The Most Accurate Ankylosaur Ever Reconstructed?
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- Опубликовано: 22 май 2024
- Have palaeontologists been able to make the most accurate reconstruction of an Ankylosaur ever? Thanks to the stunning fossil of the nodosaur Borealopelta markmitchelli found in Alberta, Canada, some incredible insights into the biology and lifestyle of these dinosaurs have been gained.
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Sources:
www.cell.com/current-biology/...
www.sci.news/paleontology/bor...
www.theguardian.com/science/l...
web.archive.org/web/201708040...
peerj.com/articles/4066/
www.sciencedirect.com/science...
anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wil...
royalsocietypublishing.org/do...
www.sciencedirect.com/science...
www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/1...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/e...
The fact that borealopelta was countershaded shows how much pressure it was under from predators despite all it's armor.
unfortunately nodosaurs never evolved a countermeasure for being flipped upside-down lmao
It seems quite plausible to me that the adults could keep the coloration they had as juveniles, but even that would show significant predation of juvenile armored dinosaurs, possibly while they were protected by adults... Still a frightening implication!
Countershading is more useful as camouflage for water dwelling animals... terrestrial animals just seem to have lighter bellies by default or because there is little need for camouflage or sun protection on the underside of an animal.
@timeshark8727 how does that account for the trend of larger terrestrial species, ones at the higher end of their food chains, displaying a distinct lack of countershading?
@@alexmidgley7933 You mean like water buffalo, buffalo, rhinos and elephants? That's an interesting point, I have no idea.
Although, those sorts of animals tend not to have any patterns and very little in the way of color, other than black to gray, to begin with.
There are also quite a number of terrestrial prey species that are smack in the middle of the food chains that don't have any countershading. Like wildebeest, zebra, hogs, goats, etc.
Also some things that have countershading with no discernable reason for it... like shrews, rabbits, almost all lizards and snakes, etc.
Its a facinating topic, but I think saying "countershaded, so must have been hunted" is an extreme oversimplification.
You should do a video on the most inaccurate reconstructions known to date
The Magdenburg Unicorn would be on that list.
"The most inaccurate reconstruction of a prehistoric hominid of all time-YOUR MOM!"
There is a RUclips channel called "Your Dinosaurs are wrong" or Ydaw" that covers inaccurate reconstructions already.
The original spinosaurus, the original therizinosaurus
@@bskec2177 But what YDAW does is covering pop media or toy reconstructions, not the scientific ones. I would want to see wrong scientific reconstructions
I always think of how many Fossil we have destroyed through mining where we might have over looked something incredible and destroyed it, feels really lucky to see something this incredibly preserved
You’d be surprised how intact plant matter is shaped in all the coal mines that simply get crushed for coal
@@carlosandleonI have seen videos showing ancient leaf patterns on the coal mine tunnels!
No doubt true. While much has been lost so much has been found as well. I can imagine a paleontologistist asking for funding to dig a hole the size of where this Ankylosaur was found.
Eh. Without mining we would have never discovered this fossil in the first place.
50 or so years ago i used to live at my grandparents who had a coal fire and the amount fossil leaves we found was amazing but we looked at the in the coal and they went on the fire as we had no idea what they came from :( I wish we had kept many of them as they looked like autumn leaves.@@carlosandleon
I saw this dinosaur in person, and it was incredible. It looked like it was a sleeping animal, covered in dust. And the wires that showed the rest of the body was a beautiful addition.
Please consider continuing this "Most Accurate...Ever Reconstructed" Series!!!
If you'd like suggestions, here are a few:
-Pterosaurs
-Marine Reptiles such as Ichthyosaurs, Plesiosaurs & Mosasaurs
-Small Invertebrates that got trapped/fossilized in Amber
-Feathered Theropods such as Archaeopteryx, Incayaku the Penguin or the ones from the various formations in the Liaoning Province of China (i.e. Anchiornis, Sinosauropteryx, Microraptor, Beipiaosaurus, etc.)
-Mammals of the Ice Age that were preserved as frozen carcasses and/or featured in cave art
This fossil is breathtaking. A window to a different time of the world.
