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The Big Dinosaur Podcast

The Big Dinosaur Podcast

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I Know Dino Podcast Show Notes: Achillobator (Episode 197)

Episode 197 is all about Achillobator, a larger dromaeosaur from cretaceous Mongolia.

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You can listen to our free podcast, with all our episodes, on Apple Podcasts at:

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In this episode, we discuss:

News:

  • Two new alverezsauroids were found in China, filling the largest gap in theropod evolution source
  • Walking with Dinosaurs The Arena Spectacular has gone on tour in Europe, with some of the most impressive dinosaur animatronics ever made source
  • Expedition: Dinosaur, will be at Grand Rapids Public Museum starting October 14. There will be life sized animatronic dinosaurs, and visitors will be able to control some of them source
  • Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History got a $160 million donation from Edward P. Bass, a billionaire and philanthropist who graduated from Yale in 1967 source
  • Congrats to Drumheller’s World’s Largest Dinosaur Structure which reached two million visitors source
  • In Sibay, Russia,a welder caught a T. rex on fire at an amusement park source
  • A couple got engaged on the Jurassic Park ride at Universal Studios Hollywood after riding it 62 times, breaking the park record source
  • A fiberglass T. rex head is for sale on Okaloosa Island, in Florida source
  • Parkasaurus, a sim where you can build your own dinosaur park, is opening up early access on Steam September 25 source

The dinosaur of the day: Achillobator

  • Dromaeosaurid theropod that lived in the Cretaceous in what is now Mongolia
  • Found in 1989 on a Mongolian and Russian field expedition, in the Bayan Shireh Formation of Dornogovi Province
  • Named in 1999 by Altangerel Perle, Mark Norell, Jim Clark
  • Only the holotype has been found, and includes part of the upper jaw with teeth, vertebrae, rib fragments, pelvis, left femur and tibia, hindlimbs, forelimbs, shoulder
  • Estimated to be 16.4 to 19.7 ft (5 to 6 m) long (pretty large for a dromaeosaur)
  • May have weighed up to 771 lb (350 kg)
  • Type species is Achillobator gigantas
  • Name means “Achilles hero”, named after Achilles, the ancient Greek warrior who fought in the Trojan War, and the Mongolian word baatar, which means “hero”
  • Name is because of its large Achilles tendon, connected to its sickle claws (probably had a robust tendon because it was a large dromaeosaur)
  • Species name comes from the Greek word gigantas, which means “giant,” and refers to Achillobator’s large size for a dromaeosaur
  • Bipedal carnivore
  • Had serrated, recurved teeth
  • Hunted and used it’s sickle-shaped claws
  • Femur was 3% longer than tibia, which is rare for dromaeosaurs
  • Pelvis has primitive characteristcs compared to other dromaeosaurs (had a wide expansion at the end, compared to other dromaeosaurs, and pubis points vertically down, though other dromaeosaurs and birds have a pubis that points backwards)
  • Some scientists though Achillobator was a fossil chimera, but not everyone believes this (many fossils were found semi-articulated, and they have the same color and preservation)
  • Other dinosaurs the lived in the same time and place included the therizinosaurid Segnosaurus, the deinocheirid Garudimimus, the ankylosaurid Talarurus, sauropods, and tyrannosaroids

Fun Fact:

Ovoviviparity means holding eggs inside until they hatch, whereas oviparity means laying eggs long before they hatch

Sponsors:

This episode is brought to you in part by TRX Dinosaurs, which makes beautiful and realistic dinosaur sculptures, puppets, and animatronics. You can see some amazing examples and works in progress on Instagram @trxdinosaurs

This Week in Dinosaur News: New Dinosaur Arkansaurus Fridayi, T. rex Fire, Dinosaur Toys and Games, and More

Here’s what came out in this week’s dinosaur news:

Check out these stories, our fun fact, and dinosaur of the day Agustinia in episode 174 of the I Know Dino Podcast!

