Newfound Dinosaur a Transitional Creature

Las Vegas Sun (AP) ^ | May 04, 2005 | Malcolm Ritter

[MeanWestTexan]

Caught in the act of evolution, the odd-looking, feathered dinosaur was becoming more vegetarian, moving away from its meat-eating ancestors.

It had the built-for-speed legs of meat-eaters, but was developing the bigger belly of plant-eaters. It had already lost the serrated teeth needed for tearing flesh. Those were replaced with the smaller, duller vegetarian variety.

[Dimensio]

So far every so called transitional fossil of dino to bird has been a fake or turned out not to be transitional at all but a full fledged bird.

Uh-huh. And from what lying source did you dredge up this bit of misinformation?

[PatrickHenry]

Here's the article from Nature. Dinosaur embraced vegetarianism. It's probably more informative than what the AP wrote:

Fossil-hunters working in the dusty Utah desert have caught a dinosaur in the act of going vegetarian. The newly discovered species, which lived about 130 million years ago, displays the hallmarks of adapting to a leafy diet.

The species, christened Falcarius utahensis, belongs to a dinosaur group called the therizinosauroids. These are mostly thought to have been plant eaters. But the recently discovered fossil, the most primitive therizinosauroid found so far, seems to have survived on a mixed diet of meat and veg.

Researchers, led by James Kirkland of the Utah Geological Survey in Salt Lake City, uncovered a skull, pelvis and limb bones belonging to the species at Cedar Mountain in eastern Utah1. From the fossils they conclude that F. utahensis walked upright, standing more than a metre high and measuring some 4 metres from tip to tail.

Meat of the matter

The creature's teeth have a shape that seems to be adapted to leaf shredding, the researchers report. Similar teeth can be found in modern iguanas, for example, a reptilian family that also has a varied diet.

Falcarius utahensis was adapted for both ripping up plants and chasing down prey.

Falcarius utahensis also has a slightly widened pelvis, Kirkland's team points out, which would have been necessary to accommodate the longer gut needed to extract nutrients from plants.

But the dinosaur's legs reveal that it still has adaptations suited for meat eating as well. The creature's thigh bones were longer than its shin bones, suggesting that it could run at an impressive pace. "The legs are still adapted for running after prey," says Kirkland. Later therizinosauroids have longer shin bones, which suggests that they waddled around like long-legged birds.

It's not easy being green

The switch to vegetarianism is surprising, says Paul Barrett, who studies dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum in London. The therizinosauroids belong to a larger group of dinosaurs known as theropods, and many of these are known to have been excellent at catching a meaty meal.

"Nobody understands why theropods should revert to herbivory when they're such excellent predators," Barrett says. "It's a mystery." Perhaps certain dinosaurs were pushed along the evolutionary route to vegetarianism because they lived in an area where there was no other plant-eating competitor, he suggests.

Falcarius utahensis's diet is not its only noteworthy feature, Kirkland's team adds; its North American home is also a surprise. Until now, therizinosauroids have been found almost exclusively in China, which led experts to believe the group arose there.

"This was considered a nearly pure Asian group," Kirkland says. "Finding the most primitive member of the group in Utah throws that into question." The team now suspects that therizinosauroids once roamed over most of the Northern Hemisphere.

[js1138]

Examples of this happening in the past?

Hey, there was one a hundred years ago. Isn't that recent enough?

And of course the National Geographic thing. You know, the travel magazine with the nudie pictures.

[Modernman]

Don't these things just about always turn out to be fakes?

No.

[Dimensio]

And of course the National Geographic thing. You know, the travel magazine with the nudie pictures.

Which of course proves that all scientists are immoral hedonists trying to justify living as though there is no God. And not just any God, but the Christian God, because evolution is just a big conspiracy against Christianity.

[FormerLib]

What was this a transition between?

If you start with a reptile and end up with a reptile, you haven't transititioned anything.

But the Darwinists will kick to their ad hominem attacks to prove their intellectual superiority, regardless!

[Luna]

LOL!!!

[Modernman]

If you start with a reptile and end up with a reptile, you haven't transititioned anything.

Ah, I see. All reptiles belong to the same species.

So, unless a reptile turns into a fish, there is no evidence of transition.

You creationists love moving the goalposts.

[FormerLib]

...because evolution is just a big conspiracy against Christianity.

That's just comedy gold, you know!

Of course, I can't help but notice how folks who hate religion find a home in their theory of evolution. Coincidence?

[plain talk]

What was this a transition between?

It was in the Las Vegas Sun so it was a transition story between the Michael Jackson case and the American idol crisis. Incredible find.

A dinosaur that eats plants and meat and not just either one. Wow. Now I'm convinced.

[js1138]

Christianity? I thought it was the Muslims and Moonies who opposed evolution.

[Skooz]

Forget all the crevo argument crap, I just want to know where to buy one.

[mlc9852]

That would be "its" scariest. It isn't possessive. It isn't nice to make fun of others.

[mike182d]

A dinosaur that eats plants and meat and not just either one. Wow. Now I'm convinced.

I eat meat and plants. I wonder what I'm transitioning into....

[dead]

Anything that appears to be a transitional fossil is just another fossil with no transitional fossil to arrive at it.

[FormerLib]

You creationists love moving the goalposts.

Sorry, not a creationist. Nice try on the ad hominem but you've got egg on your face.

The critter shows a shift in diet and you claim that's a transition? Hell, I've had several of that manner of evolutionary transition during my lifetime then, all accomplished by remaining fulling human.

I guess if you dumb-down the definition sufficiently, you can make it apply to anything.

[MississippyMuddy]

And of course the National Geographic thing. You know, the travel magazine with the nudie pictures. I just read National Geographic for the articles.........

[mlc9852]

And why wouldn't other scientists take them seriously? How many scientists have actually examined these new-found fossils? And, by the way, when were they discovered? You have a way of typing before you think. Don't be so quick to write off everyone who doesn't follow your line of thinking. That isn't how a true scientist should behave. Making up your mind before examining facts is not exactly the scientific method now, is it?

[Grut]

Bones from hundreds or maybe thousands of these dinosaurs were discovered at a two-acre dig site in east-central Utah, south of the town of Green River. Nobody knows why they gathered there or what killed them...

They gathered there to discuss their newfound vegetarianism and how it was going to make transcendent creatures of them all. They died of boredom.

[Vaquero]

"What was this a transition between? Maybe they meant to say transgender " yes lots of these in the past....they became extinct, not being able to produce offspring....kind of like the 'Masterbaterdon' whose one side attempts at procreation bore no fruit........