I have lived most of my life assuming we would never truly know what dinosaurs and ancient creatures looked like. Just artist interpretations. Then we began to calculate muscle and build based on walking patterns. Then we found specimens like this, ridiculously well preserved. And now we are finding out what colors they had. And even the behavior that goes along with it. It's mind boggling how much research gets done to bring us this information. Thank you for sharing it!
Bonus: and may all this information about accurate reconstruction inspire even more artistic expression! Without the paleo artists we wouldn't even know where to begin.
Seeing boreapelta in person at the Royal Terrel is something else. Its an incredible specimin in a truly world class institution. Well worth visiting!
I really want to go now!
There's something surreal about being able to see the face of a living being that died an unfathomable time before.
I remember seeing about this as a kid in some paleo news article and thinking that we were going to finally bring dinosaurs back from the dead
And then a few years later paleontologists went and found a hadrosaur foot that was essentially mummified making that dream seem even more realistic
And then the public finally caught on that birds are dinosaurs and the dream has come full circle.
And then some scientists are making chickens look more like a non avian dinosaur basically making a dinosaur into a dinosaur
@@Mr.ankylo345 yeah but from what I’ve heard that whole thing has kind ran a ground.
That's a great idea for a series! I knew about borealopelta but not about psittacosaurus. My next suggestion would be the foot of that duck-billed dinosaur.
The one from Tanis?
@@dragonfox2.058I checked which one it was and it's the Edmontosaurus mummy called Dakota. Are we thinking about the same specimen?
@@alisav8394 can't remember
@@dragonfox2.058 that's a Thescelosaurus.
Also worth noting, countershading may have given them better survival odds during youth, before reaching the size needed to defend themselves properly. So it may not actually be something thats important to them as adults, just a holdover from when they were young, and countershading would have greatly aided survival.
When I think of extant animals that change their coloration with age, countershading is commonly the adult form, while more aggressive dappled or striped camoflauge is more common for the young.
Why didn’t they lose it in adulthood though? Color can change easily. For example, large tortoises have intricate patterns to camouflage them with the leaves when they are young, but they become mostly unicolor in adulthood, because they don’t need as much camouflage any more.
I love that you have a plushie of Bumpy from Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous on your shelf.
10:01 - Oh gawd ! He *Comin* all the way ! The Uber-mecha chonk makes capybaras look lithe
My wife and I recently completed a bucket list item (for me!) of driving the Alaska Canada Highway round trip. One of the most important stops for me was the Royal Tyrell Museum. It dud not disappoint! There were two fossils I particularly wanted to see for myself. This one and Tiktaalik, which I had read about in Neil Shubin's excellent book, "Your Inner Fish". Just amazing to see these examples of fossil preservation and examination!
Thanks for crediting my photos - and thanks for introducing the whole family to the amazing Royal Tyrrell Museum.
Thank you sir for sharing it.
Any number of the small feathered dinosaurs out of China would be fun to see you cover if you do continue this series.
You could do one each month and not be done for the year. China has so many great fossils that have been discovered recently.
i recently got to visit this amazing fossil at the Royal Tyrrell, what an amazing experience. i’m lucky to live in such a fossil rich part of the world. great vid! :)
I live a couple hours from drumheller and visit regularly. Alberta has an amazing and diverse ecology
Ankylosaur was my absolute favorite as a kid and is still my favorite. This makes both past me and present me very happy :)
I love ankylosaurs so much
I went to Alberta recently and visited the Royal Tyrell museum in Drumheller. This is an amazing specimen to say the least! It literally gave me goosebumps when i walked up to it! I highly recommend taking a trip there! They have so many amazing specimens, including an awesome T-rex named "Black Beauty" in its death pose!
I dream of a tyrannosaurus being found in this condition. Such a specimen probably doesn't exist, but can you imagine?
Such a huge specimen in such complete detail, that would be a miracle, but a welcome one. If one does exist out there, we can only hope we'll find it.
Ankylosaurs are my absolute favorite dinosaur! I would love to see an overview of all of the described members of this family. Thank you for all of your great content.
