famous monsters like tyrannosaurs and velociraptors, most likely not like the monsters of our imagination and certainly behaved differently. Many of us in childhood, and I speak for myself absolutely sincerely, there was a difficult period of love for dinosaurs.
And now it turns out that much of what I knew was not true. It turns out that the modern scientific view of these things is one step away from the popular image of dinosaurs.
Until the "dinosaur renaissance" of the late 60s, dinosaurs were always portrayed as sluggish and ruminant. But experts realized that dinosaurs led an active lifestyle and gradually brought this to the general public - including with the help of the 1993 Jurassic Park.
Over the past two decades, we have witnessed another major revolution in our understanding of dinosaurs, thanks to new fossils from China and advances in technology. But most of these findings did nothing to change the conventional wisdom about dinosaurs.
And now I understand how strongly the images of the legendary dinosaurs have ingrained themselves in my memory since childhood. It's like considering Pluto to be a planet in the solar system.
But now you may not recognize these dinosaurs.
Velociraptor
Let's start with an idea that many have heard of but few accepted: Some dinosaurs had feathers. Not just a couple of feathers here and there, but a body completely covered with feathers.
Already in the 1980s, some paleontologists began to suspect that dinosaurs were feathered, it turns out, creatures. Increasingly, fossils of primitive dromaeosaurids - the family to which Velociraptor belongs - with fully feathered wings, have been found. Nevertheless, the depictions of this iconic predator remained fairly traditional.
That all changed in 2007, when American scientists discovered feather tubercles on the forearm bone of a fossilized Velociraptor. These tubercles are found where the feather attaches and provide strong evidence for feathered and bird-like velociraptors.
Those human-sized dinosaurs shown in Jurassic Park had nothing to do with their real ancestors.
“If animals like Velociraptor were alive today, we would immediately think they look like unusual birds,” says Mark Norell of the American Museum. natural history. And this is reflected not only in feathers: real Velociraptors were the size of turkeys.
Michael Crichton, author of the original Jurassic Park novel, designed his raptors in the image of the larger Deinonychus. And, apparently, he deliberately named them incorrectly, because he thought that "velociraptor" sounded more dramatic.
Archeopteryx
Archeopteryx is widely considered to be the "missing link" between dinosaurs and birds. This mysterious status attracted a lot of attention to them, and not only positive.
Accusations of forgery have plagued Archeopteryx fossils for many years, usually from people who don't like such clear proof of evolution.
In fact, new research suggests that Archeopteryx may not be the missing link, but clearly not for reasons promoted by opponents of evolution. After the discovery of a dinosaur very similar to Archeopteryx in China, scientists have speculated that the famous avian ancestor may actually have preceded small carnivorous dinosaurs like velociraptors. Since then, this version has been disputed.
Even if Archeopteryx is considered the first bird, this label is not true. "It's fundamentally impossible to draw a line on the evolutionary tree between dinosaurs and birds," says Steve Brusatte of the University of Edinburgh in the UK, co-author of a 2014 study on the evolution of early birds.
Everything indicates that there was no missing link between birds and dinosaurs, but only a gradual transition involving many feathered intermediate species.
Triceratops
This T-Rex's eternal adversary and favorite model for plastic figures, who doesn't love a Triceratops?
So when John Scannella and John Horner published a paper in 2009 suggesting that Triceratops was just a juvenile version of a larger but less well-known torosaurus (Torosaurus), waves of hatred hit them, followed by disappointment. The hashtag #TriceraFAIL was invented. People decided that their favorite dinosaur was just made up.
But it wasn't like that. Very soon, commentators began to point out that Triceratops had been found earlier, so if anyone should be removed, it is torosaurs. But the lesson was very important. Our knowledge of dinosaurs is often based on scarce fossils, so even known species undergo changes.
Brontosaurus
Brontosaurus gets its name from the archetypal sauropods: huge, lumbering herbivores with long necks. But for hundreds of years, scientists were sure that this dinosaur never existed.
The skeleton that was first introduced as a brontosaurus was left over from an apatosaurus with a camarosaurus skull.
However, in 2015, a team of scientists presented an analysis demonstrating significant differences between the original Brontosaurus and the fossil Apatosaurus, suggesting that the brontosaur genus should be resurrected.
