Terrible Lizards

This time out it's another iconic dinosaur and the beautiful Triceratops. These huge animals with their famous three horns and large frill are a major part of so many documentaries and films, if only so they can be seen to be battling with Tyrannosaurus. As with so many of the most famous dinosaurs, Triceratops is actually quite unusual and not really representative of the group to which it belongs. It is the largest of the ceratopsians (or horned dinosaurs) and the only one with a solid frill, and was also probably rather less gregarious than many of its near relatives. We talk about these features and the possible functions of its amazing headgear, before we are joined by this week's guest - TV's cake-maker and podcaster Ralph Attanasia. He has a specific and challenging question for Dave about dinosaur faces and their cheeks (or lack thereof).

CakeBossRalph

An old blogpost of Dave's looking at the details of a Triceratops skull on display in Oxford: https://archosaurmusings.wordpress.com/2010/06/03/triceratops-skull-in-detail/

A photo of a huge Triceratops skull taken by palaeontologists Matt Wedel and Mike Taylor: https://svpow.com/2016/05/06/sv-pow-endorses-triceratops/

A blogpost on some research led by Dave's PhD student (now Dr) Andy Knapp on ceratopsian frills and their evolution: https://archosaurmusings.wordpress.com/2018/03/21/ceratopsian-horns-and-frills-what-drove-their-evolution/ and the full research paper is here: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2018.0312

In this episode we take a look at dinosaur skin and talk about the changing appearances of dinosaurs over the last 150 years. Scientists have been constantly updating their ideas about the look of various species and new evidence unfolds and our understanding improves, from their earliest depictions as lumbering lizards, though to the discovery of feathers in dinosaurs at the close of the 20th Century. We now know that many dinosaurs, and not just those closes to birds, had feathers and some very distantly related groups also had filamentous structures which could even be true feathers. However, gaps in the fossil record means that for many lineages it is uncertain quite what species had in terms of scales, feathers or both. On the upside, the discovery of many exceptionally preserved fossils has now allowed palaeontologists to being to investigate some incredible details of dinosaur appearances, including their patterns and even colours. We are joined by historian (and dinosaur aficionado) Tom Holland, who wants to know more about the dinosaur-bird link and whether or not the study of living birds can tell us something about dinosaurs.

Dave's Guardian article on which dinosaurs had feathers https://www.theguardian.com/science/lost-worlds/2013/jun/10/dinosaurs-fossils

A paper Dave co-authored on feathers and 'dandruff' in dinosaurs https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-04443-x.

For our second episode we take a look at the archetypal big dinosaur, Diplodocus. It has an important place in dinosaur history as one of the first very complete animals found, and the first to be cast with copies shipped around the world. As a result, Diplodocus had become lodged in the public mind as a 'typical' sauropod but it has plenty of features that make it unique and unusual. We cover its name which relates to its unusual whip-tail, and discuss how these huge animals held their tails and what they used them for. At the other end we talk about their long necks and remarkably little heads with their ususual feeding strategy. Then we dive into their amazing air-filled skeletons and discuss how even these 25 m and 30 m long animals are much lighter than you might think. Finally, we are joined by special guest comedian Jo Caulfield, who asks Dave about why dinosaurs like Diplodocus got so big.

Dave's Guardian article about the removal of 'Dippy' from the Natural History Museum in London https://www.theguardian.com/science/lost-worlds/2015/jan/30/diplodocus-starts-a-long-goodbye

Dave's blogpost on the original specimen on display at the Carnegie Museum. https://archosaurmusings.wordpress.com/2011/11/11/a-pair-of-giants/

If you want to get ultra-nerdy about sauropods, check out this blog dedicated to sauropod vertebrae: https://svpow.com/

For our first ever episode of Terrible Lizards we start, perhaps inevitably, with the most famous and iconic dinosaur ever – Tyrannosaurus. (Actually I wanted to do Nqwebasaurus but Iszi wouldn't let me). The king is an absolute cultural icon and appears in pretty much every dinosaur movie and documentary of the last 50 years. As science progresses though, that mostly means that the public perception of this animal has got more and more out of tune with our modern understanding. So in this episode we talk about their giant heads and weird teeth, famously small arms, super-senses and tackle the vexed question of were they predators or scavengers? We round off with the issues of the mystery dwarf tyrannosaur Nanotyrannus and whether it is, or isn't just a juvenile rex. Then the brilliant natural history broadcaster Chris Packham joins us to share his love of Tyrannosaurus and to ask Dave what he thinks a Tyrannosaurus would look like in real life.

Links:

Dave's Royal Institution lecture on the evolution of tyrannosaurs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-jD7kQvyPs

Guardian article by Dave & Chris Packham on the making of their Tyrannosaurus documentary: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/jan/02/the-real-t-rex-with-chris-packham-an-attempt-at-a-truthful-tyrannosaurus-bbc

Series of blogposts by Dave on the wonderful collection of Tyrannosaurus specimens at the Carnegie Museum: https://archosaurmusings.wordpress.com/2011/11/14/carnegie-tyrannosaurus-pt-1/

A peak at the upcoming series of Terrible Lizards, a podcast about dinosaurs with Dr David Hone and Iszi Lawrence. Guest this series include Chris Packham, Jo Caulfield, Alice Fraser, Richard Herring, Tom Holland and Ralph Attanasia.

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