July 19, 2013

• “RAWR!” Is Dinosaur For “I’m Gonna Fucking Eat You”

  Weeks ago I told Xanga that I’d answer select dinosaur questions. Luckily, I get to pick and choose which ones to answer, because otherwise this would feel too much like homework. Here are my select replies:

  “How fast could the fastest of the dinosaurs run?” – @TheSutraDude

  This is an extremely inexact science, but the general consensus is that a therapod (beast-footed) dinosaur such as Utahraptor or Gallimimus would be the fastest. We model them mainly by comparing them to ostriches, since the leg bone structure is remarkably similar. Depending on who you ask, Gallimimus would have clocked a top running speed good enough to let them run on most American highways, with some estimates up to 70mph.

  “How did the dinosaurs become extinct?” – @twloha18

  We have conclusive evidence that an asteroid struck the earth in Mexico, in a worldwide layer of Iridium (an element that is found primarily in extraterrestrial objects). Whether this led to giant weather changes (and what exactly those were) or if weather changes happened prior to the asteroid, and the impact was just the final straw.

  
  Although there are other theories…
  

  
  “Explain the kangaroo thing again! ” -twloha18 again

  
  

  
  Early models of bipedal dinosaur such as T-rex and parasaurolophus were depicted as having their tails dragging on the ground. We now know that they held their bodies much more horizontally, with the tail acting as a counterbalance to their head. The reason the initial images were wrong is that they were based on the extant animal most resembling the bipedal dinosaurs: the kangaroo.

  
  Roar! I’m basically a furry dinosaur!
  

  
  “Why are there smaller creatures and fewer huge ones? Do you think humans could have survived to the point we have if we had more very large animals?” – @crazy2love

  First, the largest animal we have evidence of EVER existing lives today: the blue whale. Second, larger land mammals were possible partially due to a much higher oxygen content in the atmosphere. Third, humans came to being fighting giant animals such as sabre-toothed cats (twice as large as a tiger), the terror bird (about three times the size of an ostrich and carnivorous) and the cave bear (four times the size of a grizzly).

  
  It’s amazing our ancestors didn’t spend all their time shitting their loin cloths.

  Thanks for the questions, everyone!

  

  

  • 10:46 am
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