New Long-Spined Dinosaur With 'Mohawk of Large Spikes' Discovered In Patagonia (sciencealert.com)

"Researchers in Argentina have discovered a new Sauropod with unusually long spikes protruding forward from its body," writes Slashdot reader dryriver. The findings have been published in the journal Scientific Reports. ScienceAlert reports: Living 140 million years ago in the early Lower Cretaceous, the newly discovered herbivore Bajadasaurus pronuspinax had a thing for growing spikes. It was part of the Sauropod family, but looked a little like a small Brontosaurus crossed with a porcupine. "The sauropods are the big dinosaurs with long necks and long tails, but specifically this is a small family within the sauropods which were about 9 or 10 meters in length," paleontologist Pablo Gallina from the National Scientific and Technical Research Council in Argentina told Agencia EFE. Bajadasaurus was a species of this small family, called Dicraeosauridae, all of which have similar spines on their necks. When the researchers discovered the fossils of this previously unknown dinosaur in Patagonia, Argentina, the remains included not only most of the skull, but a whole spine bone. This gave the researchers the chance to investigate what these spines might have been used for. "We believe that the long and sharp spines -- very long and thin -- on the neck and back of Bajadasaurus and Amargasaurus cazaui (another dicraeosaurid) must have been to deter possible predators," explained Gallina to AFP.'

Comments

Anomaly?

[blindvic]

Could it be just a disease of this particular specimen?

Re:Anomaly?

[Anonymous Coward]

Or the rest of them shaved, this one was just a rebel.

A lot of this particular science is just we will make this up and stick with it till we find the next data point.
Until someone has a time machine and we can actually go back and see and take samples... it is mostly guess work.

   

Re:Anomaly?

[Anonymous Coward]

Image from the article.
The white parts are the found ones, the gray are speculated.
Bottom right for the configuration they were found in.

There is a lot of extrapolation going on.
I think I'll wait until a second specimen have been found until I speculate too much.

Re: Anomaly?

[Anonymous Coward]

Ya, this wouldn't be the the first time some eager Paleontologist rushed to publish some wild and mostly unfounded speculation.

Re:Anomaly?

[jellomizer]

There is always that probability, however the bones shown seem rather smooth diseased bone normally is more rough.
However, I don't see having bones on your neck as a great evolutionary advantage. Using them for defensive purposes would mean what doesn't impail, will either break (which is bad) or apply a leaver action on the vertebrate and twist the next, possibly severing the spinal cord.

Perhaps Sauropods have much bulkier necks then what is considered as plausible.

Re:Anomaly?

[Anonymous Coward]

"I'm smelling a lot of 'if' coming off of this plan"

Re:Ivankasaurus?

[NoNonAlphaCharsHere]

Mr.Tasaurus. "I pity the stegasaurus who get in my way."

MisterTasaurus?

[Chas]

Spikes huh?

=)

These defenses are weird

[Anonymous Coward]

I mean I can understand hair-based spines or similar but this is freaking BONE spines. As in, if you break one you will be in severe pain and can't grow it back. Very odd evolution but I guess pain doesn't kill you so.

Re:These defenses are weird

[Dunbal]

Bone has no pain receptors. The extreme pain that people associate with bone actually comes from the periosteum, a pain receptor rich membrane that covers every bone. The tearing of this membrane causes pain, and because bones tend to bleed profusely, the swelling underneath this membrane at and around the site of the break also causes a lot of pain. The bone itself however does not cause pain. Since this bone is outside the dinosaur's body one can assume that it's not covered in periosteum.

Re:These defenses are weird

[Anonymous Coward]

Looking at the pictures it reminds me of a fish. Perhaps it used to be a fin which slowly evolved into the spikes when all the animals grew super large. It also looks like an impact could distribute the hit to a large area. They probably rammed other animals with the spikes.

Re:These defenses are weird

[squiggleslash]

There's a lot of assumptions about what it means right now which'll be updated as more information comes in. The Spinosaurus has a massive collection of bone spikes sticking up out of its back, which presumably would have similar issues. The consensus right now is that they supported some kind of a sail or hump type structure. What the story is with this dinosaur won't become clear until more fossils are found.

this is probably why they laid eggs

[Anonymous Coward]

imagine giving breech birth to a mohawk stegosauraus coming out the wrong way

Re:this is probably why they laid eggs

[Dunbal]

That's when you're happy you're an egg layer.

Re:this is probably why they laid eggs

[HornWumpus]

Lost me a 'Imagine giving ... birth'.

I'm a proud winner of the XY chromosome lottery! Lets not pretend.

Just done wave 'old one eye' around the cube farm, no matter how proud you are.

Toy Manufacturers Shout With Joy

[Anonymous Coward]

A new model to create the mold for.

Re: new? Dinosaur?

[Anonymous Coward]

Way to make yourself feel better by being utterly pedantic.

Thagomizer Mowhawk

[critter42b]

Thagomizer Mowhawk - new Punk Metal band

Re:Thagomizer Mowhawk

[Anonymous Coward]

For all the kids who didn't get the reference:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thagomizer#/media/File:Thagomizer.png

Re:Thagomizer Mowhawk

[Anonymous Coward]

The term "thagomizer" was coined by Gary Larson in jest, in a 1982 The Far Side comic in which a group of cavemen in a faux-modern lecture hall are taught by their caveman professor that the spikes on a stegosaur's tail are so named "after the late Thag Simmons".

The term was picked up initially by Ken Carpenter, a paleontologist at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, who used the term when describing a fossil at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Annual Meeting in 1993.[9] Thagomizer has since been adopted as an informal anatomical term,[10] and is used by the Smithsonian Institution,[9][11] the Dinosaur National Monument, the book The Complete Dinosaur[12] and the BBC documentary series Planet Dinosaur.[13]

I love that scientists basically said, "meh, no need to come up with a new name, there is already one for it."

Reminds me of one time at the Vet and looking at a chart of the cat's paw, with all the technical terms on it (maxillary some-such and so on), and then finally, at the tip: "claw".

Re: Ivankasaurus?

[Anonymous Coward]

Dindusaurus

Patagonia?!?!

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, I guess this dino didn't get to retire and live like a king...

Racism and Cultural Misappropriation

[Anonymous Coward]

Why are we calling this thing a "Mohawk" of spikes? Is there some connection between this dinosaur and the Mohawk Nation? Why are we misappropriating the culture of a people we unjustly destroyed and stole their land, to describe a dinosaur?

The article, summary, and headline should all be changed out of respect for the Mohawk Nation.

Re:Racism and Cultural Misappropriation

[Anonymous Coward]

'Mohawk Nation'? Not a thing - speaking of cultural appropriation.

Perhaps you meant the "Kanien'kehá:ka" people, troll.

Re: Ivankasaurus?

[Anonymous Coward]

plus minefields for the fat brown Tejanosaurus Mex

W00t!

[Anonymous Coward]

A new Jurassic Park movie coming out soon.

More discoveries incoming

[Daralantan]

Soon scientists will find this dinosaur often had many piercings and tattoos. Some of them were known for their radical guitar solos.

Badassasaurus

[phrackthat]

Anyone else read Bajadasaurus as Badassasaurus? Maybe that's the name they'll use on the next dinosaur that has a mohawk.

Re: new? Dinosaur?

[Anonymous Coward]

Ritalin is a hell of a drug.

It Was A Kiddie Dinosaur

[Anonymous Coward]

This dinosaur with the bone Mohawk, it was just a preschooler with cool parents. You know the kind: "No conformist bib pants for my kid! He gets a Mohawk! Fight the power!!"