How Did Dinosaurs Sleep?

Smithsonian Magazine (blog) ^ | 10-9-2012 | Brian Switek

[Renfield]

Bone by bone and study by study, paleontologists are learning more than ever before about dinosaurs. But there are still many aspects about prehistoric biology that we know little about. In fact, some of the simplest facets of dinosaur lives remain elusive.

For one thing, we don’t know much at all about how dinosaurs slept. Did Apatosaurus doze standing up or kneel down to rest? Did tyrannosaurs use their tiny, muscular arms to push themselves off the ground after a nap? And, given the discovery of so many enfluffled dinosaurs, did fuzzy dinosaurs ever cuddle up together to stay warm on chilly Mesozoic nights?

Since we can’t observe living non-avian dinosaurs directly, some of these questions have to remain in the realm of speculation. But a handful of fossils have shown us that at least some dinosaurs curled up just like birds. In 2004, Xing Xu and Mark Norell described the tiny, early Cretaceous dinosaur Mei long–a feathery troodontid dinosaur with big eyes and a little switchblade claw on each foot. What made Mei special, though, was the way the dinosaur was preserved....

[Renfield]

A second specimen of the troodontid Mei, preserved in a bird-like sleeping position. From Gao et al., 2012.

[Renfield]

Ping

[elephantlips]

Holiday Inn.

[Morris70]

with one eye open :)

[Ezekiel]

[TigersEye]

Uneasily. There were dinosaurs all around.

[Daffynition]

With a great deal of melancholy and one eye open b/c all their friends were dead. :(

[Ezekiel]

With a great deal of melancholy and one eye open b/c all their friends were dead. :(

"How Did Dinosaurs Sleep?"

Permanently. :(

(65 million years in the grave and all I got was a lousy ballot.)

[MacMattico]

Large doses of Ambien.

[count-your-change]

“Since we can’t observe living non-avian dinosaurs directly, some of these questions have to remain in the realm of speculation”

Really? You mean like that “fuzziness”?

[Tax-chick]

Bearded dragons go under a rock and curl up with “spikes out” in case a nocturnal predator’s nose comes by.

[CitizenM]

Well, all I know is I wouldn’t want to sleep with a snoring dinosaur. Imagine!

[Venturer]

I can’t figure out some politicians sleep after screwing up our country so badly.

Why would I care how a Dinosaur slept.

[SunkenCiv]

GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach	join list or digest view topics view or post blog bookmark post a topic subscribe
Thanks Renfield. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.

[Daffynition]

Don't let Westboro hear you!

[Ezekiel]

DINOS are Gay/God Hates DINOS

That had to have been an anti-Barney protest. Well, there *is* that saying about broken clocks..

After all, the purple perv has that book about climbing into bed with kids, ugh.

[Ezekiel]

Bearded dragons go under a rock and curl up with “spikes out” in case a nocturnal predator’s nose comes by.

Kind of like "lights out", only different.

[Daffynition]

Fodder. Dino theories are fodder. ;)

[Tax-chick]

They’re a wonderful animal ... as soon as the temperature drops below 80, they just switch off and lie in the sand looking dead. I wish the boys had a similar function!

[Ezekiel]

If only, and no need to crank up a/c, either. You would only need to slip those cooler freezer paks into the bedcovers and voila, snoozasaurs, all. Hmmm, good for road trips as well. “Here’s your seat cushion. It’s the law!”

[Tax-chick]

LOL!

It’s 65 in my house this morning. How nice if all the byos were curled up unconscious until it warmed up ...

[Ezekiel]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAYDiPizDIs

[Ezekiel]

How nice if all the byos were curled up unconscious until it warmed up ...

You mean like in the Spring? ;-)

[Tax-chick]

I did suggest to Tom, the extremely large son, that if he crawled in a hole this month and came out in March, he’d find himself thin!

[Condor51]

How Did Dinosaurs Sleep?

Uh... Any way they wanted too!
(bada-bing, rim-shot)

[Daffynition]

Miss Anne Elk, I'll have ya know! :)

[Ezekiel]

if he crawled in a hole this month and came out in March, he’d find himself thin

'cause you know what they say... you snooze, you lose. :-)

[Tax-chick]

LOL!

I’d be thin if I could sleep all I want!

[TruthWillWin]

[null and void]

How Did Dinosaurs Sleep?

Fitfully.

They kept having nightmares of Helen Thomas...

[null and void]

*GROAN*!!!

shame on you!

[Hegemony Cricket]

Sleep Number Beds, of course!

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

I’ll bet they didn’t sleep long but when they did it was deep !

[redhead]

I’ve always wondered how dinosaurs drank. Did they dip/siphon like hoofed animals, did they drink like birds (fill beak, lift head), or did they simply eat diets of succulents, while carnivores got their water requirements met by the body fluids and blood of their prey? Inquiring minds want to know...