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Glad They can't Run This Bull Anymore
New Scientist is reporting on the discovery of the largest dinosaur yet found in Europe. Discovered near Riodeva in Spain, the specimen is thought to be about 150 million years old, and represents a previously-unknown species of giant plant eaters, now called Turiasaurus. The find is complete enough to allow accurate bio-mechanical modeling of it and other "super giant" dinosaurs (Brontosauruses will be the most recognizable to most folks), allowing them to perhaps figure out how they managed to move and feed themselves with such a gigantic and strange body plan.
Heh. Wouldn't it be funny if the geological processes that form fossils in the first place tended to distort the sizes of those fossils, similar to how stalactites and stalagmites grow over the years?
The fossils might be 40 feet tall, but that doesn't mean the creatures that left them were. Of course, studying the magnified-by-nature bones of waist-high lizards isn't as magical as studying giant monsters whose bones alone need to be supported like suspension bridges to stay together.
Posted by: Tatterdemalian on December 22, 2006 03:08 PMMeh - I look at something like that and just wonder what it tasted like. Vegetarian animals can be damn tasty. Maybe it tasted like cow. That would actually be wonderful: Just imagine how many great cuts of steak you could get out of something like that. I'm drooling just thinking about it.
Posted by: ron on December 22, 2006 03:13 PM