Science Marches On/Walking With Dinosaurs: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
* '''Walking With Dinosaurs''':
** What was thought to be evidence for "cannibalistic ''[[Stock Dinosaurs True Dinosaurs|Coelophysis]]''" has been discredited.
** The early long-necked dinosaur ''[[Stock Dinosaurs True Dinosaurs|Plateosaurus]]'' could not walk on four legs.
** The pillar-limbed croc-relative ''[[
** ''[[
** There were no [[Stock Dinosaurs Non Dinosaurs|Cynodonts]] of the size depicted in the program in the late Triassic. This is an example of [[Science Marches On]] rather than [[Somewhere a Palaeontologist Is Crying]] because at the time the series was produced it was assumed that cynodonts of that size did live in Late Triassic in North America. This assumption was based on the discovery of [http://chinleana.blogspot.com/2009/09/enigmatic-triassic-taxa.html two teeth] from [[wikipedia:Chinle Formation|Chinle Formation]]<ref>though these teeth were assumed to belong to [[wikipedia:Traversodontidae|traversodont]] cynodonts, much different from ''Thrinaxodon'' that WWD-cynodonts were based on</ref>. However, [http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~irmisr/chinleteeth.pdf post-WWD study] indicate that these teeth can't be confidently referred to Cynodontia (or any other known group of Triassic amniotes, for that matter).
** Sorry, ''[[
** Post-WWD studies indicate that [[Stock Dinosaurs True Dinosaurs|sauropod dinosaurs]] probably didn't grow to adult size within more or less ten years as shown in the series, although exactly how fast they grew is still debated (current estimates range from [http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-185X.2010.00137.x less than four decades] to [http://paleobiol.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/abstract/34/2/264 up to 70 years of growth] necessary to reach adult size).
*** And speaking of sauropods, the idea that they could only hold their necks horizontally - which influenced the WWD reconstructions of ''[[Stock Dinosaurs True Dinosaurs|Diplodocus]]'', ''[[Stock Dinosaurs True Dinosaurs|Apatosaurus]]'' and ''[[Stock Dinosaurs True Dinosaurs|Argentinosaurus]]'', which in turn probably popularized the concept - [http://app.pan.pl/archive/published/app54/app54-213.pdf is questioned nowadays as well].
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*** Another amazing example: [http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101101083150.htm footprints from a baby bipedal sauropod] have been recently found: perhaps [[Land Before Time|Littlefoot]] and the WWD sauropodlets ''walked on two legs'' and become quadrupedal only when they grew larger! (an ancient heritage from their ancestors, the "prosauropods" such as the aforementioned ''[[Stock Dinosaurs True Dinosaurs|Plateosaurus]]''). However, most paleontologists are skeptical of this interpretation. Even the trackways of adult sauropods often leave just the prints from just one pair of feet, thus is even more likely about the younger ones.
** About [[Stock Dinosaurs Non Dinosaurs|sea reptiles]]: the long-necked [[Stock Dinosaurs Non Dinosaurs|plesiosaurs]] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1205689 gave birth to alive newborns] just like the fish-like [[Stock Dinosaurs Non Dinosaurs|ichthyosaurs]]; and they perhaps cannot crawl onto land because the shape of their chest.
** Most [[Stock Dinosaurs True Dinosaurs|coelurosaurs]] certainly had feathers. The several [[Stock Dinosaurs True Dinosaurs|dromaeosaurid species]] surely had them, but in the series they are all shown featherless (except obviously ''[[
*** This might be nothing compared to what is seeming to come: ''most small-sized dinosaurs'' had probably some sort of covering. This is a very recent theory led by the discover of the primitive herbivore ''[[
** An example of taxonomy marching on: "the American ''[[Stock Dinosaurs True Dinosaurs|Iguanodon]]''" from the fourth episode would probably be placed in the genus ''[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2007.04.009 Dakotadon]'' today.
*** Honestly, it's doubtful the European ''Iguanodon'' was actually ''Iguanodon'' and not, for example, ''Mantellisaurus'' or ''Barilium''.
** ''[[
** Female ''[[Stock Dinosaurs True Dinosaurs|Tyrannosaurus]]'' probably weren't larger than males.
** Also the [[Ptero-Soarer|giant pterosaur]] ''[[Stock Dinosaurs Non Dinosaurs|Quetzalcoatlus]]'' is shown as a fish eater hunting prey on the wing, while we now know it was actually stork like in habits. In fact, it probably wouldn't have hesitated to eat juvenile tyrannosaurs, like the ones in the program!
** It looks like another example may be approaching. It's [http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727713.500-morphosaurs-how-shapeshifting-dinosaurs-deceived-us.html recently been theorized] that ''[[Stock Dinosaurs True Dinosaurs|Triceratops]]'' and ''[[
** The accompanying book briefly mentions the possibility that ''[[Stock Dinosaurs True Dinosaurs|Anatotitan]]'' is synonymous with ''[[Stock Dinosaurs True Dinosaurs|Edmontosaurus]]''. As of September 2011, this is the majority view.
** They did try to partially remedy all the issues by showing ''Walking with Dinosaurs'' again in 2008 with updated narration. Unfortunately, the visuals remained untouched, so the small carnivore ''Ornitholestes'' still had a horn, coelurosaurs were still scaly, so on and so forth.
* '''Walking With Beasts''':
** This series has ''[[
** A tamandua briefly appears in the first episode of this series, likely supposed to represent ''Eurotamandua'' from the Eocene of [[wikipedia:Messel pit|Messel]], which was initially identified as an anteater. However, more recent studies indicate that it probably wasn't an anteater [http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2010/03/the_anteater_that_isnt.php and quite likely it wasn't a xenarthran at all].
* '''Walking With Monsters''':
** It seems that early Devonian "amphibians" cannot crawl onto land with their limbs, see [[
** The [[
** The lineage that gave rise to mammals split to the one that gave rise to reptiles and birds before those invented the reptilian scales. The show represents perhaps the first time that ''[[Stock Dinosaurs Non Dinosaurs|Dimetrodon]]'' and its herbivorous "twin" ''[[
*** Interesting to note that the giant, [[Angry Guard Dog]]-looking [[
** The armoured plant-eating near-reptile ''[[
* '''Chased by Dinosaurs''':
** The special ''Land of Giants'' portrayed the largest land animal of all time, ''[[Stock Dinosaurs True Dinosaurs|Argentinosaurus]]'', being hunted by the largest land predator, ''[[Stock Dinosaurs True Dinosaurs|Giganotosaurus]]''. At least one, and possibly both have since been supplanted; not long after, new evidence found that, in fact, ''[[Stock Dinosaurs True Dinosaurs|Spinosaurus]]'' was the biggest land predator, and, although the findings are sketchy at best, ''[[
* '''Sea Monsters''':
** The enormously long-necked ''[[
** In the accompanying book there is a scene when female [[
* '''The Complete Guide to Prehistoric Life:'''
** ''Othnielia'' and ''Leaellynasaura'' do not appear to be ornithopods, but more primitive ornithischians.
** Page 122 claims that [[
** To quote page 125, "Scientist cannot agree on whether ''[[
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Walking With Dinosaurs]]▼
[[Category:Science Marches On]]
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