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1

TheTastiestofMeats t1_jcd03d4 wrote

I'm not a Dinosaurian but based on the drawing this guy looks too goofy to be real

84

marketrent OP t1_jcd05dz wrote

Findings in title quoted from the linked content^1,2 about research funded by numerous organizations, including the United States National Science Foundation, The Royal Society of London, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

From the linked summary:^1

>Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum was discovered in approximately 162-million-year-old rocks from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of northwest China in 1987 by the China–Canada Dinosaur Project team, for which it was named in 1993.

>Although Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum is known only from a handful of bones from the neck and skull, the research team was able to reconstruct its evolutionary relationships and thus make comparisons to the unusually complete skeletons of its closest relatives.

>This allowed them to conclude that Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum had a neck approximately 15.1 meters long, the longest of any known sauropod.

>Lead author Dr Andrew J. Moore, Stony Brook University palaeontologist, said, ‘All sauropods were big, but jaw-droppingly long necks didn’t evolve just once.

>‘Mamenchisaurids are important because they pushed the limits on how long a neck can be and were the first lineage of sauropods to do so. With a 15-metre-long neck, it looks like Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum might be a record-holder – at least until something longer is discovered.’

ETA:

>The question of how sauropods managed to evolve such long necks and large bodies without collapsing under their own weight has puzzled scientists since their discovery.

>When studying Mamenchisaurus the team were able to use computed-tomography (CT) scanning to reveal that the vertebrae were lightweight and hollow with air spaces comprising about 69–77% of their volume, similar to the lightly built skeletons of birds.

>However, such featherweight skeletons would also be more prone to injury. To combat this Mamenchisaurus had 4-metre-long rod-like neck ribs, bony extensions of the vertebrae that created overlapping bundles of rods on either side of the neck.

>These bundles would have stiffened the neck of Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum, increasing its stability.

^1 New fossil analysis reveals dinosaur with the longest neck of any animal ever, 15 Mar. 2023, https://www.nhm.ac.uk/press-office/press-releases/new-fossil-analysis-reveals-dinosaur-with-the-longest-neck-of-an.html

^2 Andrew J. Moore, Paul M. Barrett, Paul Upchurch, Chun-Chi Liao, Yong Ye, Baoqiao Hao & Xing Xu (2023) Re-assessment of the Late Jurassic eusauropod Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum Russell and Zheng, 1993, and the evolution of exceptionally long necks in mamenchisaurids, Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, 21:1, https://doi.org/10.1080/14772019.2023.2171818

6

sooprvylyn t1_jcd1p6u wrote

That artist rendering doesnt look like an animal that wouldnt tip over

38

877-Cash-Meow t1_jcd67on wrote

i think basic physics can demonstrate this rendering to be misleading. more mass in the neck would make this dude tip over constantly

4

morrowwm t1_jcd725t wrote

Don't know the Hollywood sign. What's that in bananas?

16

thejml2000 t1_jcda4ry wrote

Replying to morrowwm (#2,240,156)

Apparently, the sign is 45’ or 13.7m tall. Apparently bananas tend to be between 7” and 8” in length, so, if we take 7.5”, that’s 72 bananas high.

Or about 0.9 of an Olympic swimming pool diving board to the bottom (5m deep+10m board height)

2

sirfuzzitoes t1_jcdhyuj wrote

It never fails to crack me up when things are expressed in metric and American. The height of the Hollywood sign? How many standard light switch heights is that? Plus or minus a panini press.

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Traumfahrer t1_jcdm83t wrote

No one knows how high the Hollywood sign is and from the imagery of it, it appears much smaller than it is.

Who the f in a science based setting thinks it is a good reference point?

54

Willinton06 t1_jcdqgas wrote

I think we’ll be finding out at some point that our beliefs on the shapes of dinosaurs are plain wrong

0

Gaskii t1_jce519w wrote

We're moving away from football fields to Hollywood signs now I see

4

crilen t1_jceqi7v wrote

What a goofy dumb looking thing

1

cerreur t1_jcevkez wrote

I've never been to Hollywood so I have no fuckin' clue how tall the sign is.
Just use a bus or something for comparison.

3

spinbutton t1_jcexdpd wrote

Replying to could_use_a_snack (#2,241,893)

The structure of the bones can tell us the shape of the neck. But this reconstruction is not based on the full skeleton just some neck bones and skull. The size estimate is extrapolated from some.pretty meager data. I'd take it with a grain of salt

2

rhymeswithcars t1_jcezvb1 wrote

”Let’s use something very few people have seen close up as a size reference. Instead of, say, a five storey building”

1

Tirriss t1_jcf1bfz wrote

Where would this sauropod wear his tie? At the top just below the head or at the bottom of the neck?

2

soda-jerk t1_jcf23zh wrote

Replying to could_use_a_snack (#2,241,893)

We don't have full skeletons of these animals, so things like how they held their necks is still debated among scientists.

We see sauropods depicted this way all the time, because it's the most widely accepted theory on how they looked, based on the information we do have on them, as well as comparisons with similar modern-day animals.

2

KennailandI t1_jcfecdo wrote

I wonder if it evolved to be able to peek over the sign.

1

Brut-i-cus t1_jcfoh7k wrote

No way they are as drawn

The things would fall over forward unless they had the habit of eating stones to keep in their belly to counterbalance them

1

UnexpectedDinoLesson t1_jcg77cs wrote

Mamenchisaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur known for their remarkably long necks which made up nearly half the total body length. Their shoulders were somewhat higher than the hips. The different species vary in length, from around 15 m to at least 26 m, and maybe up to 35 m. The species differ in overall size and specific features of the skull and skeleton, but share typical sauropod traits, like quadrupedalism, large bodies, small heads, and long tails.

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NearbyAlps4166 t1_jcgw5e9 wrote

Never been to Hollywood could someone convert the measure unit in t-rex?

1