I Know Dino Podcast Show Notes: Agustinia (Episode 174)

Episode 174 is all about Agustinia, a sauropod that was once thought to have had osteoderms.

Thank you so much to all our patrons! Are you a dinosaur enthusiast? If so, consider joining our growing community at https://www.patreon.com/iknowdino

You can listen to our free podcast, with all our episodes, on iTunes at:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/i-know-dino/id960976813?mt=2

In this episode, we discuss:

News:

The dinosaur of the day: Agustinia

    • Sauropod that lived in the Cretaceous in what is now Argentina
    • Found in the Lohan Cura Formation
    • Only one species: Agustinia ligabuei
    • Named in honor of Agustin Martinelli, who discovered the fossils in 1996-1997
    • Named in 1998 by Jose Bonaparte in an abstract
    • Originally it was named Augustia, but that was already the name of a beetle, so Bonaparte changed the name in a full paper that was published in 1999
    • Species name is in honor of Dr. Giancarlo Ligabue, a philanthropist who helped finance the expedition to excavate Agustinia
    • Not much has been described of Agustinia
    • Herbivorous
    • Only fragments have been found: vertebrae from the back, hips, and tail, parts of the lower hindlimbe (they also found a femur but it was too fragmented to collect)
    • Originally thought to have had osteoderms, that were supposedly wide, vertical spikes and plates on its back (like Stegosaurus), but later studies found they were probably fragments of ribs and hip bones (study of the tissues found they did not have the same internal structure of other titanosaur osteoderms)
    • A lower leg bone was found thats about 35 in (89 cm) long, and comparing that bone to the same bone in other related dinosaurs led to estimates that Agustinia was about 49 ft (15 m) long
    • But, since only incomplete fragments have been found, it’s hard to know much else about what Agustinia looked like. And because it didn’t appear to have distinctive armor, some scientists think it is a nomen dubium
    • Hard to classify Agustinia because of the fragments, but it has features of diplodocoids and titanosaurs

Fun Fact:

From the Taiwan Land Bank Exhibition Hall of the National Taiwan Museum:

Fishing ships in the Taiwan Strait often find animal fossils while trawling the bottom for fish.

This episode was brought to you by:

TRX Dinosaurs, which makes beautiful and realistic dinosaur sculptures, puppets, and exhibits. You can see some amazing examples and works in progress on Instagram @trxdinosaurs.

And by the Royal Tyrrell Museum, which is located in southern Alberta, Canada. Right now they are hosting their free-to-attend Winter speaker series (also on YouTube). More information can be found at tyrrellmuseum.com.

I Know Dino Podcast Show Notes: Masiakasaurus (Episode 127)

Episode 127 is all about Masiakasaurus, a small noasaurid theropod that lived in the Cretaceous in what is now Madagascar.

To all the dinosaur enthusiasts out there: Join our growing community on Patreon!

https://www.patreon.com/iknowdino

Big thanks to all our current Patreon supporters!

You can listen to our free podcast, with all our episodes, on iTunes at:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/i-know-dino/id960976813?mt=2

In this episode, we discuss:

News:

  • Jeff Goldblum is confirmed to be coming back to the Jurassic Park franchise in Jurassic World 2
    • And there will likely be a submarine somwhere in the movie
  • Bonapartesaurus Rionegrensis, a saurolophine was discovered representing the rare Argentinian hadrosaurs
  • Researchers presented that the Stegosaurs Miragaia and Hesperosaurus should be considered there own genus again, if you even realized synonymizing them was proposed…
  • 70 million year old dinosaur eggs have been found on a building site in China
  • Lurdusaurus, a possibly semi-aquatic iguanodont that lived in the early Cretaceous in what is now the western Sahara Desert was featured on Earth Archives
  • Did Sinosauropteryx and Kulindadromeus remains have feathers or collagen, a new paper says feathers
  • Ribs can be used instead of more valuable limb bones for measuring age by counting LAGs
  • Giraffititan is getting digitized at the Museum of Natural History in Berlin
  • A new movie  based on the 1958 children’s book Danny and the Dinosaur will be coming out soon
  • The Wyoming Dinosaur Center in Thermopolis, is building a new eco-friendly facility, which will open in 3 to 4 years and may incorporate smells
  • The dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving point in Utah is installing 1,500 solar panels
  • Another dinosaur replica caught fire, this time on the island Jersey in the UK
  • On June 17, the Schiele Museum of Natural History in North Carolina is opening a new exhibit, Dino Safari
  • A funny, but pretty accurate piece of art titled “Castles Made of Sand” by Rhunevild won the Utahraptor competition
  • A young girl in Australia caused a bit of a hubbub after not being able to find dinosaur clothes in the girls section of a retail store
  • The song “A Round of Applause for Dinosaurs” on YouTube is a goofy, family friendly song

