Episode 48 is all about Therizinosaurus, the inspiration for Indominus Rex in Jurassic World.
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On this episode, we talk about:
- The dinosaur of the day: Therizinosaurus
- Title means “scythe lizard”
- Theropod that lived within the late Cretaceous
- Just one species, Therizinosaurus cheloniformis
- Fossils present in Mongolia, and first regarded as turtle-like (cheloniformis means “turtle-formed); only some bones discovered, together with giant hand claws
- A joint Soviet-Mongolian fossil expedition discovered the primary Therizinosaurus bones in 1948, in Mongolia
- Russian paleontologist Evgeny Maleev in 1954, who thought it was a turtle-like reptile that used its claws to get seaweed; the holotype solely has claws
- Maleev thought it used its forelimbs for swimming and claws to “minimize aquatic vegetation”
- Extra fossils had been discovered, which included extra claws and components of forelimbs (Rinchen Barsbold described in 1976)
- Altangerel Perle described one other specimen in 1982, which had hindlimbs
- In 1970, Anatoly Konstantinovich Rozhdestvensky stated Therizinosaurus was a dinosaur, not a turtle
- It was controversial about what kind of dinosaur Therizinosaurus was (some thought it was a carnosaur, others thought it had a killing claw like a deinonychosaur)
- In 1970 Therizinosaurus categorised as some kind of theropod
- In northern China, associated species had been discovered which helped paleontologists work out extra about Therizinosaurus
- Recognized as a segnosaurid when Segnosaurus and Erlikosaurus was discovered (in Asia)
- Segnosaurids are herbivorous theropods with lengthy arms, lengthy necks, and massive bellies
- The segnosaurid group title ultimately modified to therizinosaur (extra on that later)
- Fossils of Alxasaurus and Beipiaosaurus had been discovered, which had been decided to be in the identical group as Therizinosaurus, confirmed that Therizinosaurus in all probability had a bird-like pelvis, and gave particulars in regards to the toes and skulls. Discovered that therizinosaurs had been extra superior, herbivorous maniraptoran theropods
- Therizinosaurids are theropods (however herbivores)
- Theropods normally solely used three toes when standing and strolling, however therizinosaurs used 4 toes
- Now scientists base Therizinosaurus seems to be on associated therizinosaurids. It in all probability had a small cranium, lengthy neck, and a large physique. Most likely bipedal
- Most likely had lengthy forelimbs (8 ft or 2.5 m and even as much as 11.5 ft or 3.5 m)
- Gregory S Paul estimated in 2010 that the most important Therizinosaurus would have been 33 ft (10 m) lengthy and weighed 5 tons (based mostly on largest recognized therizinosaurs and maniraptorans)
- Intently associated to Velociraptor, based mostly on form of wrist and hip bones
- Appears to be like quite a bit like ornithomimid Deinocheirus (due to claws)
- Therizinosaurus had giant claws, bigger than most therizinosaurs, and had been in all probability 3.3 ft (about 1 m) lengthy; they’ve the longest claws of any recognized animal
- Claws had been straight, however tapered into some extent
- Claws could have been used for show (present reproductive maturity)
- Males could have fought one another with claws (like how ceratopsians battled with horns)
- Claws could have additionally been a deterrent for predator Tarbosaurus bataar (trying fearsome)
- Different dinosaurs that lived round Therizinosaurus included Avimimus, Conchoraptor, Alioramus (tyrannosaur) and Nemegtosaurus (titanosaur)
- Presumably used its giant claws to drag down tree branches
- Claws could have been used to drag down vegetation (by which case, would have been a choosy eater)
- Therizinosaurus was in all probability an herbivore, based mostly on different therizinosaurs, nevertheless it’s unclear what it ate
- No Therizinosaurus cranium discovered, however most of its kin had small, leaf-shaped tooth and had been herbivores
- Some scientists assume it ate bugs, (used claws to tear into termite nests)
- Some therizinosaurs could have been omnivores
- Some therizinosaurs had feathers, similar to Beipiaosaurus, from China
- Unclear if Therizinosaurus had feathers (a lot bigger than Beipiaosaurus)
- In 2013, a nest of therizinosaur eggs had been discovered (17 clutches within the Gobi Desert), which can present they had been considerably social
- The eggs discovered had no embryos, which can imply all of them hatched and the infants left with their mother and father
- The adults of the eggs had been estimated to weigh 1100lb or 500 kg
- Can see a life-sized Therizinosaurus statue in Poland, together with Allosaurus, Diplodocus, Iguanodon, and extra, in Jurapark
- Can see Therizinosaurus and Tarbosaurus battling in Chased by Dinosaurs, a documentary from 2002
- May also see Therizinosaurus in BBC’s Strolling With Dinosaurs: Inside Their World
- Therizinosaurus shall be in a future replace of ARK Survival Advanced (recreation); will probably be giant and sluggish however tamed and educated for gamers to trip and use for protection
- Indominus Rex was first impressed by how Therizinosaurus appeared, in line with Jack Horner in an interview with Yahoo Films (resulting from huge, greedy arms)
- Therizinosauridae means “reaper lizards”
- They’re superior theropods (herbivores and omnivores)
- Lived within the Cretaceous
- Present in Mongolia, China, and U.S.
