“We found that Polynesian sandpipers are early-diverging members of a group that includes calidrine sandpipers and turnstones,” Dr. De Pietri said.

“They are unlike other sandpipers in that they are restricted to islands of the Pacific and do not migrate.”

“Henderson Island is home to a number of unique species, a handful of which are landbirds like the Henderson sandpiper,” said co-author Dr. Paul Scofield, senior curator of natural history at the Canterbury Museum.

“The island is really quite remarkable because every landbird species that lives there, or that we know used to live there, is not found anywhere else.”

“The study shows the need to protect the one remaining Polynesian sandpiper species, the Tuamotu sandpiper,” Dr. De Pietri said.

“We know that just a few centuries ago there were at least five Polynesian sandpiper species scattered around the Pacific.”

“Now there’s only one, and its numbers are declining, so we need to ensure we look after the remaining populations.”

The discovery is described in a paper published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.

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Vanesa L. De Pietri et al. A new extinct species of Polynesian sandpiper (Charadriiformes: Scolopacidae: Prosobonia) from Henderson Island, Pitcairn Group, and the phylogenetic relationships of ProsoboniaZoological Journal of the Linnean Society, published online November 7, 2020; doi: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa115

Source: www.sci-news.com/

Global Warming Triggered the Evolution of Giant Dinosaurs

Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Live reconstruction of the early sauropod Bagualia alba. Credit: Jorge Gonzales

Global warming triggered the evolution of giant dinosaurs. An international team of paleontologists, including LMU Professor Oliver Rauhut, finds evidence of rapid climate change 180 million years ago as the cause of the spread of the well-known long-necked dinosaurs.

When we hear the word dinosaur, most of us probably immediately think of giant animals with massive bodies, long necks and tails, and tiny heads. These “quintessential dinosaurs” actually represent one prominent subgroup of the Dinosauria, the so called Sauropoda (‚long-necked dinosaurs‘ in popular culture). Sauropods were truly amazing animals, and included the largest land-living animals known, with body lengths of up to 40 m and weights of 70 tons or more.

However, these giant animals did not appear directly at the beginning of the era of dinosaurs. For the first fifty million years of their evolutionary history, the Sauropodomorpha — the lineage that the sauropods belong to — were represented by several groups of bipedal to quadrupedal animals. Although some of them reached already large body sizes of about ten meters in length and a few tons in weight, these groups also included smaller, and lightly built animals, some of which not larger than a goat. Furthermore, all of these animals had rather slender teeth, indicating that these plant-eating animals fed on rather soft and lush vegetation. However, towards the end of the Early Jurassic period, some 180 million years ago, all these groups suddenly disappear, and only one lineage survived and thrived — the sauropods. What caused this faunal change during the Early Jurassic has remained enigmatic so far.

An international team of researchers, led by Argentinean paleontologist Diego Pol and including Munich researcher Oliver Rauhut of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University and the Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie, now report new evidence on what might have caused these changes. In the province of Chubut, Argentinean Patagonia, they did not only discover the fossil remains of one of the oldest large sauropods known, which the team named Bagualia alba, but could also place it very precisely in its temporal and ecological context. Thus, the layers the new sauropod comes from could very precisely be dated as 179 million years ago, just after the mysterious disappearance of the other sauropodomorph groups, and finds of plant fossils in rock layers just before that time and at the time that Bagualia alba lived provide evidence for the climate and the ecology that these animals lived in.

Thus, the data indicate that there was a relative rapid change in climate about 180 million years ago, from a temperate warm and humid climate, in which a diverse, lush vegetation flourished, to a strongly seasonal, very hot and dry climate, characterized by a less diverse flora, dominated by forms showing adaptations for hot climates, such as certain conifers. These environmental changes were apparently driven by a greenhouse effect due to climate gasses such as CO2 and methane caused by increased volcanism at that time; evidence of these volcanic eruptions are found on many southern continents, such as the Drakensberge in southern Africa.

With their slender teeth, the non-sauropodan sauropodomorphs were adapted to the rather soft vegetation flourishing before this global warming event, but when this flora was replaced by the much tougher greenhouse vegetation, these animals died out. The sauropods represented the only group of sauropodomorphs with a much more robust dentition, well-adapted for such tough vegetation, and thus they flourished and became the dominant group of herbivorous dinosaurs at that time. Indeed the specialization for this kind of vegetation was probably one of the reasons why these animals reached their gigantic sizes: As large digestion chambers are needed to cope with such food, there was a general tendency for these animals to become ever larger.

