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Which is your favorite bizarre dinosaur? For me, it's National Geographic magazine's December issue covergirl, Dracorex hogwartsia. What a great name! And what a mug!
Believe me. It was no simple task selecting which dinosaurs would make the cut as the most bizarre of the bizarre. Here's the group we ended up using in the article:
Deinocheirus, Amargasaurus, Carnotaurus, Dracorex, Spinosaurus, Masiakasaurus, Styracosaurus, Nigersaurus, Epidendrosaurus, Tuojiangosaurus, Parasaurolophus
One of these bizarre stars was also the subject of a press conference at National Geographic Society headquarters today. Explorer-in-Residence Paul Sereno announced new information about Nigersaurus, a dinosaur discovered in Niger that he has been studying for some years.
Are the creatures we picked really the most bizarre? I’m sure some of you may have a different opinion. Let's hear it. If you want to send in a picture, send it to stonesbonesnthings@gmail.com and I'll post it.
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Comments
Nov 16, 2007 4AM #
I have to say a few things here, but in response to the query, my favorite bizarre featured dinosaur this month is the Carnotaurus.
I am no palentologist and I don't usually find the subject as interesting as others, so I don't research it very often. That being said, I do wonder why the bizarre subjects of this months article are considered all that bizarre. The Carnotaurus for instance seems perfectly capable of executing a maneuver I once saw used by a relatively small ferral pig in order to defend itself.
One afternoon during a very hot July in South Central Texas, my ex-brother-in-law(Brian) and I were killing time and wandered over to a small stable, owned by his parents and largely unused, chatting about frivolous things. There was water drawn in the stable trough for their dogs and at the trough were a trio of ferral pigs. The largest of the pigs was probably about 120 pounds, stalwart for his size, and seemingly very protective of the other two. As ferral pigs are wont to do, they had rooted up quite a bit of the garden adjacent to the stable so we decided to shoo them out and run them off. Brian climbed the fence first and upon reaching the other side, the larger pig charged him giving him two quick battering ram head butts. Though he outweighed the pig by about 60 lbs (and humans are obviously more top heavy than a pig), he fell to his side as the aggressive little pig attempted to use its short tusks to root about his stomach and ribs. Luckily only a torn shirt and small cut resulted before the both of us were able to shoo all three away. We both found this wildly amusing that the pig was so aggressive and seemingly clever.
So, I ask, why couldn't the Carnotaurus have used his size and battering ram like head to knock down similar or smaller sized enemy/prey and then with the seemingly undersized teeth, rip at the soft throat and underbelly of his potential enemy/prey? Maybe this has been thought through already and dismissed but it seems pretty feasable to me.
Nov 16, 2007 4AM #
Dilophosaurus!
Nov 16, 2007 4AM #
Why didn't Therizinosaurus, Incisivosaurus or Tanystropheus get in to the list? I know Tanystropheus isn't technically a dinosaur but still... :)
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