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Digital Allosaurus and falcons eat alike

30/5/2013

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A paper has come out recently showing that Allosaurus fragilis probably ate like a modern falcon, tugging flesh up-and-off carcasses, rather than tearing flesh with a side-to-side shake similar to modern crocodiles.

The star of this study, 'Big Al', is an 150 million year old (late Jurassic) fossil Allosaurus skeleton from the Morrison Formation in the USA. The authors looked for muscle attachment sites on the bones, combined with comparisons to modern birds and crocodiles anatomy, then digitally re-created the soft tissue around the neck and head.

Above image: Digital reconstruction of 'Big Al' - the Allosaurus specimen used in the study. Image sourced from the Witmer Lab website.
Finally, they simulated the range of movement for the head and neck, given the placement of muscles and tendons. Not only did this model show that Big Al had a light and very flexible head and neck, but it also showed that the relatively low position of a specific neck muscle (the longissimus capitis superficialis) allowed the head to pull straight up and back, much like the feeding style of modern falcons. A picture (or video) tells a thousand words, so I recommend watching this animation of Big Al's muscle placement and feeding behaviour.
Now I know this story has been covered quite a few times already (including one of my favourite places: i09), but I wanted to point out something else. What's enjoyable about reading this research (9.7 MB PDF) and visiting the Witmer Lab page is not only the clever combination of mechanical engineering and biology to answer this feeding behaviour question, but the fact that they also have fun with their research.
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A suitably terrified human scale! Image courtesy the Witmer Lab website.
It's re-assuring to see this: as strange as it might sound, I sometimes forget that my peers aren't super serious dour academics, they're just people. Fossil-obsessed and extremely bright people, but people nonetheless. Which is nice, because I'm people too!
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Archer: Woodhouse! What are you doing?!
Woodhouse: Uh, sitting down, sir.
Archer: What, at the table?!
Malory: Sterling.
Archer: Like people?!
Malory: Sterling!
Archer: What?! Look, he thinks he's people!

Image from chrisnolansscarf.tumblr.com
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Stranded? Cloud storage to the rescue!

28/5/2013

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Need more proof that you should keep your work on a cloud based server (such as Dropbox), aside from the, "Your computer could suffer indoor rain", or , "Your office might get flooded"?

It's very useful for when you leave your house keys, public transport card, and office keys in your backpack, which you left in your partner's car, who has driven said car to his/her work. And you can't lock the house door without a key. And you need to take a bus. AND you need to access your office. So, guess what? You're working from home today, and you better hope you can remotely access all your documents!

I use Dropbox, but there are other cloud storage services out there. If you need more than the 2GB free storage space that Dropbox offers, then Mediafire and Mega look promising. Although the free accounts they offer cap the upload file size at 200 MB and 300 MB respectively.

Image by Emilio Quintana
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No rain = successful fossil fieldwork

7/5/2013

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The lack of posts on this blog lately has been due to personal commitments (attending an interstate wedding and funeral), as well as PhD commitments - heading back out to Isisford for a second attempt at fieldwork. When we headed out in 2012, we weren't able to get any work done due to the torrential rain and boggy mud on site. At least I was able to see what central-western Queensland looked like, but I'm glad this time round I got to do much more than just take photos!
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Rainy days at the Barcoo River near Isisford, QLD. Photo taken by the author in 2012.
The team (consisting of my supervisor, a paleo PhD student and his daughter, a paleo honours student, and myself) drove from Brisbane to Mitchell, then to Blackall, then to Isisford - just over 1,000 km! When we arrived, the weather was sunny - partly cloudy and 30°C, absolutely perfect for roaming around the countryside looking for rocks. And roam we did... or run, more like it, as we only had 3 days to map geology and collect as many rock samples as possible. But to our relief, that turned out to be just enough time to get everything done before heading back to Brisbane.
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Sunny days during the 2013 trip. The rain kept its distance, probably from sheer terror of my 
wrath if it even tried to ruin this trip too! Photos taken by the author.
This trip has been immensely helpful as it forms the second part of my PhD - looking for sedimentological differences (if any) between fossil bearing and non-fossil bearing sites at Isisford.

So, now I'm officially back! And it's May already? ... ermmm... time to stop writing this post and start analysing rock samples...
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    About the author

    Dr Caitlin Syme is a palaeontologist studying the taphonomy (preservation state) of fossil non-avian dinosaurs, crocodiles and fish from the Winton Formation, Queensland, Australia. Think forensic science or CSI for fossils, and you're on the right track!

    Posts on this blog focus mainly on vertebrate palaeontology and taphonomy, as well early career researcher (ERC) productivity tips and insights.


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