I Know Dino Podcast: Deinocheirus

Episode 10 is all about Deinocheirus, a dinosaur that for 50 years was solely identified by its large arms.

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On this episode, we focus on:

The dinosaur of the day: Deinocheirus mirificus, which implies “horrible hand”
Deinocheirus lived within the Cretaceous, about 70 million years in the past

Solely the arms of Deinocheirus have been present in 1965 in Mongolia’s Gobi desert (nothing new discovered till 2009)
For 50 years, all scientists new was that it had large arms, every 8 ft lengthy, with three 8-inch claws
This result in many theories: Deinocheirus was a T-rex due to the claws, or a large sloth-like creature. It could have been over 100 ft lengthy

Dr. Yuong-Nam Lee from the Korea Institute of Geoscience & Mineral Sources and his staff (which included Dr. Phil Currie, from Episode 4: Tarbosaurus) discovered two well-preserved specimens. In response to Lee, “they inform us Deinocheirus was a lot weirder than anybody might have imagined.”
Lee and his staff discovered Deinocheirus in August 2009 at Mongolia’s Nemegt Formation. Poachers had already taken bones from the location however they discovered the left arm of a Deinocheirus and a principally full skeleton (although it was lacking elements of its backbone, proper arm, and palms)
Currie, stated their staff at all times investigated looted quarries, in case they discovered something of significance. In 2011, a Belgian scientist referred to as Currie as a result of he thought he had discovered the lacking Deinocheirus fossils. It turned out to be from the identical specimen they’d present in 2009.

Dr. Tsogtbaatar Chinzorig of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences’ Paleontological Middle and his colleagues analyzed and put collectively the fossils.
Deinocheirus was described in Nature journal in 20
Initially Deinocheirus was labeled as a carnosauria, within the theropod group. However now it’s thought of a primitive ornithomimosaurian, associated to the Garudimimus and Beishanlong, within the household Deinocheiridae

Each Deinocheirus and Spinosaurus are examples of dinosaurs that look fully totally different from what scientists thought
Due to how distinctive Deinocheirus really appears to be like, Lee stated that is “a real cautionary story in predicting physique kinds from partial skeletons.”
The dinosaur has been likened to Jar Jar from Star Wars. It was massive and sluggish, with a horse like head and hump again.

Deinocheirus wass 35 ft lengthy and 6 tons, nearly as massive as T-rex. However it didn’t have a robust chew. As an alternative it had a duck like snouth with no tooth
It walked upright with 6-feet lengthy arms out in entrance. Its head was 3 ft lengthy
Deinocheirus had a slender physique. It had ten neck vertebrae that have been low and lengthy, each was shorter the additional away it was from the cranium. This implies Deinocheirus had an S-curved again, as a result of it had such a big cranium

Deinocheirus had 12 again vertebrae, with the longest one within the again (at 8.5 instances the peak of the centrum). That is nearly as excessive because the ratio of neural spines in Spinosaurus
Dr. Chinzorig stated Deinocheirus had tall dorsal spines like Spinosaurus, truncated hoof-like claws on the ft (so it wouldn’t sink in muddy floor) and ponderous hind legs like tyrannosaurids, with sauropod-like hips, and a hadrosaur-like duckbill
Deinocheirus additionally had thick bony spines that caught up from its spine, which gave it a sail construction (although it was thicker than the sail of Spinosaurus)

Deinocheirus has additionally been described as having a camel-like hump and neck of an ostrich
Its spherical, flat beak was lined in keratin
Its decrease jaw was a lot greater and deeper in comparison with its slender higher jaw (higher jaw related in dimension to tyrannosaur)

Deinocheirus blunt, quick claws have been just like the therizinosaur Alxasaurus, which used the claws for digging and gathering crops
The staff additionally discovered that Deinocheirus‘ tail was fused right into a pygostyle, which helps tail feathers in trendy birds. So it most likely had a fan of tail feathers
Deinocherius is technically an ornithomimosaur (ostrich-like dinosaur), that are identified for being quick, however Deinocheirus is simply too massive

Most ostrich-like dinosaurs have been solely a little bit greater than people, so the evolving into such a large might be why it regarded so unusual
Scientists discovered chew marks which they assume means Deinocheirus was prey for Tarbosaurus
Dr. Currie stated its dimension most likely helped defend it from Tarbosaurus

Deinocheirus was most likely a megaomnivore (ate the whole lot)
Deinocheirus most likely ate delicate crops, particularly ones that grew on the backside of streams and lakes. It most likely used its duck invoice to get at them, after which sucked up the crops with its massive tongue inside its massive decrease jaw. To gring up its meals, it swallowed stones (like ostriches and different trendy birds)
Lee and his staff discovered over 1,400 of those stones, referred to as gastroliths, contained in the Deinocheirus specimens they found

The staff additionally discovered fish stays, however which implies Deinocheirus was usually in recent water and will eat something (together with fish, small vertebrates, and crops). It’s been described as a “garbage-disposal” kind of dinosaur that most likely used its massive palms to dig for meals or pull down branches
Deinocheirus is without doubt one of the largest ornithomimosaurs, however it had hole bones to maintain it lighter. Of bipedal dinosaurs, it had the most important arms
Deinocheirus couldn’t run (in contrast to different ornithominosaurs)

Deinocheirus was most likely diurnal
Its mind dimension in comparison with its physique was low and just like sauropods (in contrast to different ornithomimosaurs that had proportional sized brains)
Deinocheirus is a part of the household Deinocheiridate, which lived 115 to 69 million years in the past

The household was named due to Deinocheirus‘ distinctive arms. Initially scientists thought Deinocheirus was a carnosaur, and the one different carnosaurian from the identical time interval in Mongolia was Tarbosaurus
Deinocheiridate is a part of the group ornithomimosaurus (ostrich dinosaurs)
Ornithomimosaur skulls have been small, with massive eyes and slender necks. Most had toothless beaks, although some primitive species had tooth

Ornithomimosaurs had lengthy arms with highly effective claws, and lengthy hind limbs with robust toes and hooflike claws. They have been most likely the quickest dinosaurs, they usually had feathered, not scaly, hides
Ornithomimosaurs ate crops and lots of have been discovered with gastroliths of their stomachs. They have been very ample, although some could have been omnivores that additionally ate small animals
Ornithomimosaurs could have been cathemeral, which implies lively throughout the day at quick intervals (in contrast to the diurnal Deinocheirus)

Enjoyable truth: Based mostly on dinosaur bone construction, scientists imagine dinosaurs lived to be between 75 and 300 years outdated

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