DESTROYER OF SHINS
August 3, 2017 11:45 AM Subscribe
A Dinosaur So Well Preserved It Looks Like a Statue
Borealopelta, discovered accidentally by Canadian miners, is one of the most spectacular fossil finds of all time.
Borealopelta, discovered accidentally by Canadian miners, is one of the most spectacular fossil finds of all time.
It's nice to have a new dinosaur that doesn't look totally stupid.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 12:03 PM on August 3, 2017 [12 favorites]
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 12:03 PM on August 3, 2017 [12 favorites]
the linked video in the article of them trying and failing to remove the dino-containing block in one piece is extremely stressful to watch and triggered some sort of latent dinosaur-breaking fear i apparently have.
i'm mad that there's no one in my family left alive to tell me if i ever had a formative accidental incident at AMNH
posted by poffin boffin at 12:06 PM on August 3, 2017 [20 favorites]
i'm mad that there's no one in my family left alive to tell me if i ever had a formative accidental incident at AMNH
posted by poffin boffin at 12:06 PM on August 3, 2017 [20 favorites]
Great article, thanks for sharing! I look forward to telling my son about it. I wonder how he'll consider that someone spent almost as much time as he's been alive to painstakingly excavate the fossilized remains of a single dinosaur.
Also, it's interesting that "Every year, Alberta discovers more dinosaur specimens than the Royal Tyrrell can possibly collect, so many are just left in the ground" (emphasis mine). I wonder how they're treated. In California, old human artifacts and remains were generally left intact and their locations cataloged, but not for public (re)view. But dinosaur remains could be huge, so is there a "warning: buried pipeline, contact this number before digging" sign posted?
posted by filthy light thief at 12:14 PM on August 3, 2017 [1 favorite]
Also, it's interesting that "Every year, Alberta discovers more dinosaur specimens than the Royal Tyrrell can possibly collect, so many are just left in the ground" (emphasis mine). I wonder how they're treated. In California, old human artifacts and remains were generally left intact and their locations cataloged, but not for public (re)view. But dinosaur remains could be huge, so is there a "warning: buried pipeline, contact this number before digging" sign posted?
posted by filthy light thief at 12:14 PM on August 3, 2017 [1 favorite]
I hope it says BEWARE DINOSAURS.
posted by poffin boffin at 12:17 PM on August 3, 2017 [9 favorites]
posted by poffin boffin at 12:17 PM on August 3, 2017 [9 favorites]
the linked video in the article of them trying and failing to remove the dino-containing block in one piece is extremely stressful to watch and triggered some sort of latent dinosaur-breaking fear i apparently have.
I know, it's heart-breaking to watch. Everybody on the video just looks totally miserable about what happened.
posted by tobascodagama at 12:18 PM on August 3, 2017
I know, it's heart-breaking to watch. Everybody on the video just looks totally miserable about what happened.
posted by tobascodagama at 12:18 PM on August 3, 2017
I know it may have hurt me if I had encountered it in the wild, but looking at it, all I can think is: poor thing! I wouldn't have expected it to look so cute!
posted by Krazor at 12:23 PM on August 3, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Krazor at 12:23 PM on August 3, 2017 [2 favorites]
This one is so cool and I hope I get to see it in person some day. It makes me sad that creationists with no imagination assume this thing lived not that long ago. It's an absolutely incredible specimen.
posted by agregoli at 12:23 PM on August 3, 2017
posted by agregoli at 12:23 PM on August 3, 2017
ZOMG this National Geographic 3D tour is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen.
[not even kidding]
[[Edit window: fantastic post title, hahaha]]
posted by ZakDaddy at 12:24 PM on August 3, 2017 [14 favorites]
[not even kidding]
[[Edit window: fantastic post title, hahaha]]
posted by ZakDaddy at 12:24 PM on August 3, 2017 [14 favorites]
It's still amazing to me that we can now, to a certain extent, tell what colour dinos were.
