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We Always Thought This Dinosaur Was a Vegetarian, Then We Found Its Front Teeth
atlasobscura ^ | 26OCT18 | Matthew Taub

Posted on 10/30/2018 2:21:36 AM PDT by vannrox

We now know what the missing teeth would have looked like at the front of this jaw.We now know what the missing teeth would have looked like at the front of this jaw. Eden, Janine and Jim/CC BY 2.0

Until this week, Pachycephalosaurus seemed like a friendly neighborhood herbivore. The scariest thing about these dinosaurs, which have been frequently depicted placidly munching on greenery, was the unique architecture of their skulls: domed, sloping, pointy around the edges, and 10 inches thick. They might have butted heads, but that didn’t make them seem dangerous, exactly.

But now, new research presented at a Society of Vertebrate Paleontology conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, raises the specter that Pachycephalosaurus was a different beast entirely, reports National Geographic. Paleontologists always surmised, on the basis of the fossils’ dull, wide back teeth, that they only ate plants, but it now seems that the fronts of those jaws would have been adept at shredding a prehistoric steak.

Mark Goodwin of the University of California’s Museum of Paleontology and David Evans of Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum presented the findings, based on an unusually intact skull containing the first-known fossil of Pachycephalosaurus’ front jaw. The flat teeth in back and sharp teeth up front—not unlike our own dental division of labor—suggest an omnivorous diet.

The skull was discovered in eastern Montana’s Hell Creek Formation, a dinosaur hotspot that has yielded many a major find over the years. The skull dates back to between 66 and 68 million years ago, just at the tail end of the reign of the dinosaurs, and it belonged to a juvenile. Goodwin also proposed not long ago that Stygimoloch and Dracorex—previously thought to be distinct species—are actually just Pachycephalosaurus at different stages of life. It’s clear our understanding of these unusual creatures is going to continue to evolve.Hell Creek State Park, eastern Montana. Hell Creek State Park, eastern Montana. Vladimír Socha/CC-BY-SA-4.0

Philip Currie, a paleobiologist at the University of Alberta who attended the Albuquerque conference, said he’s not sure what evolutionary role this dentally bipolar jaw might have played. It would help to know what Pachycephalosaurus was actually eating, which might be determined by studying carbon isotopes in the tooth enamel, or comparing the newfound teeth to bite marks on other Hell Creek fossils, National Geographic explains.

Whatever comes of it, the find is another example of how hard it is to understand animals that haven’t walked the Earth in tens of millions of years—even when we think we have a good handle on them. “If I found one of them [the teeth] isolated, I would swear it belonged to a theropod,” a generally carnivorous suborder of dinosaurs, said University of Edinburgh’s Stephen Brusatte in an email. “My jaws opened pretty wide when I saw.”


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: crevo; dinosaur; dinosaurs; godsgravesglyphs; history; keywordtrolls; lucy; monster; pachycephalosaurus; paleontology; piltdownman; speculativedrivel; storkzilla; teeth; wherestheteeth
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1 posted on 10/30/2018 2:21:37 AM PDT by vannrox
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To: SunkenCiv

Head’s up


2 posted on 10/30/2018 2:23:14 AM PDT by vannrox (The Preamble to the Bill of Rights - without it, our Bill of Rights is meaningless!)
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To: vannrox

How wonderful! Yet they couldn’t bring themselves to actually SHOW US the teeth.


3 posted on 10/30/2018 2:41:33 AM PDT by Don W (When blacks riot, neighbourhoods and cities burn. When whites riot, nations and continents burn.)
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To: Don W

All he wants for Christmas is his two front teeth..his two front teeth..his two front teeth...


4 posted on 10/30/2018 3:14:31 AM PDT by RonnG ( v)
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To: vannrox

5 posted on 10/30/2018 3:32:43 AM PDT by Islander7 (There is no septic system so vile, so filthy, the left won't drink from to further their agenda)
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To: vannrox

Oh Crap!... now we have to download Another ARK Survival update!