The key differentiating factor, the team says, is size. In the family of giant reptiles, Apatosaurus was huge.
Tyrannosaurus rex
Some scientists have definitely defended the tyrannosaurus rex. After decades of excuses that it was a humble grass-eater and not the ferocious predator of popular imagination, this lizard is now facing another identity crisis.
As the feathered revolution swept paleontology, experts began to think about the genus Tyrannosaurus as well. Of course, how could the most charismatic predator of all time be feathered?
Not an ounce of plumage has been found in over 50 T. rex remains throughout North America. But along with excavations in China, very, very interesting hints were drawn.
In 2004, they found a primitive tyrannosauroid with feather coverings similar to those found on other small carnivorous dinosaurs. This was followed by the discovery of Yutyrannus in 2012 - which means "feathered tyrant". This giant predator was closely related to T. rex, and not only in terms of size. It was covered with long feathers.
These data suggest that the most famous predator of all time needs to be looked at differently. The question is, was the feathered Tyrannosaurus rex not as scary as the roaring, lawyer-eating monster we all love so much?
Stegosaurus
Experts are famous for their ability to come up with wacky explanations for the strange features of dinosaurs; explanations that creep confidently into popular opinion and stay there.
For example, it's a widely held "fact" that Stegosaurus had an extra brain in its pelvic area to compensate for the tiny brain (cerebellum?) in its small head.
But no, the stegosaurus may not have been the smartest of its friends, but it didn't need an extra brain. This extra cavity, which gave rise to the myth, most likely housed the "glycogen body": a structure found in many birds that is involved in energy storage.
He also has plates on his back.
For some time the most popular theory was that the most distinguishing feature Stegosaurus is ... "solar panels" that help it regulate its body temperature. But this has always been the subject of heated scientific battles. If this is indeed the case, why are other stegosaurus decorations more like spikes than panels?
The variety of Stegosaurus spines played a role in another train of thought. Like the bright and colorful plumage of tropical birds, these plates may have helped dinosaurs distinguish each other and attract mates.
Sex may have been a key factor in the development of many of the extravagant traits seen in dinosaurs. Per last years everything from the long necks of sauropods to the lush frills of ceratopsians began to be classified as sexual selection.
Pachycephalosaurus
And although this dinosaur is not included in the first class of legendary lizards, Pachycephalosaurus is well known among dinosaur fans for its armored head.
These dinosaurs were almost exclusively depicted as engaging in head-to-head battles. Pachycephalosaurs had domed heads with a powerful reinforced skull. It was believed that the males used these built-in battering rams to fight each other, much like the rams of today.
However, some scientists doubted that pachycephalosaurs were fighters.
"Our research showed that pachycephalosaurs could only hit their heads once and the subsequent injury could have killed them," says John Horner of the University of Montana in the US, who has studied the microstructure of dinosaur cranial tissue.
He suggests that the domes were another way to attract partners (sexual, of course, and not in business).
Ankylosaurus
Covered in thick armor plates from head to tail, the ankylosaurus was such a medieval knight of the Cretaceous period.
Modern paleontologists are using the latest technology to squeeze more and more information out of fossils. In 2004 Thorsten Scheier at the University of Bonn in Germany used polarizing microscopy to reveal remarkable new levels of complexity in the ankylosaur shell.
It turned out that the bulky-looking armor has a complex microstructure of bones and collagen, similar to the structure of fiberglass or Kevlar.
“This shell was very strong in all places,” Scheyer says. And surprisingly easy. “Modern composite materials that are used to create wind farm blades or bulletproof vests are based on the same principle.”
It looks like the ankylosaurus looked more like a modern-day super-soldier than a medieval knight.
Spinosaurus
Another dinosaur that became famous thanks to the movie Jurassic Park is the Spinosaurus: in the film, he fought with the Tyrannosaurus Rex.
It's easy to see why the filmmakers' choice fell on Spinosaurus. At 15.2 meters long, it is 2.7 meters longer than a Tyrannosaurus rex. It also had a long and fearsome jaw and a bizarre "sail" protruding from its back.