More than anyone has a right to know about ankylosaurs, in general, and this one in particular, in one easily digestible presentation. Thanks guys. Your enthusiasm and ability to communicate about this fascinating subject, is one of the quiet gems of RUclips, thanks again.
Six years (70,000 hours) to prepare one specimen! Now that's dedication to your job.
OMG please continue doing these videos on ancient animals that are really well preserved. Things like this are fantastic and its hard to find information about what the different creatures are. I spent a few hours trying to find research studies, but it is a lot.
I would love to see more videos to this series! An idea for another video is for the best preserved hadrosaurs. I think there are a few "mummified" specimens, and the famous Dakota edmontosaurus hoof that you could feature in the episode. Keep it up Ben!
The countershading on Borealopelta makes a lot of sense when put into context. Today's large herbivores are mainly fighting groups of smaller predators whereas Mesozoic-era herbivores had to contend with predators that were much *much* larger and therefore hiding was a smart idea
This is my favorite Find in paleontology EVER!!!!
Ah, the Royal Tyrrel Museum. I haven't had the pleasure of returning their in many years, but going there is a child is what took my interest from just "dinosaurs are cool" towards the first seeds of what would be a proper appreciation for the fields of paleontology and ecology.
Another cool thing about the Royal Tyrrel is that they have an annual lecture series with scientists from around the world presenting their work at a level non-specialists can understand. Many of these lectures are on their youtube channel.
That specimen has to be my favourite fossil of all time. It’s so amazing how well preserved it is. It looks like it could just stand up at any moment.
This was outstanding. The food that the dinosaur ate the various comparisons with other Dino's . Did bro Jeremy draw one of the illustrations? He did a great job too. Well done.😊
You should do a video on Sasha the wholly rhino. I love all Pleistocene species, but when it comes to mummies mammoths seem to get all the love and I’d love to learn more about wholly rhinos. Love your content!
Wow! I saw this in the Royal Tyrell collections before it was put on display! I was doing a project for school, and I got to go all over in the museum and see wicked cool stuff! I still have a picture of it! It’s one of my favorite specimens and I’ve seen it all over social media, even a show about it on tv! And to think I am one of the few that got to go right up close to it without a display barrier… I think those of you who read this now know how excited this makes me haha!
When i first saw your video about the well preserved Psittacosaurus specimen i was literally thinking about the more recently found Borealopelta: I was hoping you would eventually talk about it in detail and I'm very glad you did! Definitely make this a series!
I saw it in person and was almost moved to tears it is so beautiful. I can't describe how moving an experience it is if you are truly passionate about these kinds of things.
Make a pilgrimage to the Drumheller Royal Tyrell museum if you can. You will not be disappointed.
*THE IDEA THAT AN ARMOURED SUV* side dino needed counter-shading like a baby Gazzell just highlights how astonishingly dangerous the era was.
My first thought about the counter shading is that there would be a strong selection pressure to for it to help aid the survival of small juvenile specimens and no selection pressure for the coloring to change when the animal grows to near its full adult size even if there are no predators able to take then down by then.
Say Ben, that is an excellent report on the Borealopelta Markmitchelli. I remember when it was found and the buzz it created even then. All this time I had no idea the extimated size of the animal.
I tend to agree with the Bloat and Float scheme. Huge present day animals Bloat and Float, and with the right timing I am convinced that a Borealopelta could indeed have bloated enough to float out to deeper water where once the gas bubble was breached by scavenging activities, the remains would then have sunk down to the bottom.
Of course in the present day, there are ample benthic scavengers who would have consumed any an all soft tissue. Perhaps that biofauna was not yet as developed back then or perhaps this specimen sank into a brine pool or anoxic layer?
Your suggestion of it being washed out to sea in a tsunami like situtation is also a great possibility, and also consistent with the specimen being quickly covered by sediment, which would have prevented scavenging of the soft tissues that were found in the fossil.
I saw this fossil in July 2017 as well, during a family trip to Vancouver.
It was awsome
Ankylosaurs are and have always been my favorite dinosaur.
