Favorite dinosaur

[Pixelated_Puffin 12]

Gigantasaur is best saur!!!!

Pros: gigantic, saur, gigantic saur, it's name is so perfect for various size related puns that I need not know what it looks like to know its best saur

Cons:

I rest my case

[CT-1138 3,180]

Spinosaurus:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This mo-fo could grow up to 18 meters long. What did it eat?

 

Fish.

 

Yes, that's right.

 

Fucking fish.

 

How.

I've seen estimates all the way to 60ft long, but i honestly have to question whether this is just bad math. Most are somewhere in the upper 40's, somewhere around 45-50ft in length. Fredrich von Huene in 1926, Don Glut in 1982, and Greg Paul in 1988 all listed it as 49ft long, while François Therrien and Donald Henderson in 2007 restudied Dal Sasso's 2005 estimates (where he came to the extreme 59ft estimates) on spinosaurid skull length determining size. Unlike Dal Sasso, who assumed Suchomimus and Spinosaurus had the same body proportions (this is why assumptions can be dangerous ), Therrien and Henderson looked at a larger variety of theropod skull to body ratios to make their estimates, and like others before them found estimates on the upper 40's range. Take a look at this diagram:

Note that Dal Sasso's reconstruction isn't actually 175cm long when measured in the standard way (Pmx - Qj aka premaxilla (nose tip) to quadratojugal (back of the jaw). The 175cm that Del Sasso et al. published refers to the longest point of the skull, which in the case of Spinosaurus, happens to be the back of the TOP jaw, or squamosal bone. This is why Therrein and Henderson 'downsized' (more like corrected) MSNM V4047's skull length for their size estimates.

 

But frankly, the largest factor in preventing Spinosaurus from becoming both 60ft monstrosities is the environment, something that is as important to studying as the fossils themselves. Spinosaurus has two major terrestrial competitors: medium-sized terrestrial predator Deltadromeus and apex terrestrial predator Carcharodontosaurus. Spinosaurus literally did not have the room to grow to such a size. It was likely eating gigantic fish, with scraps on the side. Now, does that mean that this sort of environment can support a 55ft Spinosaurus? Yes, but within reason. Not every dinosaur grows to it's max, fossil evidence supports this. Tyrannosaurus, for example, can grow up to 43ft, but the average based on fossil evidence is 38-40ft. Not every animal reaches it's maximum, as I've explained. There's competition for resources and mates, and these competitions can result in the death or severe injury of one of the competitors.

[Forlong 1,725]

The old form was called the Linnean classification, most biologists nowadays use Cladistics. I have no idea why Linnean is still taught in schools, but it took me forever (and still kinda is) to get over Linnean classification, so don't feel bad about it.

I was home schooled, so some of textbooks they used were a bit old.  I guess my parents weren't aware that the classification system was changed.

[tigris115 17]

Gigantasaur is best saur!!!!

Pros: gigantic, saur, gigantic saur, it's name is so perfect for various size related puns that I need not know what it looks like to know its best saur

Cons:

I rest my case

Did you mean Giganotosaurus or the titanosaur from India that ended up being a wastebasket taxon and eventually thrown out?

 

[Darker 1,351]

It's a tie between the Spino and the Rex.

 

For me, Rex is the King, and Spino is the Pharaoh, of all the Dinosaurs

[SparklingSwirls 21,271]

EDIT: Nevermind. A mod can delete this if they want to.

Edited August 28, 2014 by SparklingSwirls

[Cuddly 43]

 

 

Brachiosaurus altithorax was the best dinosaur.

T-Rex too.

Edited August 28, 2014 by Cuddly doggy

[iceestarz 5,757]

I've always loved dinosaurs...and I love them all so flippin much...

 

UGGGHH

 

...velociraptor.

 

That was the one dinosaur that always caught my eye.

[ShadowPirateX 600]

Yay! A dinosaur thread! Anyways my favorite dinosaur is Grimlock the Utahraptor. I'm pretty fascinated by them. To think that they were similar to the Velociraptors, but were even bigger. I also like the Trodon for being the smartest of the bunch.

 

Do pterodactyls count? They're probably my favorite; they look pretty cool

I'm pretty sure those are not dinosaurs.

[CheeryFox 23,811]

Ultrasaurus.

 

Now, let's enjoy a couple of my ramblings:

 

• "I'm a raptor, doin' what I can.
• Gonna eat everything till the appearance of man.
• Yo, yo, see me, I'm livin' below the soil.
• I'll be back but I'm comin' as oil."