Spinosaurus has always been a mysterious dinosaur known only from skeletal fragments found in the deserts of North Africa. But in 2014, a group of archaeologists led by Nizar Ibrahim of the University of Chicago in Illinois announced the discovery of new remains. These fossils seem to confirm what has long been suspected: Spinosaurus is the only aquatic dinosaur.
Ibrahim's analysis revealed a creature with small hind limbs, more suitable for swimming than land hunting. It also had a long crocodile-like snout and a bony microstructure similar to that of the bones of other aquatic vertebrates.
“Working on this animal was like studying an alien from space,” says Ibrahim. “This dinosaur is unlike any other.”
Bonus: pterosaurs
This point doesn't really count since pterosaurs weren't dinosaurs, a fact that is periodically overlooked.
Many of us are familiar with the name "pterodactyl". But that name hides many groups of flying reptiles that are collectively referred to as "pterosaurs." And this group was just huge.
At one end of the spectrum we find Nemycolopterus, a tiny pterosaur with a wingspan of 25 centimeters (10 inches). There are also bigger creatures: azhdarchids. When they spread their wings, their wingspan was a whopping 10 meters. If so judged, they were the largest flying animals of all time.
You can often hear that if we could stand in front of a tyrannosaurus rex and not move, then a formidable but inattentive dinosaur would not notice its prey and pass by. Such an assumption became popular after the movie "Jurassic Park", where one of the main characters offers to escape from the tyrannosaurus rex in this way.
However, this is nothing more than a delusion, because the tyrannosaurus, of course, could distinguish between stationary objects. Furthermore, modern research show that this dinosaur had excellent eyesight - perhaps one of the best among all other predators, including those living on the planet at the moment.
Tyrannosaurs lived on the planet about 67 million years ago in what is now part of North America. This formidable bipedal predator was the largest representative of the tyrannosaurid family, and many scientists are inclined to believe that it was this species that became the pinnacle of the evolution of predatory dinosaurs until the catastrophe that subsequently led to their complete extinction. We can judge the sense organs of the tyrannosaurus rex based on the found remains of these giant animals. Modern technologies and accumulated knowledge allow scientists to model what sense organs they possessed and how they perceived the world living beings living on the planet tens of millions of years ago. The most prominent role in the study of this area was played by Professor Kent Stevens from the University of Oregon. In 1993, he started working on a dinosaur interior modeling project called DinoMorph. The research was only completed in 2006.
The results showed that Tyrannosaurus must have had excellent eyesight - perhaps even better than modern birds of prey. The predator had a binocular range of 55 degrees - more than that of a hawk, and could distinguish objects at a distance of up to 6 kilometers! Interestingly, in addition to sharp vision, the size of the olfactory nerves in relation to the size of the brain was the largest in Tyrannosaurus among other dinosaurs, which made it the owner of an excellent sense of smell. The hearing organs of the pangolin turned out to be no less developed, as evidenced by the unusually long cochlea for this family.
Tyrannosaurus on the hunt | depositphotos - Pixelchaos
Other dinosaurs, unable to withstand a formidable predator, could only hope for two things: speed and good camouflage. Most likely, those who used the second method were the majority - after all, few could break away from a Tyrannosaurus rex running at a speed of about 50 km / h (scientists believe that the maximum running speed of the lizard was from 40 to 70 km / h). In order to notice other dinosaurs merged with tall grass or hiding in the foliage, the tyrannosaurus, of course, had to distinguish between stationary objects and have excellent depth perception - there is no doubt about this. Given the amazing organs of perception of this animal, 60 million years ago there was no predator more dangerous than a tyrannosaurus rex, and no tricks like freezing in place could save its potential victim.
January 28, 2016If, while walking in the park, we suddenly meet a tyrannosaurus rex, will we be able to flee from it? Such a question naturally arises among viewers of Hollywood blockbusters, and so far, paleontologists tend to give a rather encouraging answer to it.
Tyrannosaurus. Reconstruction: Tommaso Sanguigni
Finding out the approximate speed of movement of long-extinct creatures is not an easy task. In the case of the Tyrannosaurus rex, scientists were just lucky: in the US state of Wyoming, they came across a chain of well-preserved fossil tracks. Three distinct footprints of huge paws 47 cm wide, left in the mud of the Cretaceous period, could only belong to a young Tyrannosaurus rex or a closely related Nanotyrannus lancensis, which some researchers consider to be just a semi-adult tyrannosaurus rex. There were no other candidates for authorship at that time.
