The Big Dinosaur Podcast

Episode 133 is all about Lesothosaurus, a primitive dinosaur that lived in the Jurassic in what is now Lesotho.

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In this episode, we discuss:

News:

• A New troodontid Dinosaur Liaoningvenator currie from China was found curled up almost like an embryo
• A Camarasaurus found in Montana is the farthest north and oldest (30 years at death) found to date
• New research sheds light on the mysterious Jurassic Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry from Central Utah
• The debate of whether T. rex had scales or feathers continues with featherless skin impressions published in Biology Letters
• A study of how Australian birds that bury their eggs may help us learn more about how & where titanosaurs buried their eggs
• The Missouri Institute of Natural Science got a “truckload of fossils” in from Wyoming including many hadrosaurs
• Mark Witton explains how paleoartists use bone textures to predict skin composition, thickness, and ornamentation
• Dinosaurs in the Wild Experience begins in Birmingham on June 24 and they put a Dakotaraptor in a mall to advertise
• Laurel Dinosaur Park in Maryland is open to public volunteers to help excavate fossils on the first and third Sundays
• The Australian film, My Pet Dinosaur has begun getting reviews and so far it’s exceeding expectations
• Saurian has sent out copies of the pre-release to kickstarter backers at the $60 level and above
• Neverwinter is releasing a new expansion “Tomb of Annihilation” which will feature dinosaurs
• Who would win in a fight, 10,000 chickens or 20 T. rex? Apparently the chickens, at least according to CNET
• A small child (somehow) gets surrounded by small T. rex toys in a toy store in China and panics
• A new “Lego Idea” features dinosaur fossils in a museum rather than the typical recreations

The dinosaur of the day: Lesothosaurus

• Name means “lizard from Lesotho”
• Ornithischian that lived in the Jurassic in what is now southern Africa (Lesotho)
• Named by Peter Galton in 1978
• Only one valid species: Lesothosaurus diagnosticus
• Named for the country Lesotho, where it was found
• Originally considered to be an ornithopod, but Paul Sereno suggested it could be the most primitive of known ornithischians
• Had some primitive anatomy, like a partially closed hole in its pelvis by a medial wall (most dinosaurs did not have this)
• Lesothosaurus has been sometimes confused with Fabrosaurus (an ornithischian from the same time and place, that was named in 1964). But only a jawbone and three teeth have been described of Fabrosaurus, so it’s hard to know for sure)
• Richard Butler said in 2005 that Lesothosaurus was a basal member of Neornithischia (includes pachycephalosaurs, ceratopsians, ornithopods)
• Could also be an early thyreophoran (same group as stegosaurs and ankylosaurs)
• Richard Butler named a new dinosaur, Stormbergia dangershoeki, in 2005, and some scientists think it was an adult version of Lesothosaurus, which would make them synonyms. (In 2017, Baron, Norman & Barrett studied the differences between the two and found they were mostly because of their growth.)
• Bipedal
• About 3-6 ft (1-2 m) long
• Had a small skull that was short and flat
• Had large eye sockets and large cavities for the jaw muscles
• Had a short, flexible neck
• Had short forelimbs compared to its hindlimbs
• Had five fingers on each hand (only 4 were well developed)
• Had long, slender legs, small arms (hands could not really grasp things), and a slender tail
• Probably was a fast runner
• Had a beaklike structure
• Beak was covered in keratinous material
• Had leaf-shaped teeth behind the beak, and 12 fanglike teeth in front of the upper jaws
• Could not chew its food, but could slice it with its beak
• Omnivorous, probably (based on studies of its tooth, which found not enough wear)
• Probably ate small animals and soft plants
• May have been similar to a gazelle, browsing low-vegetation and running off when predators approached
• May have lived in groups
• In 2015, scientists CT scanned Lesotho skulls, which gave a much more detailed description of the skull and was used to refer more specimens to the genus.
• These specimens were buried together, which is why scientists think they may have lived in groups
• May have grown to adult size in 4 years

Fun Fact:

Using the term “chicken sized” to describe a dinosaur is problematic

• A study in Poultry Science in 2014 bred 3 sets of birds from strains from
• 1957, 1978, 2005
• After 56 days
  • 900g, 1,800g, 4,200g (2lb, 4lb, 9.25lb)
    • More than 4x increase in under 50 years
  • The world record chicken “Big Boy” from Pennsylvania weighed over 24lbs (just under 11Kg)
    • Approaching velociraptor weight
      • One velociraptor specimen is estimated to be 15Kg
    • But nowhere near velociraptor length—about 1.5m (5ft)

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