Reference: “Extinction of herbivorous dinosaurs linked to Early Jurassic global warming event” by D. Pol, J. Ramezani, K. Gomez, J. L. Carballido, A. Paulina Carabajal, O. W. M. Rauhut, I. H. Escapa and N. R. Cúneo, 18 November 2020, Proceedings of the Royal Society B. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.2310

Source: https://scitechdaily.com/

What Are Pyroraptors? Jurassic World 3's Rumored New Dinosaur Explained

Saturday, December 19, 2020

Jurassic World: Dominion is rumored to introduce the Pyroraptor, a new dinosaur. How will it fit into the final film of the Jurassic World series?

Jurassic World: Dominion promises to bring the Jurassic Park franchise back to its roots, but it will also include new elements, such as the Pyroraptor, a never-before-seen dinosaur species rumored to appear in the upcoming film. Colin Treverrow, who directed the first Jurassic World movie, will be back at the helm and has said the final installment will "bring the franchise together" with a satisfying conclusion. It will make use of both CGI and animatronic dinosaur effects, bringing Jurassic World: Dominion closer to what made the first Jurassic Park film so technologically impressive. The original human Jurassic Park stars (Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum) will also return to play Alan Grant, Ellie Sattler, and Ian Malcolm in substantial roles. 

Although these tributes to the first Jurassic Park installment are certainly welcome, Dominion will blend them with newer additions to the franchise. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard will reprise their roles as Owen Grady and Claire Dearing, and Trevorrow confirmed that other characters from Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom will have elevated roles in the final film. Following the second movie’s events (and perhaps even a further time jump), Dominion will take place in a world where uncontrolled dinosaurs roam free.

According to recent Jurassic World 3 set photos, the menacing Pyroraptor could be among these new reptilian threats. Little has been confirmed about the new dinosaur, but both rumors about the new movie and real scientific knowledge of the Pyroraptor suggest that it could be a major adversary.

The Pyroraptor, whose name means “fire thief,” was a predatory dinosaur first described by paleontologists in 2000. Similarly to the Jurassic Park series’ iconic Velociraptors, it possessed a long, thin tail, clawed forelimbs, and walked on two legs. Pyroraptors were covered head-to-toe in feathers and had distinct curved claws on their feet for climbing, an important skill for an animal that only came up to an average human's knees.

How true Jurassic World: Dominion will stay to the Pyroraptor’s real-life appearance remains unknown. It is already established that the Jurassic Park movies take artistic liberties with its dinosaur designs, such as scaling up the Velociraptor and altering its avian features to be more lizard-like. However, the Pyroraptor appeared in the mobile games Jurassic World: Alive and Jurassic World: The Game in all of its feathered glory, making it one of the only dinosaurs in the franchise to be depicted with full plumage. The new movie could take a different design route, but keeping its feathers would make it a unique addition to the dinosaur roster. The rumored Pyroraptor shown in set photos does not have feathers, but it was a reference maquette, not a final animatronic, meaning its design could be altered at later production stages.

Although it could be enlarged like its Velociraptor cousins, keeping the Pyroraptor small would also set it apart from them. A knee-high dinosaur may not sound threatening on paper, but Ian Malcolm's actor, Jeff Goldblum, recently described a scene in Dominion where his character and the other two original scientists are stuck in a “tight enclosed space” with a new dinosaur, possibly the Pyroraptor. Even a pint-size predator, or multiple Pyroraptors in a mob, could be dangerous in a claustrophobic environment, especially with their deadly claws and climbing ability.

Beyond increasing its size and removing its plumage, Jurassic World: Dominion could give the Pyroraptor even more fictional upgrades. Although Treverrow has promised there would be no more hybrid dinosaurs in the new movie, hard science has never held the Jurassic Park movies back, and the filmmakers' creativity will certainly make a terrifying adversary out of the Jurassic World 3's new dinosaur.

Source: https://screenrant.com/

Dinosaurs Would Have Continued To Thrive Had It Not Been For The Asteroid, Researchers Say

Thursday, November 19, 2020

Researchers believe dinosaurs were doing well up until the point of extinction.

Dinosaurs were doing well and could have continued to dominate Planet Earth if they had not been wiped out by an asteroid, new research has found.

After emerging during the Triassic period some 230 million years ago, dinosaurs occupied every continent and were dominant in most terrestrial ecosystems, until they were rendered extinct by the asteroid impact 66 million years ago.

Some scientists believe the creatures were beginning to lose their edge and were already heading for extinction when the asteroid hit Earth at the end of the late Cretaceous period.

