Possibly dumb question about dinosaurs

[OneOfTheseDays]

If all we have is fossil evidence, how the hell do scientists know how certain species of dinosaurs hunted, mated, etc.?

 

[amdhunter]

Time Machines...

 

[schizoid77]

They don't, it's all educated guesses, as is most science.

 

[AccruedExpenditure]

It's in the Bible

 

[CrazyLazy]

Originally posted by: OneOfTheseDays
If all we have is fossil evidence, how the hell do scientists know how certain species of dinosaurs hunted, mated, etc.?

If things have fossils, that means they have to be alive. And if things are alive that means at some point down the line they had to eat food and have sex. Your thread title was correct.

 

[IronWing]

Some dinosaurs had canine teeth, good for ripping the throats out out of the dinosaurs that didn't (the vegans).

 

[OneOfTheseDays]

Originally posted by: CrazyLazy

Originally posted by: OneOfTheseDays
If all we have is fossil evidence, how the hell do scientists know how certain species of dinosaurs hunted, mated, etc.?

If things have fossils, that means they have to be alive. And if things are alive that means at some point down the line they had to eat food and have sex. Your thread title was correct.

No shit sherlock. I'm asking how they know specifics about dinosaurs (i.e. what they ate, how they attacked, etc.).

 

[Kirby]

Originally posted by: ironwing
Some dinosaurs had canine teeth, good for ripping the throats out out of the dinosaurs that didn't (the vegans).

Mmmmmm....vegans. :drool;

 

[Atheus]

I bet there have been fossils found with fossilised food still in the stomach area, so you could tell what they ate if not how, but I'm not sure I've heard anyone claim dinosaurs hunted in a certain way. They can't know if they hid, stalked, had camoflaged skin, worked in groups, etc. They do know how they made the final kill though - there have been computer simulations of the birdlike huntung dinosaurs (t-rex, raptor, etc) showing how they used their tail to balance them for a short fast sprint, and then the teeth would do their job.

 

[Lonyo]

By looking at body shape and teeth.

 

[schizoid77]

Scientists saw Jurassic Park too, BTW.

 

[MrWizzard]

It's not dumb it's their "educated" guesses, just like evolution.

 

[Leros]

They can tell by the teeth, the shape of the mouth, the body type, and sometimes they've found other bones in the stomach area.

 

[marvdmartian]

...in other words, it's all a SWAG

Scientific
Wild
Ass
Guess

 

[Baked]

Sauropod eggs would make hella big omelets.

 

[bobross419]

Basically they compare musculature and skeletal structure from modern day animals and figure out how all of the muscles attached and how those muscles would operate. A stronger solid bone indicates that there is a lot of stress from muscles on that particular location and they can then use this information to come up with the most likely movements that having this particular setup would allow. So yes, it is all educated guesses, but usually guesses which are based on scientific "calculations". From here you could even go a step further and make a guess as to a particular creature's hunting style based on the method of attack and studying animals of today with a similar attack style.

This is all from watching dinosaur shows on TV though, so I could be wrong... this is just my educated guess about how they make their educated guesses....

 

[akshatp]

Duh... They showed it all in the three movies they made about it. They had video footage!

 

[rudeguy]

Originally posted by: Lonyo
By looking at body shape and teeth.

AFAIK, they also study their poo

 

[Clair de Lune]

Scientists are super nerds. By looking at mere bones they can:

*look at teeth which tells their diet (carnivorous or herbvi)
*bone shapes and densities determine the dinosaur's posture which leads to their behavior and how they hunted (For example, it was long thought that T-rex' ran upright until the nerds realized they actually ran with their body & tail parallel to the ground by relooking at their bone structure. The movie Jurassic Park show the incorrect posture of the CG T-rex).
*etc etc...

They tell a LOT.

 

[Gigantopithecus]

Originally posted by: MrWizzard
It's not dumb it's their "educated" guesses, just like evolution.

This information is concealed in books.

 

[DaveSimmons]

They've also found preserved footprints (covered with layers of other material) to look at how some walked and ran.

 

[Gibsons]

They've found teeth marks on some bone fossils that match some predators teeth.

Also, with MRI and such, you can find the shape and size of the inner ear, giving a guess at the animals agility/speed, the size of the brain and what areas were highly developed. ie Raptors had a relatively large brain, and so are assumed to be smarter than the average dino. Their inner ear was large and intricate, so they probably moved around pretty fast. In contrast, some of the large herbivores had a smaller brain and a less developed inner ear, so it's thought they were slower and simpler.

 

[Eli]

You would be surprised at how much we can know from bones.

Originally posted by: Gibsons
They've found teeth marks on some bone fossils that match some predators teeth.

Also, with MRI and such, you can find the shape and size of the inner ear, giving a guess at the animals agility/speed, the size of the brain and what areas were highly developed. ie Raptors had a relatively large brain, and so are assumed to be smarter than the average dino. Their inner ear was large and intricate, so they probably moved around pretty fast. In contrast, some of the large herbivores had a smaller brain and a less developed inner ear, so it's thought they were slower and simpler.

Exactly what I was going to say.