courtesy of sebastien.b

During the middle Eocene, 45-50 m.y.a., a number of freshwater lakes appeared in an arc extending from Smithers, through the modern Cariboo, to Kamloops, the Nicola Valley, Princeton, and Republic, WA. The lakes likely formed after a period of faulting produced a number of basins, called grabens into which water collected.

The faulting was followed by a time of volcanism that produced periodic falls of fine-grained ash. The ash washed into the lakes and because of its texture, and possibly because of low water oxygen levels on the bottoms that slowed decay, plant, invertebrate, and fish fossils were preserved in wonderful detail.

Princeton boasts many fossil exposures within the middle Eocene, Allenby Formation and most enjoying a high degree of preservation. A crack of the hammer yields fossil maple, alder, fir, pine, dawn redwood and ginko fossil material. Several species of fossilized insects can be found in the area and rare, but occasional fossil flowers and fish. Being in the southeastern corner of British Columbia, the fossil beds are covered by a layer of snow well into April.

This is the latest update in my constantly changing Utahraptor research. Enjoy!

Social Behavior

Scientists say dromaeosaurs like Utahraptor probably hunted in packs. I believe this is true. I also think that they lived together in these packs full-time. The pack they lived in was almost like their family, even if there were few or no actual blood relations. They would have competed for food, territory, and the right to mate in these packs. They acted as a team to bring down an animal several times their size. In order to do this, they may have had some form of communication, like we do today, but probably not to our extent. Utahraptor packs would have usually consisted of an alpha female, and at least three others; probably most of the rest were males.

Intelligence

Dromaeosaurs were one of the most intelligent groups of dinosaurs that ever existed, second only to the troodonts. Paleontologists figure out relative dinosaur intelligence based on their Encephalization Quotient, or EQ. Basically put, an EQ is the brain to body mass ratio. For example, for humans, the figure comes out at about 7:14, but this does not always determine high intelligence. The EQ of a bird is about 7:20, which would make them appear smarter than humans. The EQ of a troodont is about 6 even, and dromaeosaurs aren’t far behind; with an average EQ of about 5.87 or higher. The EQ of Utahraptor is about the same as a troodont, which makes Utahraptor the most intelligent dromaeosaur, and possibly dinosaur, of all time. Utahraptor was probably just as smart as a modern-day eagle.

Revision 3 is coming soon, so don’t miss it!

Random Scientist Inc.

I’ve been relatively busy today, so I haven’t been able to check the site until now. When I got on I noticed four topics almost identical in name and description. First, I would like to say that this violates one of our rules:

4. Do not double post. Posting the same Content or a slightly modified version of it several times is prohibited.

Second, I would like everyone to reread our community rules: http://www.dinosaurhome.com/terms/community-rules.html

Whoever is posting content that is violating our rules, I would like to ask you to stop. If you did not do it intentionally, well, now you know, and hopefully you won’t do it again. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Random Scientist Inc.

Photo credit Linden Tea

About two dozen families of eurypterids “sea scorpions” are known. Although they have a superficial similarity, including a defensive needle-like spike or telson at their tail end, they are not true scorpions. They are an extinct group of arthropods related to extant creepy crawlies including spiders, ticks and mites.

Eurypterids hunted fish in the muddy bottoms of warm shallow seas some 460 to 248 million years ago before moving on to hunting grounds in fresh and brackish water during the later part of their reign. Their numbers diminished greatly during the Permian-Triassic extinction, becoming extinct by 248 million years ago.

This perfect specimen of  Eurypterus remipes, held by my young cousin Sivert, was named the official state fossil of New York in 1984.

Hey, it’s Random Scientist Inc. As you know, I’m constantly editing my Utahraptor research. I have decided to keep you up-to-date on my latest edits. So here’s the first edit of the Physical Appearance section of the research. Enjoy!

Physical Appearance

Utahraptor was, without a doubt, the largest dromaeosaur that ever lived. It was about two meters tall, seven meters long, and weighed half a ton at most. Its skeletal design is like that of a modern turkey or chicken. Its bones were hollow, but strong. It had a rectangular head with a jaw packed with razor-sharp teeth, like steak knives. It had long and relatively thin arms, which ended in three fingers with huge claws. The first finger was the shortest, and the middle finger was the longest. It had a long tail used for balance. It had short and robust legs. Their feet had four toes. The first toe was not used at all. The second toe was a very deadly retractable toe claw that could grow up to twelve inches long. The claw was covered with a layer of keratin to protect the bone. The toe claw was held off the ground so it could stay nice and sharp, ready for combat. The third and fourth toes were used for balance. Utahraptor and other dromaeosaurs might have had binocular vision, like that of an eagle. Its hearing was probably very excellent. Scientists recently discovered that raptors in general could hear low frequency sounds the best. It could smell prey from at least a mile away. Dromaeosaurs like Utahraptor were covered in feathers. The arms, legs, and tail were covered in true feathers, whilst the rest of their body was covered in protofeathers. The feathers on the arms of young raptors would’ve enabled a special type of locomotion called wing-assisted incline running, or WAIR for short. Discovered by Ken Dial, a Montana zoologist, this is a behavior used by modern birds that combines flapping the wings back and forth while running up the sides of trees. This flapping pushes the feet of the bird against the tree, allowing it to run vertically up the trunk. This indicates, but does not prove, that small dromaeosaurs lived part-time in the trees.

Random Scientist Inc.