But researchers from the UK's University of Bath are hoping to put this theory to bed. Gathering diverse and up-to-date data, researchers used statistical analysis to assess whether the dinosaurs were still able to produce new species up until their untimely demise.

"What we found is that the dinosaurs were still dominant, they were still widespread and still doing really well," Joe Bonsor, first author of the study, said in a statement.

"If the asteroid impact had never happened then they might not have died out and they would have continued after the Cretaceous," Bonsor, a PhD student at London's Natural History Museum and the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath, added.

During their more than 150 million years on earth, dinosaurs evolved to take many shapes and forms -- some dinosaurs were tiny, while others measured over 100 feet. Experts think diversity was the key to their dominance on Earth, with some boasting armors, crests, teeth and even feathers.

Previous research had suggested that this diversity was starting to decline, and that dinosaurs were beginning to lose their dominance.

An artist's interpretation of the asteroid impact that wiped out all non-avian dinosaurs

But the study published Tuesday in the journal The Royal Society Open Science argues that the earlier research reached this conclusion by modeling dinosaur family trees based on previous fossil records.

The University of Bath researchers say that, after looking at a greater number of dinosaur groups, their more up-to-date and detailed family trees show that dinosaurs on every continent were in fact flourishing, with plant-eating animals such as hadrosaurs, ceratopsians and ankylosaurs dominant in North America, and carnivorous abelisaurs continuing to thrive in South America.

"The main point of what we are saying is that we don't really have enough data to know either way what would have happened to the dinosaurs," Bonsor said. "Generally in the fossil record there is a bias towards a lack of data, and to interpret those gaps in the fossil record as an artificial decline in diversification rates isn't what we should be doing.

"Instead we've shown that there is no strong evidence for them dying out, and that the only way to know for sure is to fill in the gaps in the fossil record," he added.

Alfio Alessandro Chiarenza, a palaeontologist at Imperial College London, who was not involved in the research, told CNN in an email that the study "applies probably the largest dataset of dinosaur evolutionary trees ever and applies thorough methods to look at diversification rates towards the end of the Mesozoic."

He noted that the research added weight to the argument that non-avian dinosaurs were thriving, not dwindling, before the asteroid hit.

"To paraphrase TS Eliot," Chiarenza said, "This is the way dinosaurs ended, not with a whimper but with a bang."

Source: https://edition.cnn.com/

Non-Avian Dinosaurs Were Not in Decline Prior to Their Extinction

Thursday, November 19, 2020

Bonsor et al. refute claim that non-avian dinosaurs were in decline before the Chicxulub asteroid impact. Image credit: Sergey Krasovskiy.

A new analysis of non-avian dinosaur diversity shows they were not in decline and were still capable of generating new species at the time of their extinction by the Chicxulub asteroid hit 66 million years ago (Cretaceous period).

Dinosaurs were widespread globally at the time of the asteroid impact at the end of the Late Cretaceous epoch, occupying every continent on Earth and were the dominant form of animal of most terrestrial ecosystems.

However, it is still contentious amongst paleobiologists as to whether dinosaurs were declining in diversity at the time of their extinction.

In order to address this question, Joe Bonsor from the University of Bath and the Natural History Museum, London, and his colleagues collected a set of different dinosaur family trees and used statistical modeling to assess if each of the main dinosaur groups was still able to produce new species at this time.

They used statistical methods to overcome sampling biases, looking at the rates of speciation of dinosaur families rather than simply counting the number of species belonging to the family.

They found that dinosaurs were not in decline before the asteroid hit, contradicting some previous studies.

They also suggest that had the impact not occurred, dinosaurs might have continued to be the dominant group of land animals on the planet.

“Previous studies done by others have used various methods to draw the conclusion that dinosaurs would have died out anyway, as they were in decline towards the end of the Cretaceous period,” Bonsor said.

“However, we show that if you expand the dataset to include more recent dinosaur family trees and a broader set of dinosaur types, the results don’t actually all point to this conclusion — in fact only about half of them do.”

“The main point of our paper is that it isn’t as simple as looking at a few trees and making a decision.”

“The large unavoidable biases in the fossil record and lack of data can often show a decline in species, but this may not be a reflection of the reality at the time.”

“Our data don’t currently show they were in decline, in fact some groups such as hadrosaurs and ceratopsians were thriving and there’s no evidence to suggest they would have died out 66 million years ago had the extinction event not happened.”

The team’s results are published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.

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Joseph A. Bonsor et al. 2020. Dinosaur diversification rates were not in decline prior to the K-Pg boundary. R. Soc. open sci 7 (11): 201195; doi: 10.1098/rsos.201195

Source: www.sci-news.com/

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