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New Dinosaur Named After the Eye of Sauron

Posted by samzenpus on from the a-dinosaur-does-not-simply-stomp-into-mordor dept.

SchrodingerZ writes "95 million years ago, the dinosaur Sauroniops pachytholus roamed northern Africa. Fossils, originally found in southern Morocco, only consisted of the upper skull, which included the eerie looking eye socket which resembles the Eye of Sauron from the Lord of the Rings movies. Using skull comparison, it is theorized the two-legged meat-eater would have been 40 feet tall, challenging the Tyrannosaurus Rex in height. More fossils are needed for a full analysis, but so far it is very clear this dinosaur towered over many."

26 of 69 comments (clear)

  1. No Resemblance at All in My Opinion by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Informative

    the eerie looking eye socket which resembles the Eye of Sauron from the Lord of the Rings movies

    Nowhere in the article did they say that. In fact, if you watch this Slate video there's not much physically related between the extrapolated skeleton and the film adaptation of the Eye of Sauron -- however they did name the dinosaur after that deity/character. The reason they named it after Sauron is that all we know of this predator now is its eye (really just a piece of the socket) and the idea of a large predator being known only for its eye reminded the archeologists of Sauron in the Lord of the Rings.

    I think the submitter was confused by the hyperlink in the article that was designed to generate more page clicks for NatGeo:

    "The idea of a predator that is physically known only as its fierce eye reminded me of Sauron, in particular as depicted in Peter Jackson's movies," Cau explained. (See a picture of an alien planet that resembles the Eye of Sauron.)

    (emphasis mine)

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    My work here is dung.
    1. Re:No Resemblance at All in My Opinion by DJRumpy · · Score: 3, Funny

      I had a nerd-gasm for nothing?

    2. Re:No Resemblance at All in My Opinion by somersault · · Score: 2

      Meh, I knew you were faking it anyway

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      which is totally what she said
  2. Missed chance by Fishead · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Should have called it "Sauronsaur".

    1. Re:Missed chance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      how about Dinosauron?

    2. Re:Missed chance by Tarlus · · Score: 2

      Tyrannosauron?

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      /* No Comment */
  3. Naming creatures after fictional charactesr? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wow, the nerds HAVE taken over!

    I won't worry until I start seeing names like "therewerenofuckingelvesathelmdeepiop".

    1. Re:Naming creatures after fictional charactesr? by Canazza · · Score: 4, Funny

      Hanshotfirstatops

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      It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for being subtle.
  4. New dinosaur!? by SirGarlon · · Score: 4, Funny

    I find it hard to wrap my mind around calling a 95 million year old fossil "new."

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    [Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
  5. Full circle by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Sauron was named after dinosaurs, so why not?

    Lets name some trees aftwr treants, while we're at it, and name some hobbled kid Bilbo.

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    (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    1. Re:Full circle by CRCulver · · Score: 5, Informative

      Sauron was named after dinosaurs, so why not?

      No, he wasn't. "Sauron" has a meaning in Tolkien's invented language Quenya, namely "foul". Tolkien was likely inspired in this by Old Norse saur "urine, filth". See Tolkien's etymologies in The Lost Road . In a letter to one Mr. Rang, Tolkien explicity disavowed any connection to the Greek word for "lizard" (and in fact the Proto-Elvish form didn't even have an initial s-).

    2. Re:Full circle by wisnoskij · · Score: 2

      If I parented a dwarf I would totally call him Bilbo.

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      Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
    3. Re:Full circle by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Funny

      The fact that comments like this can get modded up highly is the reason why I'm still coming back to slashdot.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    4. Re:Full circle by Mindcontrolled · · Score: 2

      If I parented a dwarf I would totally call him Bilbo.

      Your nerd card, please. You are hereby sentenced to 6 months of remedial training in the systematics and taxonomy of Middle Earth species. You may reapply for your nerd card dependent on the success of your training.

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      Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.
    5. Re:Full circle by Richy_T · · Score: 2

      Yes. Because creepy and socially retarded is just "moody and interesting" but without the billions of dollars.

    6. Re:Full circle by EdIII · · Score: 2

      If I wanted the child to grow a large beard and work in a mine I would call him Gimli.

      Yes, but if you wanted him to be awesome, get all the chicks, and totally rule, you would have called him Thorin.

  6. eye bones connected to the head bones by Dr.+Tom · · Score: 2, Insightful

    One has only to look at the sclerotic plates found in the eyes of birds to realize that they are dinosaurs.

  7. Picture a T. Rex trying to put on the Ring by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Umm, ahh...

    Ooops.

    Aaahhh.

    DAMNIT!

  8. A sequel to the movie by concealment · · Score: 5, Funny

    If you tell Peter Jackson, we'll get that Jurassic-Park-with-Hobbits tie-in movie we always wanted.

  9. What "eerie looking eye socket"? by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Has the submitter just made this bit up?

    eerie looking eye socket which resembles the Eye of Sauron

    Firstly I'm not sure how much an eye socket could resemble the Eye of Sauron, except that it might be round, and secondly there's no mention or pictures of eye sockets in the article, so what gives?

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    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    1. Re:What "eerie looking eye socket"? by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 2
      Oh, wait, here we go:

      "The idea of a predator that is physically known only as its fierce eye reminded me of Sauron,"

      So... yeah, not because it looked like Sauron, but because it had an eye.

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      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  10. Wrong science by gmuslera · · Score: 2

    Now the next dinosaur movie/documentary about South African dinosaurs will be filmed in New Zealand.

  11. Apple will sue by gsgriffin · · Score: 2

    as they believe that they have first rights to anything with an 'i' in

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    jsut athnoer menagiensls ltitle psrhae for you to dcoede. Why do we wtsae our tmie dnoig tihs?
  12. One Dinosaur to Rule them all... by Tilgore+Krout · · Score: 2

    ...One Dinosaur to find them,
    One Dinosaur to bring them all and in the darkness eat them
    In the Time of Cretaceous where the Shadows lie.

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    main(){char*c="main(){char*c=%c%s%c;printf(c,34,c, 34);}";printf(c,34,c,34);}
  13. Nasty... by Kupfernigk · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I think we get that Tolkien had it in for technology, but he was hardly subtle about it. When I was interviewed for Durham, (UK university) I had a most interesting discussion with the college admissions tutor about C P Snow and the "two cultures" - the deep separation between science and the arts in the UK. He thought that people like Tolkien really did not understand civilisation at quite a deep level, and were afraid of technology because it had led to social mobility - the middle and upper classes didn't like the way that engineers and the companies they started made so much money, and they couldn't rely on "connections" to get their children into them - mathematical and practical ability was needed.

    On this reading, Tolkien's creation of Sauron as an embodiment of evil is just the British class system at work.

    All the "good guys" in Tolkien are one percenters; even the Baggins are very rich. So you could say that Tolkien was a kind of Republican shock-jock, he just didn't think of writing that Sauron was actually born in Kenya, and was a Muslim Communist.

    I like the Terry Pratchett version [plot spoiler alert], in which the entire plot of LOTR turns out to have occurred in a backward, barbaric country, and missionaries are sent out to rescue the surviving Orcs.

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    From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
  14. Re:Really? by tragedy · · Score: 2

    Finally, (on topic), the estimation of the dinosaur (predator?) standing 40 feet tall is truly awe-inspiring and reminds me to be thankful of whatever changed to make animals smaller.

    I thought that too, but it turns out it's not 40 feet tall, but 40 feet long. So, it's more on the same scale as T. Rex rather than towering over it.