After carefully studying this track, Scott Persons (Scott Persons) from the Canadian University of Alberta tried to restore the speed with which the creature "inherited" in Wyoming was moving. To figure out just how fast this Tyrannosaurus rex was moving, Persons and colleagues first estimated the height of the dinosaur's hips above the ground based on the length of the footprint. Using several biometric formulas, they got a level between 1.56 and 2.07 meters above the ground. Then they resorted to another formula based on observations of modern animals and calculated that the speed of the Tyrannosaurus rex was between 4.5 and 8 kilometers per hour.
This is not too fast for such a large animal, scientists say. Modern man, even when he is slowly running a marathon, he still moves faster. So if we accept that the speed of tyrannosaurs did not exceed 8 kilometers per hour, then the average healthy person is quite capable of escaping from them.
“Speed determines what you can hunt, how you hunt, and what kind of terrain you will be most successful in. This is true for modern predators, and should be true for dinosaurs,” Persons said, explaining the importance of his work.
However, we still do not know top speed available to these giant predatory lizards. The fact is, paleontologists remind, that the tyrannosaurus rex they studied was just walking somewhere on slippery dirty ground, and most likely, was not in too much of a hurry so as not to fall. Unfortunately, other unconditionally tyrannosaurus trails left in other natural conditions are not yet known to science, so the question of whether a tyrannosaurus could catch up with a person remains essentially open. According to some of the most extreme estimates, the speed of the attacking Tirex could exceed 70 kilometers per hour.
However, University of Wisconsin paleontologist Eric Snively recalls that a previous study based, however, on a single paw print, showed a speed of 11 kilometers per hour available to adult tyrannosaurs. It still allows a trained runner to outrun a dinosaur. “If you had to pass baby tyrannosaurs by necessity, then a quite comfortable walking pace would be enough,” says the paleontologist. “But if you were faced with an adult, you would have to switch to a fast run.”
Article A tyrannosaur trackway at Glenrock, Lance Formation (Maastrichtian), Wyoming published by Cretaceous Research
And his closest relatives turned into the top predators of their time.
Paleontologists studying the fossil record have concluded that a family of fearsome giants like the Tyrannosaurus Rex evolved over a period of about 70 million years from small, robust dinosaurs.
Evolutionary tree of dinosaurs
However, new fossils suggest that ancient animals were characterized by a sudden rapid growth, and it happened unexpectedly at the end of this 70-million-year period. Fossil studies have also shown that in addition to increasing size, evolution has given tyrannosaurs heightened senses and improved cognition, including the ability to hear low frequency sounds.
Thanks to these advantages, tyrannosaurs were able to reach the top of the food chain at the end of the Cretaceous, after most other groups of large carnivorous dinosaurs died out about 80-90 million years ago.
Until now, however, little has been known to researchers about how tyrannosaurs evolved into the giant, intelligent predators that dominated nature. A recently discovered species named Timurlengia euotica, lived on our planet about 90 million years ago. It fills a gap in the 20-million-year-long tyrannosaur fossil record. The new kind is a tyrannosaurus rex, but it does not belong to the ancestors of the thyrex.
The first tyrannosaurs lived during the Jurassic period, about 170 million years ago, and they were only slightly larger than a human in size. However, at the end of the Cretaceous period, about 100 million years ago, they turned into animals that could weigh up to seven tons.
Representatives of the species T. euotica they were comparable in size to modern horses - they weighed about 170-270 kilograms, had long legs and, most likely, were good runners.
"Timurlengia was an agile hunter, a fast runner and razor-thin teeth suitable for butchering meat, says Hans Sues, head of the department of paleobiology at the Smithsonian Institute of Natural History. “Perhaps he hunted various large herbivores, in particular, those who lived with them at the same time.”
