Unusual 'sail-backed' dinosaur roamed Spain 125 million years ago

Reuters ^ | December 16, 2015 | Will Dunham

[EveningStar]

Along a lush river delta in what is now northeastern Spain, a herd of dinosaurs munched on ferns and conifers similar to modern-day cypresses 125 million years ago.

These creatures stood out from the others in this Cretaceous Period landscape by virtue of the unusual sail-like structure on their backs, and experts today can only hypothesize about its function.

[EveningStar]

ping

[BenLurkin]

Where are the feathers?

[Kozy]

Here’s a guess. Just like the camel uses his hump to store water, the sail dinosaur probably used it for the same reason. Secondary reason was to dispense heat. More area of skin, more cooling

[going hot]

Looks like it was practicing four legged ballet.

Or maybe the forefeet were merely resting on the ground, before going bipedal once more.

Also, a tou tou (sp?) would improve the looks.

[MUDDOG]

That’s not much of sail compared to other dinosaurs.

More like a hump.

[gusopol3]

Right, Yale Peabody Museum mural, “Age of Reptiles:”https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=the+age+of+reptiles+mural&view=detailv2&&id=ACA4C5D15113587300E95572808F711D10D09D9A&selectedIndex=12&ccid=2Nj%2fZG%2br&simid=608055013596203543&thid=OIP.Md8d8ff646fab723a4c44b6f5dc0f03c9o0&ajaxhist=0

[barmag25]

More of a hump. Spiniosaur could be described as having a sail.

[Pelham]

That's not much of sail compared to other dinosaurs. More like a hump.

[Mastador1]

I don't know why, but I look at that and I get this in my head:

Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.

[Fungi]

"experts today can only hypothesize about its function.” What experts? Please be specific.
“Scientists announced on Wednesday the discovery.” What scientists?
“The structure also could have served.” “Could” is not a fact.
“Millions of years before the rise of the dinosaurs” Really?” How were the dates arrived at?
“A partial skeleton.” A partial skeleton and we have a full picture with colors of the animal? How does that work?
“Northeastern Spain during Morelladon’s time alternated between wet and dry periods, with strong temperature variations ranging from 40 degrees Fahrenheit (4 Celsius) to about 104 F (40 C).” So this was hundreds of millions of years ago and the temperatures were positively known? We can't even predict temperatures a month or year away and these were positively affirmed from millions of years ago? Nonsense.

Evening Star, you are scaring me, even more when you ping to the “civilization expert.”

[MUDDOG]

Nice pictures!

I had toy brontosaurus, stegosaurus, T-rex, and the one with the big sail, which I can’t remember the name of (if I ever knew it).

[raygunfan]

gotta prop up the secular religion paradigm at all costs......

[dfwgator]

"All brontosauruses are thin at one end, much much thicker in the middle and then thin again at the far end. That is my theory, it is mine and belongs to me, and I own it and what it is, too."

[MUDDOG]

Hump day! Thursday Night Football eve.

[Fungi]

Bingo!

[gusopol3]

I’m trying to remember ,too. I got two sets on Christmas the year I was five, which kind of made me wonder what Santa Claus was thinking, but one was from my aunt. The molded dinosaurs had their names along their tails as well as the length. I think it may have been demetrodon.

[gusopol3]

yep
https://www.bing.com/search?q=dimetrodon&form=EDGNTC&qs=OS&cvid=7a3f8ff1eb1c4b7bad8f8bfd4faafe27&pq=demetro

[MUDDOG]

made me wonder what Santa Claus was thinking

LOL!! Good one!

[snarkpup]

When I was little, they had a robotic plastic injection molding machine at the Como Park Zoo in St. Paul. You put in a coin and the mechanism ran for a couple of minutes and made a plastic dinosaur for you while you watched.

How could these creatures have known, that millions of years in the future, juveniles of a species they could not imagine would be making plastic toy versions of them. Come to think of it, millions of years from now creatures we cannot imagine may be making toy models of us.