 

Put your hands together, and sing: 

 

[Handsome Changeling 1,851]

Not to be a bit of an arrogant guy here, but Spinosaurus was bigger and stronger than the T-rex so in my opinion Spino is better, it is impossible for them to fight as they lived in different areas on earth and Spinosaurus was a fish eating (that does not mean it only fed on fish it is just that fish were a large part of it's diet) Dinosaur so it would never need to fight a Tyrannosaurus rex. 

[PoisonClaw 8,154]

The ankylosaurus, if only because when I was a kid I really liked its name. 

[Guest]

I'm super excited to see this  I've always loved Parasaurolophus since I was a child, the skull is magnificent.

I also love Pachycephalosaurus but I could only vote for one unfortunately

[Khaoios 1,970]

For me, I actually like the Velociraptor b/c they were fast, and agile hunters

[CT-1138 3,180]

I'm super excited to see this  I've always loved Parasaurolophus since I was a child, the skull is magnificent.

a-parasaurolophus-searches-for-a-source-mohamad-haghani.jpg

I also love Pachycephalosaurus but I could only vote for one unfortunately

Ooo! I don't remember Haghani doing a Para! *runs off to DA*

[Bronychan1214 150]

Any kind of raptor. I like them all

[Yurikun 34]

Well, I have to say the T-Rex has to be my favorite really.

http://youtu.be/K13IiXXWPWc

 

I can't believe nobody posted this.

[A goat 323]

of course the t-rex would get the most votes.

 

That being said, the muthafuckin t-rex is my favourite dinosaur.

[Darker 1,351]

Not to be a bit of an arrogant guy here, but Spinosaurus was bigger and stronger than the T-rex so in my opinion Spino is better, it is impossible for them to fight as they lived in different areas on earth and Spinosaurus was a fish eating (that does not mean it only fed on fish it is just that fish were a large part of it's diet) Dinosaur so it would never need to fight a Tyrannosaurus rex. 

It's been lately confirmed that Spino was more of a carnivore than piscivore. New theories say that Spinosaurus might have been the apex predator of some Iguanodon.

 

Also, while he never could have fought the Rex, I'm pretty sure an adult alpha would run away before confronting a full grown 18-meter large, 7-meter tall, 20-ton  Spinosaurus, especially since Spino dominated another predator almost as big as him on the same area, the Carcharodontosaurus. 

 

Jack Horner, an archeologist, and one of the many people that helped in Jurassic Park, thinks that with one single swipe of the Spinosaurus' claws could beat a T-Rex, given the size of both.

[The Crimson Cross 7,532]

At the moment it'd have to be the velociraptor. 

I'm not sure why but it's exciting and the idea seems kind of neat.

They may have been smaller than most of the dinosaurs, but from the sounds of it they were agile hunters.

(my knowledge of dinosaurs is extremely lacking)

[CuriousPony 156]

 

 

Yaaaay, mah babies. I loves them. 

[tigris115 17]

It's been lately confirmed that Spino was more of a carnivore than piscivore. New theories say that Spinosaurus might have been the apex predator of some Iguanodon.

 

Also, while he never could have fought the Rex, I'm pretty sure an adult alpha would run away before confronting a full grown 18-meter large, 7-meter tall, 20-ton  Spinosaurus, especially since Spino dominated another predator almost as big as him on the same area, the Carcharodontosaurus. 

 

Jack Horner, an archeologist, and one of the many people that helped in Jurassic Park, thinks that with one single swipe of the Spinosaurus' claws could beat a T-Rex, given the size of both.

First off, can we PLEASE not have a Spinosaurus vs. T. rex debate. There's a GOOD reason that Jurassic Park Legacy banned those kind of discussions. Trust me. I don't want that poison to drip into other forums.

 

Secondly, paleontologists were fairly sure that Spinosaurus was primarily a fish eater, living much like a crocodile. This is thanks to new remains we fould in 2014 showing that Spinosaurus had much shorter legs than most theropod dinosaurs

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2014/09/11/the-new-spinosaurus/

[DND 2,354]

Archaeopteryx. I've been a fan of prehistoric birds for a long time, I actually designed some of my first characters off of them.    

[Kiri 7,279]

This thread. So glad I saw it. I used to really be into reading about dinos as a kid. My favorite is Spinosaurus.

[Durandal 623]

 

Yo T-Rex, I'm happy for you and congratulations on the most votes, but Philosoraptor is the best dinosaur of all time.

 

OF ALL TIME.

Edited August 23, 2015 by Durandal