The Level Of Censorship Around This Man Is Ridiculous, What Happened To Free Speech? It’s Just His

Here’s one good thing to come out of 2020:

Paleontologists completed a life-sized replica of Sue, the most complete T. Rex ever found.

And she is freaking GORGEOUS!

As I read more about this beauty, I found out some new details regarding things I thought I previously knew about the beast that was Tyrannosaurus Rex, and I’m going to share them with you.

First, and most obvious, her size:

This is nothing new, we all figured T. Rex was big, but I for one never stopped to consider exactly how big it was. Nobody ever really knows what to imagine when they read about something the size of a whale that walked around and ate everything it could kill. 

Speaking of eating things, I just want to remind you all that T. Rex had–by miles–the strongest bite of any terrestrial animal living or dead, somewhere around six and a half tons of force. That’s over six times greater than the current estimate of what Allosaurus was capable of, and three times what was delivered by the highest measured reading of the living title holder–the estuarine crocodile. It didn’t have to waste time swinging its head open-mouthed like Saurophaganax for a little extra oomph, or grow fancy serrated teeth like Carcharodontosaurus to cut pieces out of its prey. It opted for the simplest approach: get its mouth around something and crush it to death; imagine the full weight of an elephant on whatever was between this thing’s jaws.

“How did it find something to eat?” I hear you asking. “It can’t see something if it doesn’t move, right?”

Listen, I love Jurassic Park too, but that’s a big crock of shit.

Notice how both her eyes face forward. That gives her binocular vision (the ability to focus both eyes on one target, like you and I). More importantly it means she has impeccable depth perception due to overlapping fields of vision from each, large, eyeball. Researchers agree that T. Rex not only had incredible vision, but that it was probably better than most modern animals–including eagles, hawks, and owls–and that she could likely spot something three and a half miles away. If something that big can see that well, it doesn’t matter if you move or not, she’d be able to tell if it was an animal trying to hide or a piece of vegetation. So pray she isn’t hungry if she lays eyes on you. And even if by some miracle she didn’t see you, she’d still smell you. 

If she decided you looked tasty, you probably wouldn’t hear her coming as much as you’d feel her. Modern science indicates that T. Rex didn’t roar like in Jurassic Park, but rather bellowed or maybe even hissed like crocodilians. If she were on to you, you’d most likely feel this sense of unease creep up your spine as a low-pitched rumble in the air permeated through you. You wouldn’t know what it was or where it was coming from until you hear her footfalls. By then it’s too late–you could try to run but she’d probably catch you. There’s plenty on YouTube that reconstructs what T. Rex may have sounded like, and it’s legitimately haunting.  

To wrap all of this up, the one bit of good that came out of the cursed year that is 2020 is that this wonderful child of science and art came into the world, and reaffirmed my respect and admiration for the eight ton slab of muscle and teeth that is this magnificent creature.

…and it is nothing if not magnificent.

Here the result from the Pleistocene Flores #paleostream! This land, stuck between Sundaland and Australia revealed a fascinating fossil assemblage over the last few decades.

Dwarfed Stegodon, giant rats. huge marabou storks and komodo dragons are the most prominent members of the late Pleistocene fauna. Of these only the giant rats are still to be found on Flores.

Flores wasn't much of a household name in paleontology until 2004 - I remember it well - when a astonishing discovery was announced from the cave Liang Bua. Among the many animal remains were stone tools and surprisingly small hominin remains. After a lot of debate this would eventually be known as Homo floresiensis, a human species standing not much taller than 1 m. Little is known about this species. Especially it's cultural expressions and technological advances are the topic of many discussions and speculation.

One aspect that is rarely brought up in discussions around Flores are the birds, yes storks and vultures are popular but there is a huge number of living and fossil species found in these sites. As you can see in this size chart by Discord member JW there are still many interesting compositions to put together here. One thing that was important to me with this image was: 1. not to make it a dense jungle piece, and 2. not that make it a Stegodon hunting scene; that has been done too many times. The cave deposits at Liang Bua suggest that...

H. floresiensis inhabited this site especially during dryer intervals that would probably correlate with more open environments like the Lesser Sundas deciduous forests and savannas.

Part 3: Combining shapes, braids, and textures! And utilizing parts and fros!

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DOCTOR WHO — LUX (S41E02) ››› Alan Cumming as Mr. Ring-a-Ding / Lux Imperator

As a farmer.. homie thinking he is hot shit for hauling ONE BALE is so fucking funny let me put a rack on the back of my 02 dodge and i can haul fuckin 10 bales without needing the headers

please dear god everyone look at this przewalski's horse i found on inaturalist

shrike inspired deinonychus can stab someone in so many ways