Nicely done, Ben. The Tyrell is on my list if/when I get to Alberta again. I remember the announcement when they unveiled Borealopelta so it has been interesting hearing what has been learned from it.
Those Ankys in the back are adorable
Dude! You guys are incredible! Your videos are fascinating and packed with information which you communicate so clearly. Gratitude!!!!
I love how the counterargument is always included. Such a detailed channel.
Interesting, best coverage of this event on RUclips! 🔥
Loved both video, please keep them coming
i love your work, man. my inner kid gets to vicariously live through your work.
This series will be amazing! I subbed for it! Keep it going my man!
Fantastic work. Fascinating insights into the prehistoric environment too 👌
Wow. I've seen this fossil before but this video really shows how important it is. Great work Ben and co!
My recommendations for this series are microraptor and sinosauropteryx - we actually know what colours their feathers were.
Ben, u have a great channel! As a paleontology geek and artist, also sometimes - paleoartist - can’t avoid noticing ur way to deliver information
Your channel is great, keep up the quality content!
Extraordinary. I love how you often explain the deductive reasoning behind conclusions regarding lifestyle and habitat. So often these conclusions are just presented without context and nay-sayers immediately scoff and dismiss the information. I wish more presenters would take the time to both inform and educate the way that you do. Primarily I refer to mainstream presenters, as I know there are also other RUclips presenters who take the time to explain things, filling the niche that television was originally supposed to occupy.
Very cool format
Ankylosaurus is an awesome Dino
Yes, please consider making this into a series.
the fact that we can so accurately reconstruct at least three dinosaurs (Borealopelta, Psittacosaurus and Archaeopteryx) is amazing, and truly is like a window into the alien yet familiar past
awesome video , borealopelta looks so cool
🙂👍
Always hungry for new insights into the appearance and lives of these long-ago creatures. Thanks!
Yes! Keep this series going! I can't wait to see what other discoveries get discussed!
This video is gold standard - scientific not just pure entertainment, high quality sources with links - obviously you're a true scientist, Ben! 😀👋
My uncle was the guy running the digger when they found it! Shawn Funk! Our entire extended family got a behind the scenes tour of the museum after they got it there, I even met Mark Mitchell! It was an absolutely amazing thing to experience for a dinosaur obsessed kid haha
Hey I just went there recently! Thanks for covering this 🤠
Great video, dude.
This is good, please keep doing more! I'd like to think of myself as being on the more "science" side of "pop. science," but I never would have read the journal article(s?) you're using as source material. Maybe "most 'scuffed' but still interesting fossil" could be interesting.
Such awesome videos 😎
I am continually impressed with your brilliance! Thank you…🙏🏻
Very informative and entertaining video about Borealopelta Ben. Could you do a video about some Dromaeosaurid dinosaurs like Mircoraptor and zhenyuanlong?
I live near the Tyrell, and have visited this specimen in person. Pictures do not do it justice. You can see *eyelids*. The entire museum has world-class exhibits.
At last the scientific information from Markmitchelly . Thanks I look forward to hearing more as it comes out.
Every time I watch your channel I learn new stuff and enjoy it.
Could you please do something on feathers ? these days Artists reconstructions can show anything from fully scaled to fully feathered images, Possibly due to how old the reconstruction itself is. A time line explanation of what families are thought to have evolved them? Ankylosaurs aside it can be difficult to know how to Imajin them. PS possibly an episode for the "Most Accurate" series.
The fact that these things were on the same planet as us is wild
Just last year I was fortunate enough to witness borealopelta in person. Truly an astonishing specimen.
This is actually considered to be one of the greatest preserved dinosaur fossils ever unearthed. The man who spent time refining it deserves a nobel prize for his contribution to natural history. Keep up the good work Ben communication of paleontology is essential for understanding life today
Love this idea for a video series of the most accurately reconstruction of extinct animals. I have often wondered this and which ones we know the most about because of the how much of the fossil was found. I loved the first video you did and would love more like it. It fascinates me to no end and I'm curious about what birds we have and the oldest Compleat non avian dino we have that could be the beginning of the bird linage or when the non-avians first started looking like birds. Great video in whole and I love the content keep it up.