6 posted on 10/30/2018 3:34:28 AM PDT by Safrguns
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To: vannrox

On a distantly related note, Terror Birds were dinosaurs that lived until about 2 million years ago. Many fossils have been found in Florida.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanis


7 posted on 10/30/2018 3:39:12 AM PDT by Moonman62 (Give a man a fish and he'll be a Democrat. Teach a man to fish and he'll be a responsible citizen.)
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To: Islander7

That reminds me of the socialist crazy chick running for Congress.


8 posted on 10/30/2018 3:40:46 AM PDT by Moonman62 (Give a man a fish and he'll be a Democrat. Teach a man to fish and he'll be a responsible citizen.)
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To: Moonman62

LOL! You are right!


9 posted on 10/30/2018 3:45:20 AM PDT by Islander7 (There is no septic system so vile, so filthy, the left won't drink from to further their agenda)
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To: vannrox
”the unique architecture of their skulls: domed, sloping, pointy around the edges, and 10 inches thick.”

Ahhh...proto-libs.

10 posted on 10/30/2018 3:47:53 AM PDT by Flag_This (Liberals are locusts.)
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To: vannrox

It’s okay, they probably only ate creatures. Wait a second! We’re smaller creatures!


11 posted on 10/30/2018 4:17:58 AM PDT by dangus ("The floor of Hell is paved with the skulls of bishops" -- St. Athanasius)
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To: Safrguns
Oh Crap!... now we have to download Another ARK Survival update!

Nah, they’ll release it as another DLC.

Gotta admit, hunting with them would be hilarious.

12 posted on 10/30/2018 4:25:54 AM PDT by MAexile (Bats left, votes rights)
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To: vannrox

The herbivore was really a carnivore, because at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology we make it up as we go along.


13 posted on 10/30/2018 5:16:46 AM PDT by cyclotic ( Democrats must be politically eviscerated, disemboweled and demolished.)
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To: vannrox

The missing front teeth were undoubtedly used for eating prey..... humans


14 posted on 10/30/2018 5:20:27 AM PDT by bert ((KE. N.P. N.C. +12) Invade Hondouras. Provide a military government)
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To: vannrox
Sharp, pointed teeth do not necessarily indicate an obligate carnivore. Note the Musk deer.

And no, As far as I know, neither Elon or anyone in his family has been playing around with a CRISPR.
15 posted on 10/30/2018 5:21:18 AM PDT by jmcenanly ("The more corrupt the state, the more laws." Tacitus, Publius Cornelius)
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To: vannrox

Probably global warming that turned these peaceful herbivores into vicious meat eaters.


16 posted on 10/30/2018 5:24:22 AM PDT by Joe 6-pack (Qui me amat, amat et canem meum.)
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To: cyclotic

‘The herbivore was really a carnivore, because at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology we make it up as we go along.’

taking a page straight from the varied annals of organized religions...


17 posted on 10/30/2018 5:26:41 AM PDT by IrishBrigade
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To: IrishBrigade

You need to splain that one Lucy


18 posted on 10/30/2018 5:47:34 AM PDT by cyclotic ( Democrats must be politically eviscerated, disemboweled and demolished.)
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To: vannrox

Gotta love science. They tell you something and they’re positive about it. Then 30-40-50 years down the road, they tell us a new truth.

Butter is bad for you. Try this veggie oil spread instead. Oh wait, we were wrong. Butter’s better.


19 posted on 10/30/2018 5:58:06 AM PDT by Pollard (If you don't understand what I typed, you haven't read the classics.)
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To: cyclotic

One example is Mary’s ascension into heaven, which is part of the notion that if anything is believed long enough, it becomes tradition. And tradition is equal to scripture.


20 posted on 10/30/2018 10:01:17 AM PDT by sparklite2 (See more at Sparklite Times)
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