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Ausarchosaur

@ausarchosaur.bsky.social

830 followers 250 following 3.8K posts

Biology MD+BSc (thesis still in progress). Vertebrate zoo/paleontology; tad obsessed w/ predation/combat/biomechanics. Also TF, DBZ, ATLA

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · Feb 26

I post about animals, alive and extinct, and the insane, often obscure things they do. Often about hunting and fighting.

If that interests you, feel free to follow, I guess.

Source: https://bioone.org/journals/southeastern-naturalist/volume-9/issue-4/058.009.0420/Predation-of-a-Large-Alligator-by-a-Florida-Panther/10.1656/058.009.0420.short

Source: https://books.google.com/books?id=IJ9nBUq_hKkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Tyrannosaurus+pedal+claw+pathologies&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjPnf3MruGLAxU_LFkFHXNpKakQ6AF6BAgLEAM#v=snippet&q=pedal%20claw&f=false

Source: https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/47788142/First_Record_of_Predation_on_False_Kille20160804-1743-9xsqic-libre.pdf?1470322521=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DFirst_Record_of_Predation_on_False_Kille.pdf&Expires=1740577346&Signature=WNa1vlDAiC-YbDL~wfeHhIgdn7~au0PXFXG5uts1RlxCrSwFyEA8i0mZ6P27IuA~fWtzF91N8r-7kachA9Rcc~ea2qcRBzCtzt6Fqy7OhwIa4Bb9B4k7KhcOo~XQpPwbdS-xtqTii3mIpUJSS7lwXNw3nOpWQpTECzroiSKmBVI6mgI8oeq3tysvVK6VYemgdqnbA65tnAlIocMisoO1Go3QuzohcbNXG1YFZZcHrcqX-V9j4zvuy964Fvn2YoP0-dGHbYvtyOK5L21OpS6bGtqsbyJJrMfPsC7Ychi3ZLEh3YlK4B-OlBVcBi~D9m7Exe5lavDOCX~44N1qeVmaDQ__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 30m

Spotted hyenas are so cool man

Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 34m

Also I love that this is teeth and claws vs…just teeth

Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 3d

Spotted hyenas get into one-on-one skirmishes with leopards quite often for a renowned pack-hunting species. It actually makes sense once you realize that most spotted hyena hunts are actually solitary.

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 2h

Absolutely insane that there was a reptile that needed to be so heavily armored that the hole it pooped and peed out of had protection too.

Ankylosaurs too, except with their eyelids.

Armin Reindl @arminreindl.bsky.social · 2h

For day 8 of #Croctober I'm going way back.
This is Typothorax, an aetosaur from the Triassic of New Mexico best known for how well armored it was.
In fact it was so well armored even the cloaca is surrounded by an arrey of osteoderms

The skeleton of Typothorax in multiple views. The very top shows a fossil, flipped on its back and missing the head but nicely showing the osteoderms. Below that a lateral view of the skeletal reconstruction shows the animal had short frontlimbs and longer legs, a tiny head and a plump body covered in armor. The ventral view shows how even the cloaca was surrounded in bony scutes and a front view highlights not just how tiny the head is but also how square the body is proportioned.

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 7h

Pretty fantastic (as in literally almost fantasy-esque) ecosystem.

Just missing the big killer ground birds and big crocs but whatever.

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 10h

This got me a TON of traction on Twitter. I’m pleased with how the vast majority of replies were/are people recollecting a paleontological or archaeological find uncovered by construction workers (for better or worse) or just random folks, whether it was someone they personally knew or not.

Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 2d

I find it ironic that this guy posted a pic of construction workers finding fossils, because this is something that's actually happened. Multiple times.

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 20h

Well in that case it's harder to have a reach advantage against a much larger foe. Although, if it meant they needed to take less steps just to grab a piece of sauropod with their jaws, I think it still would've been an asset.

Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 20h

One more thing:

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 20h

At any rate, I at least hope you found this thread informative. If you see a lot more going on in a skirmish between these two dinosaurs than you did before, then this thread has done its job.

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 20h

Like I said at the beginning of this thread a few days ago, I won't explicitly pick a winner. This isn't a hill I feel like dying on in the way I would for most of the other versus debates I covered, given how less agreed upon this one is. But you can probably guess who I favor.

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 20h

So as obviously deadly as the primary weapons of both animals are and would be to each other...I actually think a "good bite" from the theropod might have a greater chance of rapid incapacitation or death than a "good stab" from the ceratopsian would.

