I Know Dino Podcast Present Notes: Leaellynasaura (Episode 71)

Episode 71 is all about Leaellynasaura, a polar ornithischian which will have burrowed to maintain heat.

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On this episode, we focus on:

“saura” ending is female (like Maiasaura)
Small, herbivorous ornithischian
Described in 1989, and named after Leaellyn Wealthy, the daughter of the 2 paleontologists (Tom Wealthy and Patricia Vickers-Wealthy) who discovered the fossils

The title amicagraphica means “pal writing” and is in honor of the Mates of the Museum of Victoria and the Nationwide Geographic Society
Discovered two almost full skeletons and two fragmentary skulls and a few enamel
The holotype is of a juvenile

It was a polar dinosaur that lived within the Antarctic Circle (on the time Victoria, Australia was within the Antarctic Circle)
A lot hotter within the Cretaceous than at the moment, although there have been lengthy days and lengthy nights relying on the time of yr
Dinosaur Cove is a fossil mattress that was named in 1980. Different dinosaurs discovered there have been specimens of Atlascopcosaurus and an unnamed dinosaur associated to Allosaurus

In 2015 the land subsequent to Dinosaur Cove was put up on the market. Greg Denney, an beginner dinosaur fossil hunter, his household has owned the property for many years however he mentioned another person must take it to the subsequent degree and construct a museum (with a pair million {dollars})
Leaellyn was 12 years previous once they named the dinosaur
In an open letter to Ranger Rick journal, Leaellyn Wealthy wrote, “After I was two, I had a ebook known as My Little Dinosaur. It was a few boy who discovered a stay dinosaur in a cave close to his home. I began wanting a dinosaur too. My dad labored with dinosaurs in a museum…so I requested him to get me one. [You] can simply think about how I felt after I first noticed the fossils of my very personal dinosaur. Thanks Mum and Dad!

Her father mentioned, “I by no means promised her a residing one. However she obtained one, despite the fact that she needed to look forward to it” (waited 10 years)
Tom and Patricia have been married and companions in science for 50 years
In addition they found one other dinosaur, Timimus, named after their son Tim

Leaellynasaura was about 6.5 to 10 ft (2-3 m) lengthy and a couple of ft (60 cm) tall on the hips
Bipedal, warm-blooded
Lived in temperatures between 21 and 50 levels F

Grew shortly throughout first 3 years, then grew extra slowly after (based mostly on histological research of femurs present in 1999, after the preliminary discovery)
Might have grown first in early years to extra simply regulate physique temperature after which as soon as it was massive sufficient, didn’t must develop throughout robust instances
In all probability had pores and skin and hair-like filaments

Leaellynasaura had a very lengthy tail (greater than 70 vertebrae in its tail and a few scientists assume it was 75 p.c of its physique size); presumably used the tail for show although it’s unclear
Has the proprotionately longest tail of all identified ornithischians
Versatile tail

Tail might have been fluffy (wrap round physique for heat)
Might have burrowed, since three fossilized burrows had been present in Dinosaur Cove within the late 2000s (perhaps to assist keep heat)
Leaellynasaura might have lived for weeks or months (as much as 4 months) at a time at the hours of darkness

Nonetheless obtained mild from aurora (snow reflecting mild shows) and the moon
In all probability didn’t hibernate, although don’t know for positive. Scientists used to assume that as a result of the “development rings” in its bones modified in thickness it slowed its metabolism down within the winter to hibernate, however scientists have since discovered related development ring fluctations in dinosaurs that lived in tropical areas (wouldn’t have needed to hibernate), so it’s unclear whether or not or not Leaellynasaura hibernated
It had massive eyes and huge optic lobes, although that could be attributed to a juvenile, not adapting to low-light circumstances

Leaellynsaura is on 5,000 collector cash as a part of Perth Mint’s Australian Age of Dinosaurs collection
Can see Leaellynasaura in a Dinosaur Petting Zoo in Australia (options dinosaur puppets that youngsters can contact as they be taught in regards to the dinosaurs)
From July 27 2015 till July 2016, there may be an exhibition known as Wildlife of Gondwana on the Nationwide Wool Museum in Geelong that reveals lots of polar dinosaurs, together with Leaellynasaura (exhibition based mostly on the analysis of Tom and Patricia)

Has been described as a hypsilophodontid, an iguanodontian, and an ornithischian
Unclear the place in Ornithopoda Leaellynasaura belongs
Ornithopods are ornithischians that began small and have become bigger and populous, particularly within the Cretaceous

They’d nonetheless tails to assist stability, and later ornithopods grazed on all fours and semi-quadrupedal
They had been nice at chewing, like a contemporary cow
Enjoyable Truth: Claws can inform you numerous. Based on an article by Stephan Lautenschlager revealed within the Proceedings of the Royal Society titled “Morphological and purposeful variety in therizinosaur claws and the implications for theropod claw evolution,” completely different therizinosaurs possible used for claws for various functions. He checked out three completely different makes use of of a claw: scratching and digging, hooking and pulling, and piercing.Principally it boiled all the way down to shorter/wider claws being good for just about all three actions. However longer/thinner claws most likely couldn’t have been used for scratch-digging. So we will get a little bit little bit of an concept about their conduct simply by their claw form.

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