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Tuesday, January 19, 2021
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Rapetosaurus Left Its Young to Fend for Themselves

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"Rapetosaurus krausei"

Dinosaurs, while they were definitely some of the greatest creatures to ever rule our planet, also happened to live very brutal lives. Their existence was pretty much a mix of roaming and attempting to eat or to not get eaten. Understandably, many of the creatures died very young, soon after birth.

And just like it happens nowadays in nature, there were countless nursing habits between the creatures. While some dinosaurs took care of their young until they were old enough to fend for themselves, others left them to fend for themselves very soon after they hatched from their eggs. But biology generally took care of that.

Rapetosaurus krausei

A sauropod, as well as one of the largest dinosaurs to ever walk the face of the Earth, the Rapetosaurus was a herbivorous animal in the same group as the Apatosaurus – the titanosaurs. While you might know the Apatosaurus by its old name, the Brontosaurus (which never existed, by the way), you most likely never heard about the Rapetosaurus because of its very poorly thought-out name. It doesn’t bode all that well in the media is all I’m saying.

Anyway, researchers found some very interesting fossils belonging to a baby Rapetosaurus, and they uncovered some pretty shocking facts regarding the creatures’ rearing habits. These discoveries came as a result of a team of researchers pinning down the age of the baby titanosaur from an old rock in Madagascar estimated to be around 70 to 66 million years old.

Built like tanks

By analyzing the bone structure of the tiny dinosaur, the team determined that the creature was somewhere around 39 to 77 days old when it died. But that’s not the real shocker. The real shocker is that the analysis suggests that the animal grew from 7.5 pounds at birth (3.4 kg) to 88 pounds (40 kg) only a few weeks later.

Additionally, the bone structure had already starting rearranging itself to more closely resemble that of an adult. This means that the creatures were designed to start changing their bodies to support their adult weight before they even turned a month old. Plus, evidence showed that the baby dinosaur had already roamed for a while quite actively before it died.

Living on their own

Actually, the bones even showed what killed the creature –starvation. That, combined with all the other factors the team of scientists discovered, led them to believe that the Rapetosaurus left its young to fend for themselves pretty much as soon as they were hatched.

While this might have some pretty traumatizing implications in regards to “The Land Before Time”, it also showcases how different the rearing behaviors of dinosaurs actually were. Plus, it also showcases the hugely diverse process of evolution, as we are shown how a baby started changing its bones to supports its soon-to-come immense adult weight.

Image source: Wikimedia

Strange 50 feet long Neck “Dragon” Dinosaur Discovered in China

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long neck dinosaur

Canadian Paleontologists of the University of Alberta discovered a new long neck dinosaur from Central China.

Phillip Currie, head of the research team informs that the specie has a 25 feet long neck which is half of its entire body length. It belongs to the late Jurassic era, that indicates it is approximately 160 million years old.

In 2006, Local Farmers of Qinjijan uncovered the skeleton of the huge dinosaur. They were digging for a fish pond when they came across the enormous dinosaur.

Lida Xing, member of the research group sheds light on the latest findings. She reveals that Qijianlong is the name given to the new specie. It was selected because farmers believed that the skeleton is quite similar to one of the Chinese mythical dragons.

Additionally, scientists accepted the fact that there are numerous other long necked dinosaurs. They usually have a neck which is 30 percent equal to its body. However, recently uncovered dinosaur contains a neck of almost 50 percent of its body.

Surprisingly, the head of the dinosaur is still attached to its body. Tesuto Miyashita, doctoral student at University of Alberta states that it is unusual to discover a head and neck connected to its body.  Generally, the head of dinosaur is can be effortlessly separated.

50 feet Long Neck dinosaur Uncovered From China

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long neck dinosaur

Recently, a group of paleontologists uncovered a strange kind of dinosaur with long neck.  Researchers observed that the newly discovered dinosaur is nearly 50 feet long. The distance between its neck and shoulder is approximately 6 to 9 feet.

Scientists believe that the newly discovered dinosaur belongs to the Jurassic era of dinosaurs. Hence, it is expected to be nearly 160 million years old

Local farmers of Qijiang were the first one to unearth the skeleton of long dinosaur.  They came across the fossilized bones of the dinosaur during a construction. Therefore, scientists named it as Qijianglong guokr which means “dragon of Quijiang”.

Tstsuto Muyashita, a doctoral member of the University of Alberta talked about the discovery. He states that this kind of long neck is extremely useful for feeding purposes. It allows dinosaurs to get their food without any additional movement. However, the only major issue for them is balancing. The Qijianglang effortlessly dealt with this problem with the help of its light weight neck.  There is a special kind of air-filled space inside the neck which prevents the thickness of bones.

Additionally, Miyashita informs that this form of air- filled space is also found in birds. It keeps control on the weight of the neck skeleton.

The discovery is printed in detail in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

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