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 20h

Hell, there's a reason spears used to hunt boars, bears, or tigers had lugs behind the spear head: so the stabbed prey item couldn't move up the spear shaft and maul the hunter.

Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HJRK_A_32_-_Boar_spear_head_of_Frederick_IV_of_the_Tyrol,_c._1430.jpg

Image source: https://www.mandarinmansion.com/glossary/tiger-spear-qing

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 20h

it failed to hit a vital, this could open up the possibility for a counterattack from the T. rex.

Sort of like this, I guess:

From a T. rex graphic novel authored and illustrated by Ted Rechlin

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 20h

Granted, ceratopsids had relatively much more room for leg musculature than do extant rhinos and elephants, which would allow them to put a lot more force behind a goring. But even if a Trike punched a horn through a part of rex's body, if it fails to incapacitate it b/c--

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 20h

Here is a white rhino that was gored by an elephant. Granted, it received medical attention and could have died w/out it. But still, it did not immediately die even after being gored by an animal ~3x its size.

Image source: https://www.savingthesurvivors.org/white-rhino-loses-fight-with-elephant/

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 20h

Here’s another. This elephant was stabbed 20-30 times by a tusker, and succumbed an unspecified long time afterwards.
wildelephantvideo.com/elephant-sta...

Elephant stabbed 20 - 30 times by a tusker being saved by Sri Lankan Officers

Elephant stabbed 20 - 30 times by a tusker being saved by Sri Lankan Officers-This elephant is in pain and is almost out of energy to even stand up.

wildelephantvideo.com

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 20h

I’ll give you an example. Here's a fight between two white rhinos. One rhino repeatedly and forcefully gores its opponent in the belly. Despite this, the rhino's horn *didn't even break the skin of its foe* and both proceeded to run to a watering hole.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUBo...

▶▶▶ 2 Rhino's Fight - Hippo gets out of the Way !

YouTube video by Kruger National Park

www.youtube.com

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 20h

What about Triceratops? Surely one stab would mean instant death for the T. rex...right?

Actually, not necessarily. Goring weapons are not (necessarily) instant kill weapons either. In fact, I'd wager in most cases they aren't.

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 20h

...but I think this is relatively unlikely. And even if a mortally wounded Triceratops continues to fight back, it would be fighting an uphill battle and wouldn't be long for this world.

(This impala disemboweled by wild dogs is an example of what I'm talking about.)

Image source: https://latestsightings.com/single-post/wild-dogs-v-impala-impala-fights-back-as-guts-fall-out?srsltid=AfmBOoq0DgKP319duZoBn8mek1wQojUj1ZEsKWpEk_4vgqwzC-0PpC5o

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 20h

Aside from glancing bites I do think, in most cases, a T. rex will have practically won should it manage to say, rip off a large chunk of flesh or disembowel the Trike.

Now, there IS potential for even a disemboweled Trike to continue fighting and potentially harming the rex…

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 20h

What of weaponry? There's no doubt that both dinosaurs are capable of killing each other with their weapons, so I focused more on discussing who can land a blow first. But even landing the 1st blow isn't a guarantee of victory. And this is where the thread takes a gruesome turn.

Photo by Wikipedia user Ricardalovesmonuments: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Natural_History_Museum,_London_Thyrannosurus_Triceratops.jpg

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 1d

New species of Marmosa from Peru
digitallibrary.amnh.org/items/d9c5cb...

digitallibrary.amnh.org

Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 1d

I feel *slightly* bad for not backing Creative Beast's trading card game campaign, but my head is telling me I need all the money I can get to preorder/buy their much more expensive figures.

Plus their campaign is doing just fine anyway.

Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 1d

I completely forgot about that Protoceratops model…

I should also note my copy of the book in the OP is also definitely not in mint condition, but I got pieces of tape holding it together well enough lol

Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 1d

I wish I could get into wildlife photography. Problem isn't even the wildlife that lives here, it's just that I'm too lazy to pay a lot for a quality camera. That and I have no concept of taking a good photo beyond "Oh look! *snap*".

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 1d

To try & sum, the Trike is not only exceptionally brawny (even compared to T. rex), but can also turn en pointe much better. The theropod's own body plan basically gives the middle finger to this agility discrepancy, and its inner ear anatomy may confer superior head reflexes.

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