Post by DinosaurMichael on Jan 19, 2012 7:34:02 GMT -5
Spinosaurus - Spinosaurus aegyptiacus
Spinosaurus (meaning "spine lizard") is a genus of theropod dinosaur which lived in what is now North Africa, from the lower Albian to lower Cenomanian stages of the Cretaceous period, about 112 to 97 million years ago. This genus was first known from Egyptian remains discovered in 1912 and described by German paleontologist Ernst Stromer in 1915. The original remains were destroyed in World War II, but additional material has come to light in recent years. It is unclear whether one or two species are represented in the fossils reported in the scientific literature. The best known species is S. aegyptiacus from Egypt, although a potential second species S. maroccanus has been recovered from Morocco. Spinosaurus may be the largest of all known carnivorous dinosaurs, even larger than Tyrannosaurus and Giganotosaurus. Estimates published in 2005 and 2007 suggest that it was 12.6 to 18 metres (41 to 59 ft) in length and 7 to 20.9 tonnes (7.7 to 23.0 short tons) in weight. The skull of Spinosaurus was long and narrow like that of a modern crocodilian. Spinosaurus is thought to have eaten fish; evidence suggests that it lived both on land and in water like a modern crocodilian. The distinctive spines of Spinosaurus, which were long extensions of the vertebrae, grew to at least 1.65 meters (5.4 ft) long and were likely to have had skin connecting them, forming a sail-like structure, although some authors have suggested that the spines were covered in fat and formed a hump. Multiple functions have been put forward for this structure, including thermoregulation and display.
Songhua River Mammoth - Mammuthus sungari
Mammuthus sungari, sometimes called the Songhua River Mammoth, evolved from smaller Siberian mammoths and occurred in Northern China during the middle Pleistocene (about 280,000 years ago). It survived until the beginning of the Late Pleistocene. The replica specimen on display at the Ibaraki Nature Museum in Ibaraki, Japan is 9.1 metres (30 ft) long, 5.3 metres (17 ft) tall, and has an estimated weight of 17 tonnes (19 short tons)- slightly smaller than Paraceratherium, the largest known land mammal. The original skeleton is at the Inner Mongolian Museum and it is based on two very large individuals found in 1980 at the Zhalainuoer Coal Mine in Hulun Buir City. These specimens indicate that it is the largest mammoth species found. M. sungari was described by Zhou, M.Z in 1959. Wei et al. (2010), who restudied the fossils referred to M sungari, considered this species to be a junior synonym of Mammuthus trogontherii (the steppe mammoth). The authors state that some of the fossils originally referred to M. sungari are referrable to M. trogontherii, while the others (such as the skeleton from Zhaoyuan County, Heilongjiang) can be referred to Mammuthus primigenius (the woolly mammoth), according to morphological characters and measurements.
Spinosaurus (meaning "spine lizard") is a genus of theropod dinosaur which lived in what is now North Africa, from the lower Albian to lower Cenomanian stages of the Cretaceous period, about 112 to 97 million years ago. This genus was first known from Egyptian remains discovered in 1912 and described by German paleontologist Ernst Stromer in 1915. The original remains were destroyed in World War II, but additional material has come to light in recent years. It is unclear whether one or two species are represented in the fossils reported in the scientific literature. The best known species is S. aegyptiacus from Egypt, although a potential second species S. maroccanus has been recovered from Morocco. Spinosaurus may be the largest of all known carnivorous dinosaurs, even larger than Tyrannosaurus and Giganotosaurus. Estimates published in 2005 and 2007 suggest that it was 12.6 to 18 metres (41 to 59 ft) in length and 7 to 20.9 tonnes (7.7 to 23.0 short tons) in weight. The skull of Spinosaurus was long and narrow like that of a modern crocodilian. Spinosaurus is thought to have eaten fish; evidence suggests that it lived both on land and in water like a modern crocodilian. The distinctive spines of Spinosaurus, which were long extensions of the vertebrae, grew to at least 1.65 meters (5.4 ft) long and were likely to have had skin connecting them, forming a sail-like structure, although some authors have suggested that the spines were covered in fat and formed a hump. Multiple functions have been put forward for this structure, including thermoregulation and display.
Songhua River Mammoth - Mammuthus sungari
Mammuthus sungari, sometimes called the Songhua River Mammoth, evolved from smaller Siberian mammoths and occurred in Northern China during the middle Pleistocene (about 280,000 years ago). It survived until the beginning of the Late Pleistocene. The replica specimen on display at the Ibaraki Nature Museum in Ibaraki, Japan is 9.1 metres (30 ft) long, 5.3 metres (17 ft) tall, and has an estimated weight of 17 tonnes (19 short tons)- slightly smaller than Paraceratherium, the largest known land mammal. The original skeleton is at the Inner Mongolian Museum and it is based on two very large individuals found in 1980 at the Zhalainuoer Coal Mine in Hulun Buir City. These specimens indicate that it is the largest mammoth species found. M. sungari was described by Zhou, M.Z in 1959. Wei et al. (2010), who restudied the fossils referred to M sungari, considered this species to be a junior synonym of Mammuthus trogontherii (the steppe mammoth). The authors state that some of the fossils originally referred to M. sungari are referrable to M. trogontherii, while the others (such as the skeleton from Zhaoyuan County, Heilongjiang) can be referred to Mammuthus primigenius (the woolly mammoth), according to morphological characters and measurements.
