Apatosaurus Jones

October 20, 2015 4:10 AM

Sauropod dinosaur may have whipped its tail like Indiana Jones
posted by curious nu (10 comments total)

Additional video! (via)
posted by curious nu at 4:18 AM on October 20, 2015

From the land before time, the tail beyond sound.
posted by pracowity at 4:29 AM on October 20, 2015

Indiana Jones had a tail?
posted by logicpunk at 4:50 AM on October 20, 2015 [8 favorites]

Belloq, usually.
posted by nom de poop at 6:42 AM on October 20, 2015 [2 favorites]

Indiana Jones had a tail?

Yeah, that's a pretty random simile. Why not:

Sauropod dinosaur may have whipped its tail back and forth like Willow Smith

or

Sauropod dinosaur may have whipped it like Devo (i.e., its tail)
posted by PlusDistance at 7:12 AM on October 20, 2015

males might have cracked the tips of their long tails to attract females or display their strength.

I mean, it's not a horrible guess, but I feel like "sexual selection, probably," is the ultimate cop-out answer in evolutionary biology. It could have had something to do with feeding behaviors, dealing with predators, coping with parasites, metabolic functions, rearing infants, etc.

In conclusion, Apatosaurus tails are a land of contrasts.
posted by Panjandrum at 7:47 AM on October 20, 2015 [1 favorite]

Sauropod dinosaur may have shaken it like a polaroid picture.
posted by Kabanos at 8:13 AM on October 20, 2015 [1 favorite]

Ribbon gymnastics.
posted by Sys Rq at 8:44 AM on October 20, 2015

Myhrvold notes that about half of all long sauropod tails have vertebrae damaged from overwork part-way down. He thinks those were males who sacrificed their tails trying to attract mates.

Whipped.
posted by Kabanos at 8:51 AM on October 20, 2015 [2 favorites]

And here I thought the post title was a clever nod to the Thrilling Adventure Hour.
posted by grubi at 1:20 PM on October 20, 2015