Ooh this is such a good idea for a series! There are so many great lagerstatte fossils! Here is a starting list of some really interesting ones to do vids on:
Materpiscis
Typhloesus
Fossils from the Joggins Fossil Cliffs
Arthropitys bistriata
Longisquama
Coelophysis from the Ghost Ranch area
Vampire squid from Ya Ha Tinda
Stenopterygius crassicostatus with preserved young
Enantiornithines from Las Hoyas
Archaeophis proavus or other fossil from Monte Bolca
Messel formation fossils
Great Video :)
I'm so glad you two have survived the crushing tragedies of broken plaster. Oh the humanity! Sue the tyrannosaur and Quetzalcoatlus come to mind for future stories. There were a lot of other species competing for those conifers higher up. It seems more likely the Ankylosaur simply couldn't reach the conifers but loved those succulent, easy to reach ferns.
Great video! I would think that ankylosaurs living in recently burned forests could also make them more susceptible to flash-flooding events since rain isn't slowed by vegetation and is blocked from soaking into the ground by ash, as well as picking up lots of debris. This would also further increase the chances of finding them washed into bodies of water and quickly covered by protective sediment
Good idea for a series.
The way it ended up practically "mummified" in sediment makes me think that it did die (by normal death, some other reasons including drowning, but not necessarily by predation) and float due to bloat as spring rains flowed over recently fire-swept hills/mountains taking it and a lot of silt down stream to be deposited in the same location such that no to very few water predators got to it to destroy the remains.
Very thorough analysis. I hope others appreciate as much as me 😊
Fantastic series, such a beautiful fossil.
Stenopterigyus next? :3
Amazing Video as Always! :) 👏👏👏👏👏👏 ❤❤ 💖💖
Beautiful creature! So exciting, what’s next. The earth has such amazing things yet to show us. The science of paleontology is really growing. Thanks for sharing with us.
Saw this fossil in person just over a week ago and it was truly one of the most incredible things I've ever experienced. Gave me goosebumps.
I live in alberta and actually got to see this really exact fossil there. It actually blew my mind. Best road trip ive had in a long time
WOW that description of the plates and spines were very impressive. Imagine the kind of predators that forced this animal to evolve over time into a walking tank with spikes.
The dinosaur was found at the Suncor oil sands facility.
When the shovel operator hit it he had a good hint at what he had found.
Perhaps 30 years ago it would have been buried and forgotten but the oil sands needs good public relations right now with all the environment stuff.
It would/did represent a delay in production.
You can view this dinosaur at the Royal Museum in Drumheller Alberta.
I think it would be cool if you could cover the findings of the juvenile Allosaurus skin impressions
id love to see one on that mayasaur or albertasaur i forgor, but the one where we got a fossil of a mummified one and it perserved like even the blood n stuff you talked about it on your channel when it was first revealed
3:40 Superb emotive content!
50 or so years ago i used to live at my grandparents who had a coal fire and the amount of fossil leaves we found was amazing but we looked at the in the coal and they went on the fire as we had no idea what they came from :( I wish we had kept many of them as they looked like autumn leaves
There could be a few good reasons for exploiting the burnt forest niche; certainly the benefits of sweet new growth, the benefits of charcoal on the gut - and the releasing of more nutrients from "cooked" food.
Heya, just thought you should know that every time you karate chop your desk while handsplaining dinosaur reconstruction, your mic picks it up as a huge bass note and shakes the soeakers in my headphones, home audio, and desktop speakers. Id reccommend not karate chopping the desk, but thats like telling an Italian to talk while sitting on their hands, so instead maybe -8db on low frequencies during editing or something.
I'm glad to see my favorite plastic representative of Ankylosaurus was nearly spot on down to properly extended shoulder spines and color pallette.
In the 80s.
Nice.
I'd love to see a video on Anchiornis!
The Royal Tyrell is set to do a major renovation to the Dinosaur hall this fall, so more of a reason to go back and see what's there. I love that museum with a passion.
❤ so beautiful!
An idea for some future vids who would win in a fight using dinosaurs I'd watch it