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

Reuters ^ | December 16, 2015 | Will Dunham

[gusopol3]

nothing like a dinosaur to bring out the boy in us.

[MUDDOG]

Nice! Best thing I had was the mechanical horse at Woolworth’s to ride for a nickel.

I hope there is something here millions of years from now that can make toy models of us. Then maybe they can do science and technology, and who knows, get further than we did.

[TigersEye]

They will make toy models of us and little ‘whatevertheyares’ will make their toy dinosaurs eat us.

[onedoug]

Dimetrodon.

[MUDDOG]

I know I didn’t know that name. I wonder if there was a more well-known name.

[Jack Straw from Wichita]

Mold-a-Rama

[MUDDOG]

I can imagine dinosaurs stalking us when I see their descendants the birds stalking worms.

[Kickass Conservative]

I just bought my Wife the Dinosaurs TV Show DVD set.
Didn’t see any Sails on a one.

Not the Mama...

[TigersEye]

We’d be easy meat. I just happen to have a show on about crocs in Costa Rica and the rise in attacks. Just a coincidence, nothing else to watch. Crocs would be nothing compared to the raptors. We’d be like bugs to chickens for them.

[chaosagent]

Gonna need another Timmy!

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks ES, will ping later.

[CurlyDave]

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).

There are many places in the US today where this temperature variation is not considered particularly strong or unusual. In fact, just in the year 2015, the area of Southern Oregon where I live has seen temperatures of 20 degrees F last winter, and over 109 degrees this summer. Our climate is not considered extreme.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks EveningStar.

[PLMerite]

"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."

I got one from the Sinclair station up the road:

And yes, it was a long long time ago.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

Yeah. A cooling fin.

[gleeaikin]

Depending on which parts remain a full recreation is possible. Colors would be a guess. Predicting the future is one thing. Evaluating existing sedimentary deposits and fossils is quite another.

[colorado tanker]

[SunkenCiv]

[singing] well you can rock it you can roll it you can stop and you can stroll it at the hump...