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Anatomically Strange Dinosaur Vacuumed Up Food
TaeKwonDood writes "A paleontologist has discovered a 110 million-year-old dinosaur that had a mouth that worked like a vacuum cleaner, hundreds of tiny teeth and nearly translucent skull." The creature's vertebrae also consisted of more air than bone, and CT scans of the head suggest it continually held its head low for food vacuuming. Low-hanging fruit, indeed.
So this is a dinosaur that really sucked?
-Mike
I'm sorry; I don't know what I was thinking!
Here's the image of the bones
http://www.forumpix.co.uk/uploads/1195208745.jpg
Thanks to the Public Library of Science, their complete publication is available to us under the enthralling title Structural Extremes in a Late Cretaceous Dinosaur. I found Figure 1 especially interesting for its 3D visualizations of the skull structure. The thing's mouth really does resemble the shape of a vacuum cleaner, particularly one of those older models where the brush is on the end of a tube and all the machinery is in a little tug-along chassis. I'm inclined to think that it probably bit off the plants it was eating rather than "sucking" them up, though.
Still, neat stuff, and yet more proof that there are a whole bunch of Really Weird Things(TM) out there.
I've seen fish like Carp act like vacuum cleaners - maybe this dino grazed in water?
Did it lose suction when it got full? Or does it have dual cyclone technology?
That researcher seems to be holding the head of the 'vacuum cleaner' fairly close to his...
So these creatures 'evolved' into PHBs?'
I have excellent Karma and I am not afraid to Troll it.
You're a bit late with that troll. In fact, that troll was at least almost 12 hours ahead of /.'s editors. Proof. It's a sad day when copypasta trolls are faster than /.'s editors with the latest dinosaur news.
Nigersaurus please!
-- --
Also, because I don't want to double post:
http://i.usatoday.net/tech/_photos/2007/11/15/dino472.jpg
This picture...the angle of the camera and where that guy is standing...is just wrong.
Ginga no Rekshiya Mata Each page.
My kids vacuum up food all the time. And if they don't have hollow bones, I dunno where it goes.
Meta will eat itself
http://i.usatoday.net/tech/_photos/2007/11/15/dino472.jpg
Just because he sucked food doesnt mean u have to take a picture with the dinos head there....
/me checks the hall closet, my vacuum doesn't seem to have teeth and a transluscent head...
Were that I say, pancakes?
That comment implies you don't know the history of the word "niger". Or maybe it's supposed to be teh FUNNAY!
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
... Wikipedia link.
I once date a girl that had a mouth that worked like a vacuum cleaner and nearly translucent skull. Thank God she did not have the aforementioned hundreds of tiny teeth...
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
Its head is shaped like a vacuum cleaners nozzle, but the article also states that it grazed like a cow. Cows don't vacuum (more the other way around) and nowhere in the article is there any suggestion that it vacuums except in sentences that seem to be written by a journalist, not a scientist.
If the animal did hover up its food it would need some way to create a large enough vacuum. Some fish do it, by suddenly expanding their mouth so that water, and hopefully ffood is sucked in to the "new" space. But that is a lot easier then to do the same thing with air. Just check the amount of power needed to vacuum up even an ant.
Unless the animal has some radicial new systems the only way for it to create a vacuum would be to expand its body to take in air. Doable,and if you are a large animal the amount of suction would be impressive but, well why?
If it grazed it meant it ate plants, you can't vacuum up plants because they are attached to their roots. Once you cut of the grass with your mouth, you no longer need to suck it up.
About the only thing I could see it being used for is to suck up small animals, like say sucking up ants. Still, I think that animal would also be sucking up a lot of dirt.
Frankly I think this is just bad journalism, the scientist said its mouth looks like a vacuum cleaner nozzle and the journalist turned that into the critter vacuums up its food.
Anyone found ANY link suggesting otherwise?
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Where is Gary Larson when you need him?
(Picture of janitor scratching head in front of skeleton)
"Scruffy never did figure where he left that darned thing."
Genesis 1:32 And God typed
An upgrade from the woolly mammoth model?
FAQs are evil.
Dinosaur is giving a nice blow job to the dr researcher
just kid...couldn't resist...
I work at National Geographic, so I've been watching them set up the exhibit for this thing for the past few days. One of the first things that went up was a display with a model of the head. All that myself and a few other people can think of when we see this is "Hullo. Meesa JarJarsaurus."
Have you seen Strom Thurmond? Or some of his decisions as senator?
(Not recently, thank god)
If this dinosaur were female, it would not be called (as per the title) "anatomically strange". It would be called "anatomically correct".
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
They've finally discovered Wilma's vacuum cleaner.
It seems like PloS One.org has been /.-ed.
Essentia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem.
...the Flintstones!!!!
Like a flamingo?
Sounds like my ex...
"Newly discovered dinosaur sucks."
Eat a Chicken, You know you want to.
Birds are now generally thought to be descendants of dinosaurs. Perhaps we should try to establish a link between this creature and a current species. My vote goes to politicians. They've merely adapted to suck money out of your wallet and poop it out to their paymasters. I won't speculate what lobbyists, special interest groups and multi-national corporations are descended from. It would be too depressing.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
Must be called YoMommasaurus.
You are using English. Please learn the difference between loose and lose; they're, there, and their; your and you're.
Here.
My wife turned on Good Morning America while I was still groggy from sleep. While I lay there listening to the TV, they ran this story, saying that the dinosaur had "over 500 toddler-sized teeth." I thought, "A toddler is a strange thing to compare the size of a tooth to, but my god, that thing's HUGE!"
--I'm so big, my sig has its own sig.
-- See?
He's my brother in law...
If a baby duck is a "duckling," why would anyone want to eat "dumplings?"
how come no one has posted anything on the fact that this thing was given the name Nigersaurus?????
if someone was making some stupid racist joke, it would be trivial, but this is the official scientific name for this beast, and that makes it hilarious.....
quit being so PC people, with Dave Chappelle AWOL, we need to make light of racial issues on our own.
Anyone else thinks that this thing probably looked like this?
see the subject
I remember a story from my youth (The Great Bunjee Venture) about an elephant like dinosaur that had a vacuum trunk, was semi-translucent and had suction cup feet. It could even fly (well gently glide down) by inflating its trunk.
http://www.amazon.com/Bunjee-Venture-Stan-McMurtry/dp/0590301624/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195235967&sr=8-1
It's a story about time travel. Perhaps it's really a documentary
This is proof of God's existence and by placing these fossils, he is merely messing with our heads.
"A paleontologist has discovered a 110 million-year-old dinosaur that had a mouth that worked like a vacuum cleaner, ..."
Do we really need two stories on the front page about Gene Simmons?
Suckasaurus!
Gives new meaning to the phrase "gave head like a beast."
This must be obvious. This an aquatic animal that was a filter feeder. Kinda like ducks and swans now filter feed. If you float you don't need super strong bones.
Cows are rather well known for expelling large amounts of gas. They fart. Often.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.