The Author
-
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. It, and all of its files and contents -- unless otherwise noted -- are protected by this license.License established 9/9/2012, while previously I was using a CC-BY-ND license instead.
Support this blog:
I have two websites, my DeviantArt and RedBubble accounts, which allow downloads and purchase of the imagery presented on this site. As I am a starving artist, I would appreciate support this way.
Tag Archives: Sauropods
I’m Just Gonna Leave These Here….
In the interests of open sourcing, the following skeletal reconstructions and descriptions are CC-BY. This means they are entirely open-access, and you may do whatever you wish with them so long as you attribute the material to me. You do … Continue reading
Wrinkled Old Prune
Apatosaurus louisae, by far one of the more interesting sauropods of the Morrison. This is really just to show off facial integument at close range for sauropods. That is, fleshy oral tissues, distal nostrils near snout tip, a hint of … Continue reading
On Sauropod “Cheeks”
As SVP looms, and its contents include much interesting things, especially in several valuable studies on the soft-tissue anatomy of sauropod necks and heads — but which I won’t further discuss outside of the authors’ own discussions — I figured … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Biological Comparison, Paleobiology, Reconstruction
Tagged Cheeks, Lips, Sauropods
2 Comments
What Carbon Has To Do With It
This may go under the radar, so I consider it opportune to mention it. While it doesn’t directly consider fossil archosaurs in any fashion, or a ridiculously over-hyped but very popular group of bird-stem archosaurs, the study at hand does … Continue reading
Posted in Paleobiology, Paleontology, Science Reporting
Tagged Australopithecines, Diet, Sauropods, Tooth enamel
Leave a comment
The Next Step
While discussing lips in theropod dinosaurs is easy, and a bit dinosaur-centric (what about lips in nondinosaurian archosaurs?!), there are two major elements of the dinosaury that bear understanding: First, that ornithischians present an additional hurdle to overcome when discussing … Continue reading
Posted in Biological Comparison, Paleobiology, Reconstruction
Tagged Diet, Head Posture, Neck Posture, Sauropods
Leave a comment
What Use A Perfect Specimen?
A holotype specimen is important in systematics when the taxonomist desires to use an ideal specimen upon which a new animal is created. It is the first, and best specimen, for future systematists to refer to when comparing other taxa. … Continue reading
To Play Devil’s Advocate
Recently, Mike Taylor of University College London and Matt Wedel of the Western University of Health Services (both of SV-POW!) and Rich Cifelli (of the Oklahoma Museum of Natural History) have published a paper describing a new taxon, Brontomerus mcintoshi … Continue reading
OTP: One True Posture
I’ll summate briefly: Sauropod neck posture has been debated fairly aggressively among those narrow-discipline sauropod specialists (and occassional avocation biologists) for about a century. Speculation has permitted some people to put sauropods into “snorkel” position deep under water, extending their … Continue reading
Posted in Biological Comparison, Biology, Biomechanics, Paleontology, Science Reporting
Tagged Sauropods
5 Comments
A Radical Idea
Or … maybe not so radical. It doesn’t change that much. Some readers here will recall a small debate over at SV-POW! where I argued with Mike Taylor over the effective purpose and reason behind the recognition of the name … Continue reading
Posted in Paleontology, Philosophy, Taxonomy
Tagged Cladistics, Linnaean Systematics, Sauropods, The Genus Question
Leave a comment
Sauropod Feeding Strategies #2
A more thorough version of my last post is presented. There is some confusion over what the papers presented below actually say, some of them very technical. A summary, which may certainly be wrong in some cases, is required.
Posted in Biological Comparison, Biology, Biomechanics, Paleontology, Science Reporting
Tagged Diet, Ecology, Feeding, Sauropods
Leave a comment
Jaime A. Headden
The Bite Stuff 