The dinosaur of the day: Masiakasaurus

  • Name means “vicious lizard”
  • Small noasaurid theropod that lived in the Cretaceous in what is now Madagascar
  • Named in 2001 by Scott Sampson, Matthew Carrano, and Catherine Forster
  • Type species is Masiakasaurus knopfleri
  • Named after Mark Knopfler, lead singer of Dire Straits, whose music was considered to be the expedition team’s lucky charm (they were listening to his songs when they made important discoveries)
  • About 40% of the skeleton was found, and included parts of the skull and the teeth, humerus, pubis, hindlimbs, and several vertebrae
  • More specimens were found in 2011, and included the braincase, premxilla, facial bones, ribcage, and more, and helped scientists learn more about noasaurids (Masiakasaurus is now one of the best known noasaurids), Now 65% of the skeleton is known
  • Multiple specimens from thirty localities were found in Madagascar
  • Part of the superfamiliy Abelisauroidea and the clade noasaurid, a group of small theropods
  • Bipedal, with forelimbs that were shorter than hindlimbs
  • About 6.6 ft (2 m) long
  • Weighed about 80 lb (35 kg)
  • A 2013 study of Masiakasaurus found that it took 8-10 years to grow, and became the size of a large dog (growth rate is 40% slower than similar sized non-avian theropods). But the slow growth meant it didn’t have to consume as much food, which helped in a semiarid environment with dry seasons and short supplies of food
  • Long, long skull
  • Had a narrow neck
  • Had four fingers on each hand, though the four digit was reduced, and had stout, not very sharp, claws
  • Originally, the hand bones were thought to be foot bones (so scientists originally thought it had a sickle claw on its second toe), but now it’s considered to be a finger
  • Front teeth projected forward instead of straight down, (different from other theropods)
  • Had heterodont teeth (different shapes along the jaw)
  • It’s lower front teeth are nearly horizontal, and the angle of its teeth increase until its fourth tooth (the rest of the teeth are vertical)
  • These front horizontal teeth haven’t been seen in other predatory dinosaurs
  • Posterior teeth have serrations and are recurved
  • Front teeth were good for grasping small prey, but not good for tearing large food apart (back teeth were better for cutting and slicing)
  • Probably had a specialized diet (fish and small prey)
  • Other animals that lived in the same time and place include Majungasaurus, Rapetosaurus, Rahonavis
  • Majungasaurus may have preyed upon Masiakasaurus (based on one specimen found with holes that look like puncture marks from being hunted or scavenged, though it could also have been an infection)

Fun fact: 

The name “fossil fuel” is really a misnomer. The formation of oil & coal is completely different than fossilization.

The prevailing theory for how crude oil formed goes:

  • Huge numbers of dead plankton, algae, and the occasional other plant or animal fall to the bottom of the ocean
  • Some of them get buried before they decompose (kind of like fossilization)
  • High pressure and heat convert them into oil (not at all like fossilization)

If you’re wondering how many dinosaurs got mixed in; As William Thomas, a geologist from the University of Kentucky put it:

“Some of the dinosaurs may have gotten involved in some of this…” but he thinks “it would be quite rare and a very small and insignificant contribution.”

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