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dracontes — The Great Fisher
#dinosaur #feathered #feathers #photoshop #spinosaur #spinosaurid #spinosaurus #theropod #whiskers #tetanuran #megalosauroid
Published: 2014-09-13 17:46:03 +0000 UTC; Views: 2218; Favourites: 69; Downloads: 3
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Description
I'm sure everyone by now has heard of the new findings regarding Spinosaurus and the problems they have.Nowadays, if there's one bit of the animal's body that's uncontroversial it's the head, so above is a mugshot showing that Ibrahim et alli's contention of a sensitive snout does not necessitate anything closely resembling crocodilian pressure sensors. So I took a page from seals and sea lions and now Spinosaurus sports whisker-like feathers on its muzzle that help it track and acquire prey in murky waters.
Also, if you've known me long enough, you'll know one of my great pet peeves in paleontology is that spinosaurids get compared with crocs without a look beyond the snout.
References:
Ibrahim, N.; Sereno, P. C.; Dal Sasso, C.; Maganuco, S.; Fabbri, M.; Martill, D. M.; Zouhri, S.; Myhrvold, N.; Iurino, D. A. (2014). "Semiaquatic adaptations in a giant predatory dinosaur ". Science. doi:10.1126/science.1258750 Dal Sasso, C.; Maganuco, S.; Buffetaut, E.; Mendez, M.A. (2005). "New information on the skull of the enigmatic theropod Spinosaurus, with remarks on its sizes and affinities". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 25 (4): 888–896. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2005)025[0888:NIOTSO]2.0.CO;2 . L. Miersch, W. Hanke, S. Wieskotten, F. D. Hanke, J. Oeffner, A. Leder, M. Brede, M. Witte, and G. Dehnhardt "Flow sensing by pinniped whiskers " Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B November 12, 2011 366 1581 3077-3084; doi:10.1098/rstb.2011.01551471-2970. "Spinosaurus (Subadult) - 05 " by Kabacchi .In the drive to get this submitted, I forgot to thank Tomozaurus , pilsator , Eriorguez , Spikeheila , PixelMecha for private commentary that helped inform my decisions in this reconstruction. Much obliged for the help, and I hope you'll forgive the oversight.
Wacom tablet on Photoshop CS3. Cropping and *.jpeg compression on Paint Shop Pro 9.
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Comments: 16
Love the drawing. The whiskers and feathers placement is exactly where I thought it was at. I am just wondering about the possibility of spinosaurus possessing lips to protect its teeth out of the elements when out of water.
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I think the fragility of teeth to air exposure has been much exaggerated (see Koenigswald 2011 which shows continuously exposed enamel isn't unheard of). There are far more fragile structures to protect inside the mouth such as the tongue or the inner, mucosa-lined surfaces of jaws. For that, it would be sufficient to have the lips bridge whatever unavoidable gaps there were between upper and lower jaw when closed. There's also the way crocodiles do it, keratinizing the inside of the mouth (see Putterill & Soley on that: www.ojvr.org/index.php/ojvr/ar… ). That said, I'll certainly consider experimenting with more extensive oral tissues in spinosaurs.
Much obliged, if belatedly so, for the compliment and the favourite
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I like the way how spinosaurus has a whisker-like feathers on its muzzle.
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Much obliged for the compliment and the favourite
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FINALLY!
Finally after one long year of drawing spinosaurids with whiskers I'm not anymore the only one, who's drawing them that way!
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Great minds think alike as they say 
Thank you very much for the favourite 
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I'm all for the Whisker, I think it's very plausible and would definitely make sense. Similarly, you might see similar sensory structures on the hands as seen in Racoons. other animals that have interesting fishing accessories are Platypus, spoonbills, Moles, otters, the list goes on and on.
Nice Job Renato!
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Indeed, there's much to choose from regarding possible sensory structures. Thank you for the compliment and the favourite 
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I've drawn whiskers on some dinos before, or whisker-like-whatevers, it's a fun lil "why not?" that I've increasingly thought about lately w new discoveries. Some ground birds have whisker-like feathers from their nose region.
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Well, you know how it is with restorative illustrations: always hypothetical.
Much obliged for the compliment and the favourite
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