Dinosaurs grow like human teenagers

New research on the Albertosaurus shows dinosaurs actually went through the teenage phase. The teenage phase is classified as sudden growth spurts, not puberty (at the moment). Researcher Philip Currie from University of Alberta believes they are more human (mammal-like) than reptilian. Gregory Erickson from Florida State University confirmed the discovery while putting together the first non-avian (non-bird related) dinosaur growth chart.

The chart compared twenty-two Albertosaurus fossils from a bone bed in southern Alberta, where the ages of the creature ranged from two to twenty-eight years old when they died. They plotted measurements of weight and size of the Albertosaurus. They have concluded that the growth and death patterns did not fit reptiles at all.

The explanation for this is simple—throughout a reptile’s life, say a snake, they continue to grow. Reptiles never cease to stop growing, which is why they can become so big before they die. In the case of dinosaurs they, they reach a certain point and stop growing, just like mammals.

This is an amazing discovery among itself, and will possibly pave the way for us to revamp our outlook on dinosaurs. Possibly prompt Spielberg and his dinosaur expert to take this new discovery into consideration for Jurassic Park IV. It makes me wonder if inGen would have discovered this when they were manipulation the dinosaur DNA in an essence to make them grow faster for a profit. Read more about it at CNEWS – Research confirms dinosaurs had teenage phase, making them more like mammals.

Can the Tyrannosaurus see?

I’m all pretty sure most Jurassic Park fans remember the heart-stopping incident with Alan Grant and Lex. A few days ago, July 1 to be extract, a good friend of mine CyborgCompy pointed me to an article at sciencenews.org. It would seem scientists at University of Oregon in Eugene have discovered that the Tyrannosaurus probably had the best vision in its class. This creature had an ability to see non-moving objects and a focal length of up to 3.7 miles. It would go to show that Alan Grant and Lex would be in for a world of trouble. Here is an excerpt:

 T. rex had a binocular range of 55°, which is wider than that of modern hawks, Stevens reports in the summer Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Moreover, over the millennia, T. rex evolved features that improved its vision: Its snout grew lower and narrower, cheek grooves cleared its sight lines, and its eyeballs enlarged.

“It was a selective advantage for this animal to see three-dimensionally ahead of it,” Stevens says.

Stevens also considered visual acuity and limiting far point—the greatest distance at which objects remain distinct. For these vision tests, he took the known optics of reptiles and birds, ranging from the poor-sighted crocodile to the exceptional eagle, and adjusted them to see how they would perform inside an eye as large as that of T. rex. “With the size of its eyeballs, it couldn’t help but have excellent vision,” Stevens says.

He found that T. rex might have had visual acuity as much as 13 times that of people. By comparison, an eagle’s acuity is 3.6 times that of a person.

T. rex might also have had a limiting far point of 6 kilometers, compared with the human far point of 1.6 km. These are best-case estimates, Stevens says, but even toward the cautious end of the scale, T. rex still displays better vision than what’s needed for scavenging.

This article is definitely worth the read. To read more about our friend, the Tyrannosaurus, click here. It might save your life if you ever end up on Isla Sorna (again).

As far as I know

I woke up this morning and decided I was going to release version 11 of JPdb to the public today, regardless if I have all the content I wanted to publish with or not. As you can see from the links we have, we have a lot of content on the way. Most of which are being written up by myself and co-webmaster Samfan. Sadly, Samfan had to fly home to Hawaii this week and will be back in approximately 3 weeks. I’ll make the best of it now, so if you find any errors on this new design please contact any one of us. Also, free free to join the forum and post about.

Tim Murphy

Tim Murphy played by Joseph Mazzello (Simon Birch, Radio Flyer) Grandson to InGen Founder John Hammond and younger brother to Lex Murphy. Very interested in dinosaurs; he not only studied many species but he also had an idolization for Dr. Alan Grant. Tim survived through the T-Rex attack, which left him stranded within the electric Explorer that was entangled in a huge tree. Most memorable would be the 10,000 volt shock that he endured while climbing over the electric perimeter fence, deeming him “the human piece of toast.”

Lex Murphy

Lex Murphy played by Ariana Richards (Tremors, Prancer) The grand-daughter to InGen Founder John Hammond and sister to Tim Murphy. As a bright-spirited thirteen-year old, she had a love for computers as she once said “I’d rather be called a hacker” when her brother jokingly said she was a nerd. While being hunted down by Velociraptors in the kitchen scene, she eluded one of the Raptors with her reflection which led to both herself and her brother’s safety. Her computer skills later came in effect when she navigated through Jurassic Park’s security system where she managed to restore everything back to working order.

Donald Gennaro

Donald Gennaro played by Martin Ferrero (Oscar, Get Shorty) was the lawyer sent by the investors of John Hammond’s part to show if the park is safe. Upon arriving on Isla Nublar Ferrero’s character is struck with greed, and ponders money making schemes which will lead to the downfall of his character. He faces the female tyrannosaur while on the toilet. What more is there to say? He’s the bloodsucking-lawyer!

Robert Muldoon

Robert Muldoon played by Bob Peck (Hard Times, Deadly Summer) Jurassic Park’s Game Warden. After the power shut-off, Muldoon and company escaped the jaws of the T-Rex while speeding away in the parks jeep. An expert on Velociraptors, he lectured to Dr. Grant and the other guest visitors about the raptors behaviors and performance in the wild. Ironically, while leading Dr. Sattler to the power shed he mentions “We’re being hunted,” not soon later he was killed from a sneak attack from the side due to not knowing the Raptors attack pattern. Sadly, Bob Peck lost his battle with cancer on April 4, 1999 he was 53.

John Hammond

John Hammond played by Richard Attenborough (Miracle on 34th Street, Hamlet) is a wealthy millionaire who purchased an island off of the coast of Costa Rica. Isla Nublar, home of Hammond’s newest biological attraction, Jurassic Park. Housing the worlds first genetically engineered dinosaurs to have walked the world in the last 65 million years! However, this glory is sort-lived. Suddenly a freak accident propels Jurassic Park under investigation by the investors of Hammonds’ creation. To make sure the park is sound, they enlist a lawyer and others to give the Jurassic Park their seal of approval. Needless to say, this is where the journey begins.

Dr. Ian Malcolm

Dr. Ian Malcolm played by Jeff Goldblum (Independence Day, The Fly) A mathematician whose studies revolve around the chaos theory. Invited by John Hammond, Malcolm decided to observe Jurassic Park before the general public was allowed to visit. Dr. Malcolm predicted that “life would find a way” and soon after, his prediction became reality. After the incident at Isla Nublar, the skeptical mathematician returns to the land of the dinosaurs in The Lost World: Jurassic Park in search of his girlfriend, Sarah Harding.

Dr. Ellie Sattler

Dr. Ellie Sattler played by Laura Dern (Mask, October Sky) is a Paleo-botanist (study of fossilized plants) and girlfriend to Dr. Alan Grant.  As they both accept the invitation to Hammond’s preserve, she is one of the first to realize that there were dangerous plants around the park itself-“you pick them because they look nice” It was certainly preface to what was ahead.  During the park tour, they stumble upon a sick Triceratops.  Dr. Sattler decides to split up with the rest of the group in order to stay back with Dr. Harding and care for the Trike.  Her separation from the rest was ideal because she became the “go-to” woman and single handedly went to the power shed and turned on the park’s fences manually while escaping from a hungry Velociraptor.Â