Episode 475: Dino Hint Fossils Phase 1: Exploring Paleo-Footprints. For millennia, hint fossils have captivated the human creativeness. Australian Aboriginal mythology comprises dinosaur tracks. Leonardo da Vinci made primary contributions to early ichnology. As of late we nonetheless to find new hint fossils hiding in simple sight.
Ichnology:
Dinosaurs left at the back of greater than their bones. They left at the back of their marks (actually). There are strains of them all over the place—tracks, trails (trails are like tracks, however extra abnormal—left by means of snails or worms crawling, by means of jellyfish dragging tentacles, or markings left by means of crustaceans or sea urchins), burrows, nests, eggs, enamel marks, or even their poop and vomit. All of these items (referred to as ichnofossils or hint fossils) give us clues into how they lived and the way they behaved
Scientists find out about those strains (it’s referred to as ichnology)
Hint fossils constitute an animal interacting with one thing (the bottom, vegetation, and even different animals) They may be able to let us know how an animal moved (did they stroll, move slowly, run, swim?), the place it lived, information about breeding and nesting and possibly hibernating, how and what it consumed (if a predator, what used to be its tempo when chasing, or how did a prey animal act after an assault?)
Lines aren’t restricted to only dinos: trilobites, crabs, centipedes, millipedes, worms and extra can depart proof
We had a whole lot of resources for this two-part episode, a couple of particularly just right ones for purchasing began on ichnology:
- The ebook “Hint Fossils: Ideas, Issues, Potentialities” edited by means of William Miller III supply
- The ebook “Hint Fossils as Signs of Sedimentary Environments”, edited by means of Dirk Knaust and Richard G. Bromley (just right intro, and comprises the historical past of the find out about of ichnofossils) supply
- The ebook “Ichnology: Organism-Substrate Interactions in Area and Time” by means of Luis A. Buatois and M. Gabriela Mangano (has a just right intro on what ichnology is) supply
- The ebook “Dinosaurs With out Bones” by means of Anthony J. Martin (talks concerning the strains dinosaurs in particular left at the back of, and almost definitely used to be my first creation to ichnology, once I learn the ebook after we had been first beginning the podcast—we interviewed Anthony long ago in episode 2, and lately remastered the episode) supply
We’ve additionally talked so much about ichnology discoveries and clinical research over time, so we can be revisiting/highlighting a couple of right through those subsequent couple episodes. Don’t concern, may also be speaking about some new papers too
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The dinosaur of the day: Talenkauen
- Iguanodont that lived within the Past due Cretaceous in what’s now Santa Cruz Province, Argentina (Cerro Fortaleza Formation)
- Very similar to Dryosaurus however fairly better and with a proportionally longer neck
- Had a protracted tail, shorter palms than legs, a small head
- Small and walked on two legs
- Estimated to be 13 toes (4 m) lengthy, even though Gregory Paul estimated it to be 15 toes (4.7 m) lengthy and weigh 660 lb (300 kg)
- Had a moderately small head
- Had a narrow humerus (higher arm bone)
- Humerus (arm bone) had lowered spaces for muscle attachment, like different ornithopods present in South The us, like Notohypsilophodon and Anabisetia
- Had tooth within the tip of its beak and had a primary toe, in contrast to later iguanodontians (best had the 3 center feet)
- Had easy, egg-shaped plates at the facet of the rib cage that had been lengthy (7 in or 180 mm) however skinny (best 3 mm thick)
- Different dinosaurs have identical plates, like Hypsilophodon and Thescelosaurus
- Too skinny to assist with protection
- Fossils present in 2000
- Kind and best species is Talenkauen santacrucensis
- Named from a moderately entire, articulated skeleton that’s lacking the again of the cranium, the tail, and the arms
- Described in 2004 by means of Fernando Novas and others
- Genus title way “small cranium”
- Species title refers back to the province the place it used to be discovered
- Bone fragments and tooth discovered close to the holotype, which can be most likely from a lately hatched Talenkauen
- First hatchling ornithopod found out within the southern hemisphere
- Had put on at the tooth, this means that it had eaten and had hatched (wasn’t an embryo)
- Imaginable the grownup took care of the child, however unclear
- Different dinosaurs that lived round the similar time and position come with the titanosaur Puertasaurus and the theropod Orkoraptor
A laugh Reality:
Working out which dinosaurs left explicit tracks is extremely tough, however AI can assist resolve the thriller.
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