The Big Dinosaur Podcast

In our 147th episode, we got to chat with Jim Kirkland about the Utahraptor Project. (We last spoke with Jim in episode 34, Utahraptor.) The Utahraptor Project is well underway, and already we’re learning new things about these dinosaurs. 

You can help out by donating to the Utahraptor Project on their Go Fund Me page, at https://www.gofundme.com/utahraptor. For just $25, you can make a huge difference in helping scientists learn about these amazing specimens. You can also hear about the latest updates at https://utahraptorsite.com.

And, you can learn more about the area at https://www.utahgeology.org/openjournal/index.php/GIW/article/view/9.

Episode 147 is also about Guanlong, whose name means “”crown dragon.”

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In this episode, we discuss:

News:

• Abstracts from talks and posters we covered in this week’s podcast from day three of SVP 2017 can be found here
• Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom merchandise was released, and it’s all food…
• Friends of Dinosaur Ridge in Colorado are working on a multi-million dollar design to protect their dinosaur tracks
• A Moroccan jeweler is being investigated for illegally selling a Spinosaurus jaw
• A redditor claims that dinosaurs in Jurassic Park were designed based on people’s expectations to explain scientific disparities

The dinosaur of the day: Guanlong

• Type species is Guanlong wucaii
• Proceratosaurid tyrannosauroid that lived in the Late Jurassic in what is now China
• Guanlong means “crown dragon”
• Full name means “five color crown dragon”
• Crown refers to its head crest, which is the most elaborate of known theropods
• Species name means “five colors” and refers to the colors of the rock of the Wucaiwan, where Guanlong was found
• Found on a joint expedition in 2002 by scientists from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology and George Washington University
• Described and named in 2006 by Xu Xing and others
• Found two individuals, a partially complete adult and a nearly complete juvenile, in the Chinese Shishugou Formation
• The two specimens were found together, with one lying on top of the other. They fell into a muddy footprint of a large herbivore, possibly Mamenchisaurus, and were trapped. The juvenile probably died first and was trampled by the adult, who came later
• The adult was about 12 years old, and reached maturity around age 7
• The juvenile was about 6 years old
• Looked like Dilong (but with a crest), so may have had primitive feathers, like Dilong
• The crests are thin and delicate, and may have been used for display (may have been a different color from the body)
• The adult had a larger crest, which ran from its nostrils to its eye sockets
• The juvenile’s crest was shorter and only on the snout, and it had longer lower legs and larger eyes than the adult
• Crest was similar to the crest on Dilophosaurus and Monolophosaurus, and was very pneumatized (had lots of air holes), though Guanlong‘s crest was more delicate
• One of the oldest known tyrannosaurs
• Guanlong helps show that tyrannosaurs may have started in Asia
• Classified as a tyrannosauroid because of the shape of its teeth, and features in the skull and pelvis
• Part of the family Proceratosauridae, which includes Proceratosaurus, Kileskus, and Sinotyrannus
• About 9.8 ft (3 m) long, and weighed 100-200 lbs (45-90 kg)
• Had three fingers on its hands (compared to later tyrannosaurs, that had only two)
• Probably hunted smaller dinosaurs and mammals
• May have also been prey for larger dinosaurs, such as the allosaur Yangchuanosaurus
• Lived in a seasonal climate, with humid summers and dry winters
• Other animals in the area include sauropods, ornithopods, and small and large theropods, as well as turtles and small mammals
• Guanlong skeleton is at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in China
• Can see a life-size reconstruction at the Australian Museum in Sydney
• Can see Guanlong in Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (meant to be a “twist” on a Velociraptor)
• Can also see Guanlong in Dino Death Trap, a National Geographic documentary
• There’s also a Guanlong cube (rubix cube). The cube is 3×3 and known for being smooth and priced at an affordable rate

Fun Fact:

Based on fivethirtyeight data

• Othniel Charles Marsh named 80 species and 23 are considered valid giving him at a success rate of 28.8%; While, Edward Drinker Cope named 64 species but only 9 are still considered valid giving him a success rate of 14.1%
• Charles H. Sternberg’s middle son, Charles M. Sternberg named far fewer than cope or marsh @ 19 species but nearly half of them (8) are still considered valid.
  • Better known dinosaurs he described include:
    • Ankylosaur: Anodontosaurus
    • Nodosaur: Edmontonia
    • Ceratopsian: Pachyrhinosaurus (the one without major facial horns, but instead large flat boney bosses)
    • Hadrosaur: Brachylophosaurus (exceptionally well preserved)
  • Many of his discoveries were made in Canada, and he later went on to help establish Dinosaur Provincial Park there. Like his father Charles M. Sternberg lived a long time (1885-1981)