Read the Guardian article earlier and it's got some interesting speculation that because it was camouflaged it means theropods like T-Rex had to be proper active hunters and not just scavengers
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 12:26 PM on August 3, 2017 [3 favorites]
Read the Guardian article earlier and it's got some interesting speculation that because it was camouflaged it means theropods like T-Rex had to be proper active hunters and not just scavengers
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 12:26 PM on August 3, 2017 [3 favorites]
Would it have been so hard for a couple of these things to have died in what would eventually be my back yard in Pennsylvania in the mid-1970s? 'Cause I did a lot of digging for NOTHIN'.
posted by Sing Or Swim at 12:28 PM on August 3, 2017 [7 favorites]
posted by Sing Or Swim at 12:28 PM on August 3, 2017 [7 favorites]
"It lacked the shin-thwacking tail clubs that some of its relatives wielded,..."I was going bust out the term "Thagomizer" but those are on stegosaurs, not ankylosaurs. Dang.
posted by edheil at 12:35 PM on August 3, 2017 [3 favorites]
I was reading about the somewhat similar looking Tarasque, which supposedly attacked a town in Provence, France in 43 AD.
It makes me wonder if they had found similarly well preserved remains back then, which would probably be pretty frightening at the time ('are there more of these things out there?'), which could have lead to stories, and eventually to the myth that they, even now, celebrate every year with a festival (last weekend in June).
posted by eye of newt at 12:49 PM on August 3, 2017 [3 favorites]
It makes me wonder if they had found similarly well preserved remains back then, which would probably be pretty frightening at the time ('are there more of these things out there?'), which could have lead to stories, and eventually to the myth that they, even now, celebrate every year with a festival (last weekend in June).
posted by eye of newt at 12:49 PM on August 3, 2017 [3 favorites]
DESTROYER OF SHINS
Actually…
*pushes glasses up bridge of nose*
… there is another species of ankylosaur that is literally named Zuul crurivastator (destroyer of shins). That one does have thagomizing spikes and club on its tail.
See this Previous FPP from goatdog, for more links and details.
posted by Kabanos at 1:20 PM on August 3, 2017 [5 favorites]
Actually…
*pushes glasses up bridge of nose*
… there is another species of ankylosaur that is literally named Zuul crurivastator (destroyer of shins). That one does have thagomizing spikes and club on its tail.
See this Previous FPP from goatdog, for more links and details.
posted by Kabanos at 1:20 PM on August 3, 2017 [5 favorites]
Could they bolt wings onto that thing so it looks like Toothless? You know, for the kids.
posted by lagomorphius at 1:39 PM on August 3, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by lagomorphius at 1:39 PM on August 3, 2017 [1 favorite]
Actually…
*pushes glasses up bridge of nose*
… there is another species of ankylosaur that is literally named Zuul crurivastator (destroyer of shins).
Yeah, this article talks about it too.
posted by nebulawindphone at 1:43 PM on August 3, 2017 [1 favorite]
*pushes glasses up bridge of nose*
… there is another species of ankylosaur that is literally named Zuul crurivastator (destroyer of shins).
Yeah, this article talks about it too.
posted by nebulawindphone at 1:43 PM on August 3, 2017 [1 favorite]
I was going bust out the term "Thagomizer" but those are on stegosaurs, not ankylosaurs. Dang.
