Why Do Dinosaur Skeletons Look So Weird? (a carcass in a watery grave)

Science Daily ^ | 02/16/2012

[SeekAndFind]

ScienceDaily (Feb. 16, 2012) — Many fossilized dinosaurs have been found in a twisted posture. Scientists have long interpreted this as a sign of death spasms. Two researchers from Basel and Mainz now come to the conclusion that this bizarre deformations occurred only during the decomposition of dead dinosaurs.

A syndrome like that as a petrified expression of death throes was discussed for the first time about 100 years ago for some vertebrate fossils, but the acceptance of this interpretation declined during the following decades. In 2007, this "opisthotonus hypothesis" was newly posted by a veterinarian and a palaeontologist. This study, generously planned, received much attention in the public and the scientific community.

Now, five years later, two scientists from Switzerland and Germany have re-evaluated the revitalized "opisthotonus hypothesis" and examined one of its icons, the famous bipedal dinosaur Compsognathus longipes from the "Solnhofen Archipelago" (Germany). It is widely acknowledged that this 150-millions-years-old land-living dinosaur was embedded in a watery grave of a tropical lagoon.

"In our opinion, the most critical point in the newly discussed scenario of the preservation of an opisthotonic posture in a fossil is the requirement that terrestrial vertebrates must have been embedded immediately after death without substantial transport. But consigning a carcass from land to sea and the following need of sinking through the water column for only a few decimetres or meters is nothing else" says sedimentologist Achim Reisdorf from University of Basel's Institute of Geology and Paleontology.

More or less complete and articulated skeletons of dinosaurs with a long neck and tail often exhibit a body posture in which the head and neck are recurved over the back of the animal.

[sodpoodle]

Getting sucked into a mud pit would do that.

[SeekAndFind]

A fossil of the Compsognathus longipes from the "Solnhofen Archipelago" shows the twisted posture often seen in dinosaur remains.

ARTICLE CONCLUDES THUSLY:

Biomechanics in Watery Graves Convinced that the back arching was generated, not by death throes, but by postmortem alterations of a decaying carcass, the researchers made experiments with plucked chicken necks and thoraxes, immersed in water. Submersed in water, the necks spontaneously arched backwards for more than 90°. Ongoing decay for some months even increased the degree of the pose. Thorough preparation and dissection combined with testing revealed that a special ligament connecting the vertebrae at their upper side was responsible for the recurved necks in the chickens. This ligament, the so-called Ligamentum elasticum, is pre-stressed in living chickens, but also in dead ones.

SNIP

"A strong Ligamentum elasticum was essential for all long necked dinosaurs with a long tail. The preloaded ligament helped them saving energy in their terrestrial mode of life. Following their death, at which they were immersed in water, the stored energy along the vertebra was strong enough to arch back the spine, increasingly so as more and more muscles and other soft parts were decaying" conclude the researchers. "It is a special highlight that, in the Compsognathus specimen, these gradual steps of recurvature can be substantiated, too. Therefore, biomechanics is ruling the postmortem weird posture of a carcass in a watery grave, not death throes.

[Theo]

This theory seems consistent with a global flood, which some contend wiped out most creatures.

[MrB]

Fast flowing water carrying a lot of sediment would do just that.

Dead dinosaur, fast water twisting its head back, then tons of sediment laid down on top.

However, since the flood is the key to global history, the secularists will go to any lengths to deny it.

[vpintheak]

Very interesting. The Truth shall set us all free!

[Olympiad Fisherman]

Most of the dinosaur fossils that they find are a result of water action. In fact, a lot of times, the bones are all mixed up so badly that they have no idea which bones belong to which creature when dinosaurs have died together. When asked what would cause this, scientists say “a local flood came through here.” The problem with this is that they have to say the same thing for virtually every dinosaur bed across the globe. The idea that there were many local floods across the globe to kill dinosaurs becomes a very suspicious explanation. Noah’s flood is actually a better answer for this phenomenon. Noah’s flood is also one of the most historically facts of the ancient world. Virtually every ancient culture has a story of the great flood. Moreover, if a scientist would accept Noah’s flood as a historical fact (which it is), he will have to begin looking at all the sedimentary rock layers in the world a lot differently than just to assume that it took a million years or so for each layer. Mt. St. Helens destroyed the idea that such rock layers required vast aeons of time.

[BenLurkin]

Being washed to their deaths in a great flood will do that.

[moose07]

Exactly the same as a Giraffe.
Okay the Giraffe is a tendon ,IIRC,but same result.
Thanks for posting ,mystery solved at last.

[dangus]

Under normal conditions, dinosaurs don’t get preserved. Over the 225 million years scientists say they ruled the earth for, yeah, there’ll be a LOT of local floods.

[Sawdring]

I think it was magic.

[Salamander]

Stupid dinosaurs didn’t lay down gracefully and fold their hands gently across their chests and croak in an artistically pleasing pose.

Stupid, tacky dinosaurs.

[central_va]

Twisted Dino head bump.

[Deaf Smith]

Bigger question: Why do armadillos end up balanced on their backs after being hit by a vehicle?

[jmcenanly]

Having the body fall into a swiftly moving body of sediment filled water is the surest way to to keep it from being destroyed by scavengers. Sandstorms and volcanic ash eruptions will also suffice, as in this dog, buried in the famous eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in August 79 A.D.

Such speedy burials are infrequent, but given the immense stretches of time, at least some fossils will make it through.

[Cyber Liberty]

I think it’s amazing as all get-out the skeletal remains are even close to being connected. I would think the vast majority of animal remains are scattered to the four winds by scavengers. I never thought about why they are usually bent over backwards like the pic above.

[bert]

No rational person believes the dinosaurs succomed in a global flood

[Robert A Cook PE]

Dead Dinosaur eh?

Looks like a dead dragon to me.

Bet it tastes like a dead chicken.

[CatherineofAragon]

"No rational person believes the dinosaurs succomed in a global flood"

So you're saying belief in the Bible isn't rational? I consider it the height of rationality.

[4yearlurker]

I believe that is a plaster dog. The plaster was poured into the cavity the dog left in the volcanic ash.