|
a new comic every Tuesday |
 |
Micro-Trike!March 14th, 2006 by Mike Keesey :: see related comic |
Although they are frequently gigantic, people often forget that all dinosaurs, being egg-layers, started life pretty small. A reminder of this is in the latest Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, where Goodwin et al. (2006) have published on the smallest Triceratops skull known to date. The adults’ skulls could be six feet long, among the largest of any land animals’ skulls, but this specimen is one mere foot long.
Interestingly, the young trike had already developed horns, perhaps indicating that the structures had uses other than sexual display.
If you can view TIFF files, there’s is a high-resolution image of the skull freely available here.
(By the way—should they be called pups, or chicks … or ceratoplets?)
Reference:
- Goodwin, M. B., W. A. Clemens, J. R. Horner, and K. Padian. 2006 March. The smallest known Triceratops skull: new observations on ceratopsid cranial anatomy and ontogeny. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 26(1).
Poor babies……they are so damn cute! So would that be the equivalent of Cretaceous veal?
Am I seeing the strip correctly, or is Carnita just a leetle bigger than Carney? That seems right, somehow.
So would that be the equivalent of Cretaceous veal?
Well, except for the cruel practice of restraining physical activity….
Am I seeing the strip correctly, or is Carnita just a leetle bigger than Carney? That seems right, somehow.
She’s more robust: thicker, but not taller.
Of course, we don’t really know the degree of dimorphism in Carnotaurus, or any ceratosaur, or, indeed, any non-pygostylian saurischian (to my knowledge, anyway), so it’s just an educated guess.
Well, that’s just a cave-in to anthropomorphism (see also googly eyes, command of English, etc.).
Parry, Carney, Carny, dinosaur, dinosaurs, dino, Dinosauria, Carnotaurus, carnotaurin, carnotaur, Parasaurolophus, paleontology, paleontologist, paleo, palaeo, paleoart, paleo-art, palaeoart, palaeo-art, palaeontology, ancient, early, palaeontologist, prehistoric, prehistory, prehistorical, Mesozoic, Era, Cretaceous, Jurassic, Triassic, Cenozoic, Paleozoic, Palaeozoic, Maastrichtian, Cambrian, Precambrian, K/T, antediluvian, evolution, evolutionary, life, Darwin, Charles, Darwinism, Owen, Richard, reptile, reptiles, reptilian, Reptilia, fossil, fossils, fossilized, fossilised, saurian, extinct, extinction, predator, predation, predate, prey, ecology, ecological, paleoecology, palaeoecology, palebiology, palaeobiology, theropod, Theropoda, ornithopod, Ornithopoda, hadrosaur, Hadrosauria, hadrosaurid, Hadrosauridae, duck, billed, duckbilled, duckbill, carnivorous, carnivore, carnivory, meat, eating, meat-eating, flesh, flesh-eating, scavenger, scavenging, hunting, hunter, plant, eating, plant-eating, herbivore, herbivory, herbivorous, omnivore, omnivory, omnivorous, formation, eat, devour, consume, diet, gaping, maw, jaws, teeth, digestion, digest, digestive, habit, habits, behavior, behaviour, ethology, paleoethology, creationism, creationist, creation, intelligent, design, ID, debate, controversy, theory, hypothesis, science, scientific, scientist, vertebrate, vert, crush, development, evo, devo, evo-devo, bite, chomp, fight, coprolite, ichnite, Saurischia, saurischian, Ornithischia, ornithischian, sauropod, Sauropoda, brontosaur, bird, avian, Aves, nonavian, non-avian, Avialae, Carnosauria, carnosaur, Abelisauria, abelisaur, abelisauroid, Abelisauroidea, abelisaurid, Abelisauridae, Carnotaurinae, carnotaurine, ceratosaur, Ceratosauria, ceratosauroid, neotheropod, Neotheropoda, Lambeosaurinae, lambeosaurine, sastrei, walkeri, cyrtocristatus, sexual, dimorphism, dimorphic, robust, gracile, origin, flight, homology, digit, cranium, femur, tibia, metatarsal, metacarpal, crest, horn, vertebra, vertebrae, rib, dorsal, ventral, anterior, posterior, rostral, caudal, distal, proximal, apomorphy, synapomorphy, plesiomorphy, symplesiomorphy, character, characters, phylogeny, phylogenetic, taxonomy, taxonomic, taxa, taxon, systematics, biology, zoology, paleozoology, palaeozoology, tetrapod, Tetrapoda, endothermy, ectothermy, homothermy, endotherm, ectotherm, poikilothermy, poikilotherm, warm-blooded, cold-blooded, warm, cold, blood, blooded, bradymetabolic, tachymetabolic, metabolic, metabolism, geology, geological, geologist, strata (Who Links Here?)