Comment on tall tails

Zexks@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

• mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  Soft tissues can also become fossils under the right conditions. For an example, here is the fossil used for the B. markmitchelli holotype:

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  • volvoxvsmarla@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    The articles on that are a fascinating read, thank you!

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• bytesonbike@discuss.online ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  Don’t ruin my dream of fluffy dinosaurs 😭

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  • leftzero@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Smaller dinosaurs might have had fluff, bigger ones probably didn’t, like most big mammals.

    Giraffes have hair, though, and woolly mammoths were a thing, so big fluffy dinosaurs might have been a thing, especially in colder climates.

    Also, looking at bird behaviour, I wouldn’t be surprised if even mostly bald dinos had some colorful feathers on their arms, tail, or head for displaying…

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    • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      pretty sure we know basically 100% for certain that some species of T.Rex relatives were fluffy, the ones living in the arctic specifically iirc.

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  • hector@lemmy.today ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    It is thought now that dinosaurs had a sort of fluff. Like feathers but not evolved to fly with yet.

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• psx_crab@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  Too late, i already imagined a flat-tailed T-rex.

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• sleen@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  Soft tissues leave marks on bones

  Could you explain how they leave marks?

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  • bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Your bones aren’t just swimming around in a sea of muscles. They are attached to the muscles and sinews. So those places where they are attached are formed in specific ways depending on what is attached.

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    • LillyPip@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Also, as you move throughout your life, those attachments can cause stress in places that build up, and your bones will show all of that. For instance, even though all humans have the same soft tissue connection points, we can tell by a skeleton whether a person had a life of hard labour vs relative luxury, whether they were an archer with stronger and more stressed arm muscles, etc.

      If tail vertebrae, for instance, have spent their life supporting and moving a heavy amount of soft tissue, those connection points will look much different than a similar tail of skin and bone with far less weight to bear.

      So now, we have a pretty good idea not only where soft tissues attached, but their relative size, strength, and use.

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