But apparently this discovery was made in 1999 and they've finally done enough research on it to announce it. Dinosaur mummy found. And the visualizations change again...
The photo gallery was a bit disappointing though. It didn't really show much. The "artist's rendering" looked like a regular old picture of a hadrosaur. Thicker tail maybe, but not much different. The tiny bit of skin shape shown was scaled. I'm having a hard time seeing how this is going to change much about the general ideas of dinosaurs, aside from any evolutionary/dna type stuff they might be able to figure out. It'll be interesting to see what other photos and information they release when they finish those formal publications they mentioned.
Previously all we had to go on for skin with dinosaurs was impresions left in stone. With this, if it's as complete as the artical implied, we can get some idea of how it was attached. Sure, it only applies to this particular dino, but there's a lot of difference between a hippo and a rhino in this respect.
Then there are the CT scans that show thicker mucles and heavier ligaments than they had been estimating. Not only does that change the the guesses as to this particular dino's activity levels, but it also throws doubt on the assumptions that led to the previous estimate. So we may see other's revised based on new ideas about how the "foot bone is connected to the ankle bone" so to speak. :)
That was one thing that bugged me about the article. They said that since the muscle mass was more than they expected, the hadrosaur was faster than they expected, and then they said it was faster than a t. rex. They actually said "Tyrannosaurus rex tops out at about 20 miles (32 kilometers) an hour, according to the model." Well what model? A new one, or an old one? The hadrosaur changes their estimates on its speed, so I don't see how they can make any flat statement about the t. rex.
I'm wondering if the t. rex was capable of a lot more speed than they're crediting it with now. A predator has to be capable of something to catch its prey, generally speed or stealth, perhaps both. Would the t. rex have stealth?
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The photo gallery was a bit disappointing though. It didn't really show much. The "artist's rendering" looked like a regular old picture of a hadrosaur. Thicker tail maybe, but not much different. The tiny bit of skin shape shown was scaled. I'm having a hard time seeing how this is going to change much about the general ideas of dinosaurs, aside from any evolutionary/dna type stuff they might be able to figure out. It'll be interesting to see what other photos and information they release when they finish those formal publications they mentioned.
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Then there are the CT scans that show thicker mucles and heavier ligaments than they had been estimating. Not only does that change the the guesses as to this particular dino's activity levels, but it also throws doubt on the assumptions that led to the previous estimate. So we may see other's revised based on new ideas about how the "foot bone is connected to the ankle bone" so to speak. :)
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I'm wondering if the t. rex was capable of a lot more speed than they're crediting it with now. A predator has to be capable of something to catch its prey, generally speed or stealth, perhaps both. Would the t. rex have stealth?