Hans Zus, chairman of the department of paleobiology at the Smithsonian University, compares a T. euotica tooth (right) with a much larger Tyrannosaurus rex tooth (left, represented by a plaster model)
Later, after performing a CT scan of the skull, the team reconstructed the structure of the dinosaur's brain to understand how it developed such extraordinary abilities for this superorder. The researchers also realized that the dinosaur had a tubular brain similar to that of a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
"Ancestors of Tyrannosaurus Rex, such as Timurlengia, did not exceed the size of a horse, but they possessed big brain and a keen ear that people can only envy,” says Bruceatt. - Only after these animals have developed unusual abilities and a big brain, they began to grow to colossal proportions. Tyrannosaurus got smart before it got big."
Reconstruction of a dinosaur skeleton. Showing bones discovered by paleontologists
The skull of the new species was much smaller than that of the Tyrannosaurus Rex, but its key features indicate that its brain and senses were already highly developed.
By the way, the cranium of the animal is currently stored in Russian Academy sciences in St. Petersburg.
The description of the find was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Museum workers wondered how to arrange the transportation of the world-famous dinosaur from one end of the United States to the other
National Museum The Smithsonian Institution of Natural History, after decades of trying, will get its hands on a Tyrannosaurus Rex. The legendary dinosaur needs to overcome the path of 3219 kilometers - from Montana to Washington, according to National Geographic.
Ranch owner Kathy Wankel discovered the dinosaur while hiking with her family to the Fort Peck Reservoir in 1988. These lands in Montana belonged to the US Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps donated the remains of the rex to the Bozeman Museum. They've been in Montana for almost 20 years, and it's only now that the Smithsonian has been able to get its hands on a Tyrannosaurus rex that will be in its possession for the next 50 years.
"We have the finest specimens of Tyrannosaurus rex fossils in the world," said Patrick Lagey, director of administration for paleontology at the Bozeman Museum. "Because the Smithsonian doesn't have its own T-Rex, we offered to help," Leiji explained.
Inventory
In a way, moving a T-Rex is as easy as moving a service: put it in a box and hold it during the move. But when the load is 12 meters and 7 tons of fossils that are 66 million years old, not every box and not every truck can handle it.
The first step is to dismantle the display, which means that each bone must be documented with an appropriate photograph and a written description. Michael Trimble, head of the US Army Corps of Engineers, describes the further preparation process: “After the inventory is completed, the museum staff will carefully wrap each bone. For this, materials such as gypsum and gauze, or burlap are usually used. The foam boxes in which the bones will be transported will prevent them from moving, which will ensure maximum preservation of the remains.”
After packing the remains, the boxes are sealed with special tape, like the one used at crime scenes. Thus, no one can open the box without breaking the seal. Only representatives of the Smithsonian Museum are allowed to remove the seal from the boxes. If the seal is broken, scientists will have reason to be suspicious.
On my way
The move itself will be carried out by the transport company FedEx using an 18-wheel tractor. The Tyrannosaurus Rex will receive its own personal transport number for greater security.
FedEx President and CEO Virginia Albanese spoke about the specifics of transporting a dinosaur. “Each box of cargo will have its place, and they will all be evenly distributed so that any of the axles of the car does not experience excessive overload. In addition, the boxes will be kept at the same temperature,” Albanese said.
Upon arrival, Smithsonian Institution staff must verify that all items have arrived safe and sound. In fact, the transport of fossils between museums is not uncommon, and the leaders of both sides have a lot of experience in such activities.
Hans Seuss, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, says that great importance should be given to the conditions in which the remains are kept. Many of the fossils contain mineral compounds that interact with the atmosphere in a special way. Humidity or heat can affect such compounds and damage fossils.
Dinosaur assembly
The process of assembling and reconciling all parts of the fossil will be carried out until October this year. Until that time, all museum visitors will be able to see the tyrannosaurus rex only disassembled in a special room. The Smithsonian Museum, in collaboration with a Canadian company, will provide the skeleton with special support stands for the exhibition. This will make it possible to demonstrate the skeleton of the famous rex without damaging the exhibit (for example, drilling bones).
Scientists are especially pleased with the fact that the fossil has a well-preserved skull: after all, it can be used to learn more about many features of dinosaur nutrition.
A total of 20 complete and incomplete tyrannosaur skeletons have been found in North America, most of them in the USA. However, until now, not a single such exhibit has been in the famous Smithsonian Museum.