I propose "pseudo-thagomizer". I think this would be a much more interesting example of parallel evolution for class use than the icthyosaur/dolphin thingy because f%$k dolphins.
posted by Quindar Beep at 1:53 PM on August 3, 2017 [2 favorites]
I propose "pseudo-thagomizer". I think this would be a much more interesting example of parallel evolution for class use than the icthyosaur/dolphin thingy because f%$k dolphins.
posted by Quindar Beep at 1:53 PM on August 3, 2017 [2 favorites]
It doesn't just look like a sculpture, it looks like a really good sculpture. The way the head is resting, sleeping/dead. Armored and strong, but gone now. In the best condition in the head, and trailing off into cracks and disarray as you move down the body. It's melancholic, a synecdoche for the extinction of the dinosaurs as a whole. It reminds me a little of JFK's official portrait; it has the same mood to it.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 2:02 PM on August 3, 2017 [10 favorites]
posted by vibratory manner of working at 2:02 PM on August 3, 2017 [10 favorites]
I feel a strong urge to pet its head, maybe because it looks sleepy.
posted by Mouse Army at 2:48 PM on August 3, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by Mouse Army at 2:48 PM on August 3, 2017 [4 favorites]
Neat, we're going to stop by the Royal Tyrrel in a couple of weeks. I will be looking for this!
posted by blue_beetle at 3:18 PM on August 3, 2017
posted by blue_beetle at 3:18 PM on August 3, 2017
Wow.. just wow. Also, someone get crispr on the phone. I need one of these.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 5:04 PM on August 3, 2017
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 5:04 PM on August 3, 2017
So cool!
Also, I very much enjoy the writing of Ed Yong.
posted by latkes at 6:44 PM on August 3, 2017
Also, I very much enjoy the writing of Ed Yong.
posted by latkes at 6:44 PM on August 3, 2017
Mouse Army, I had the same feeling!
I decided to pet my ankle biting, shin kicking cat instead. She was very pleased.
posted by Hermione Granger at 8:07 PM on August 3, 2017 [1 favorite]
I decided to pet my ankle biting, shin kicking cat instead. She was very pleased.
posted by Hermione Granger at 8:07 PM on August 3, 2017 [1 favorite]
I was reading about the somewhat similar looking Tarasque, which supposedly attacked a town in Provence, France in 43 AD.
Am I the only one who is reminded of the show "Primeval" by this?
posted by Philofacts at 8:27 PM on August 3, 2017
Am I the only one who is reminded of the show "Primeval" by this?
posted by Philofacts at 8:27 PM on August 3, 2017
Every once in a while, science produces a picture that sends chills down my spine. (Like in 2013 when Berkeley Lab showed a molecule breaking and forming chemical bonds.) This is one of those times! We're actually looking at the face of a dinosaur! It's right there!!!
This so incredibly awesome, and coming from the Royal Tyrrell makes it even better. Yay Alberta paleontologists! And yay Alberta dinosaurs!
In the face!
posted by Kevin Street at 2:36 PM on August 4, 2017 [2 favorites]
This so incredibly awesome, and coming from the Royal Tyrrell makes it even better. Yay Alberta paleontologists! And yay Alberta dinosaurs!
In the face!
posted by Kevin Street at 2:36 PM on August 4, 2017 [2 favorites]
A Dinosaur So Well Preserved It Looks Like a Statue
Accurate or not, that's not a nice thing to say about Jeff Sessions.
posted by jonp72 at 7:18 AM on August 5, 2017 [1 favorite]
Accurate or not, that's not a nice thing to say about Jeff Sessions.
posted by jonp72 at 7:18 AM on August 5, 2017 [1 favorite]
If anyone wants to see more photos, here's the ones I took at the museum this weekend (banana kids for scale).
The wire mesh at the back is where they tried to show what the dimensions of the missing back half would be.
posted by blue_beetle at 7:28 AM on August 7, 2017 [4 favorites]
The wire mesh at the back is where they tried to show what the dimensions of the missing back half would be.
posted by blue_beetle at 7:28 AM on August 7, 2017 [4 favorites]
Great photos, blue_beetle! I really like the mesh idea for showing the rest of it. I'm still just astonished at the perfect three-dimensionality of it. I've seen the fabulous Moroccan trilobite fossils, but this is so huge!
posted by tavella at 8:38 AM on August 7, 2017
posted by tavella at 8:38 AM on August 7, 2017
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