- Therizinosaurs had lengthy necks, huge torsos, and walked on 4 toes in the same approach to basal sauropodomorphs
- They’d distinctive hip bones that pointed backwards, and made paleontologists initially assume they had been just like the “bird-hipped” ornithischians
- In addition they have giant claws on their fingers, and will attain far ahead with their forelimbs (farther than different theropods), which makes scientists assume they had been principally herbivores
- They could have used their claws to grasph at branches, much like a sloth
- Beipiaosaurus pores and skin impressions present primitive down-like feathers, much like Sinosauropteryx (compsognathid)
- Some theroziniosaurs had been comparatively small, like Beipiaosaurus (7.3 ft or 2.2 m lengthy), however others had been giant (Therizinosaurus was the most important)
- As a result of therizinosaurus was such an incomplete discover, and had a complete bunch of unusual options that had been akin to theropods, prosauropods and ornithischians, scientists at first grouped therizinosaurs as segnosaurs. In addition they thought they had been semi-quadrupedal as a result of prosauropods had been semi-quadrupedal. Nonetheless, that is inconceivable due to their bird-like wrists.
- Within the mid Nineties, scientists discovered Alxasaurus, which was extra like a typical theropod. Alxasaurus and Therizinosaurus had been a part of the segnosaur group, which made extra scientists settle for that these dinosaurs had been herbivorous theropods, descended from carnivorous theropods
- Then extra primitive dinosaurs in the identical group had been discovered, together with Beipiaosaurus in 1999 and Falcarius in 2005 (which was described as a lacking hyperlink between carnivorous maniraptoran theropods and herbivorous therizinosaurs
- Therizinosaurs had skulls much like sauropods and tooth and jaws that made them herbivores
- The group Segnosauria was named an infraorder of theropoda in 1980. However now they’re thought of a specialised group inside theropoda, and a synonym of Therizinosauridea (Therizinosaur named first, so the group took the brand new title as soon as scientists realized it was a part of the identical group, and Segnosaurs turned synonymous with Therizinosaurs)
- In 1954, Maleev named the superfamily Therizinosauroidea, nevertheless it solely had Therizinosaurus on the time. Then scientists discovered it was a sophisticated segnosaur, and renamed the group (partly as a result of Therizinosauroidea was older, partly as a result of Segnosauria was related to the concept that they had been associated to prosauropods, which was discredited)
- Not a lot is understood about therizinosaur conduct
- CT scans in 2012 of the therizinosaur Erlikosaurus confirmed it had a big mind, good steadiness, and good sense of listening to and odor, which might have helped keep away from predators, discover meals, and have interaction in social conduct
- Enjoyable reality: Noise-making tools of most animals don’t fossilize, and out of doors of dinosaurs like Parasaurolophus that appeared to make use of a resonant chamber we don’t know what they appeared like. In line with the Tate Geological Museum from Casper School: “Tyrannosaurus rex may need hissed like a snake, chirped like a chook, or bellowed like an alligator throughout the mating season or been utterly silent like many trendy reptiles.”