Triceratops not actually a seperate species

[squidy]

I think its funny how people can debate about something that can't be positively determined. Not that there is anything wrong with it. ;D

Something that strikes me as an issue is that if T-rex weren't a predator, then who was? I've looked this up. There weren't many theropods (carnivorous dinosaurs) where t-rex was located at the same time that t-rex was alive. The only one that seems like it could be a predator is this:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troodon
Then again, it is like 2 feet tall. They would have to hunt in huge packs in order to take down dinosaurs like triceratops or edmontosaurus. Such big packs would seem impractical. Right?

[Psychodrake]

Aug 6, 2010 12:38:31 GMT squidy said:

I think its funny how people can debate about something that can't be positively determined. Not that there is anything wrong with it. ;D

Its fun though!

Aug 6, 2010 12:38:31 GMT squidy said:

Something that strikes me as an issue is that if T-rex weren't a predator, then who was? I've looked this up. There weren't many theropods (carnivorous dinosaurs) where t-rex was located at the same time that t-rex was alive. The only one that seems like it could be a predator is this:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troodon
Then again, it is like 2 feet tall. They would have to hunt in huge packs in order to take down dinosaurs like triceratops or edmontosaurus. Such big packs would seem impractical. Right?

Cretacious predators were probably simply made extinct by Tyrannosaurus. It was a super predator that could intimidate other predators out of a meal, which is probably why it was one of the only large theropods remaining. It was clearly built to win a head on fight with another predator. There were other large theropods around the world though.

Dromeosaurus, Troodon and other smaller theropods probably survived due to their size and intelligence. I don't know many late-cretacious dinos.

[wormwood]

Back on topic,
Something I think is funny, is that the only people who thought a Torosaurus was anything other than a Triceratops, were the more informed dinosaur enthusiasts.

You show the man on the street a little plastic replica of a Torosaurus and ask him what it is, if you get anything more specific than simply dinosaur, it'll be Triceratops. Having failed to reach the population at large with the news of the previously supposed diversity of ceratopsian species, it's now only necessary to re-educate the elitists of the paleantological community.

[Captain Malachi]

Fungus, I wasn't intending to be hostile, I was merely pointing out a fact. It may be his opinion, but like many people tend to do he is stating it as absolute fact and treating others like dirt when they don't agree, even though he has yet to provide any evidence for his point. Unlike, you know, those scientists who spend their lives researching it.

[Enigma]

Aug 6, 2010 13:20:38 GMT Captain Malachi said:

Fungus, I wasn't intending to be hostile, I was merely pointing out a fact. It may be his opinion, but like many people tend to do he is stating it as absolute fact and treating others like dirt when they don't agree, even though he has yet to provide any evidence for his point. Unlike, you know, those scientists who spend their lives researching it.

Ditto. And saying that he wants "us" to figure it out on *our* own... he's just bluffing.

[Thlaylie]

I have it!!!

Here is the way I can get you to understand!

Please look at these two links:
www.skullsunlimited.com/products_by_order.php?id=29
www.skullsunlimited.com/products_by_order.php?id=34

If these were to be presented to Jack Horner, he would conclude using his Dinosaur theory that they are all the same species at different stages of their lives!

Even the Owl to Eagle thing can be explained by a species called an Eagle Owl that is an intermediary.

We all know that these are all different birds, but Horner has smoked way too much pot and "thinks" too much. According to him the infant Triceratops would come from Mongolia and the adults reside in America?

If you support Horner, it would be like going back to the mud to frog to cat to dog to monkey idea of evolution.

I believe he is a secret Flat Earther.

To conclude:

All the different Ceratopsins are separate species. Even some of the specimen labeled Triceratops are actually different types.

Horner is an Idiot.

(I use books as furniture in my Den)

[wormwood]

The ability to measure dinosaur age by bone striations should also make it possible to reverse engineer the growth of a single adult torosaurus skull by taking core samples all over it, and measuring the varying thicknesses of the layers. This would really settle the issue, but would also require the total destruction of a single torosaur skull.

I remain unconvinced that the Pygmy Tyranosaur is actually just a juvenile Tyrannosaurus. The decreasing number of teeth, dimples in the skulls, and change in tooth profile suggests they really are distinct species. The Ceratopsians may be the victims of a similar error.

[Thlaylie]

^ Agree!

The differentiation of Ceratopsin frill structures is in result of local predator density.

[Psychodrake]

It is all up for speculation though. Horner isn't correct but many other theories are thwarted too, it is the only way to make progress.

[The Hive Mind]

Very interesting stuff, however I am gunna say one thing... YAY! Triceratops was a separate species.

[ZergLord]

He believes T-Rex was a scavenger for example.

I watched a documentary about this on Discovery few years ago. And I think the guy had some good points, like T-rexes arms being too short in comparison to other predators like Velociraptor.

[Psychodrake]

Aug 12, 2010 9:16:22 GMT ZergLord said:

He believes T-Rex was a scavenger for example.

I watched a documentary about this on Discovery few years ago. And I think the guy had some good points, like T-rexes arms being too short in comparison to other predators like Velociraptor.

It is only because all of T-Rex's power is in his huge jaw, he wouldn't need the grasping power. Unfortunately the documentary seemed to completely ignore the use of the mouth as a weapon and just keep on bringing up "If T-Rex fell over, he would die". Well, I doubt dinosaurs fell over that regularly.

[Enigma]

Well T-rex did look very top-heavy, and the falling-down-and-dying gene doesn't sound like something that would stick around what with evolution and all.

[salamut2202]

so if it became a predator it took the therepod design too far and would have died out anyways. i mean there's a mass extinction right now due to a species that just evolved a stupidly huge head!

[Psychodrake]

All the dinosaurs picked on T-Rex because of his over sized head. Then they met triceratops who couldn't see to his front of rear