Latest news with #NewMexicoMuseumofNaturalHistoryandScience
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Dinosaurs didn't roar like the movies; Here's how they really sounded
(WHTM) — No human has ever heard a dinosaur's roar, so most people believe the iconic film series Jurassic Park and Jurassic World correctly depict how they communicated. However, according to experts, most dinosaurs sounded completely different than how they were portrayed in the movies. BBC says there is no simple answer to what dinosaurs sounded like, as they evolved into countless shapes and sizes, but scientists have used fossils to reconstruct vocal organs to recreate how they could have sounded. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now In one study conducted by the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, paleontologists dug up a nearly complete skull of a Parasaurolophus and used computer technology to simulate how the creature sounded. To listen to how the creature may have sounded, click here. 'I would describe the sound as otherworldly,' Tom Williamson told BBC, who was one of those who worked on the dig and is now curator of palaeontology at the museum. 'It sent chills through my spine, I remember.' In an interview with the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, paleontologist Dr. Julia Clarke of the University of Texas explained that instead of open-mouthed roars, scientists theorize that many dinosaurs may have produced closed-mouth vocalizations. 'Animals produce closed-mouth vocalizations by inflating their esophagus (the tube that connects the throat and stomach) or tracheal pouches (pouches on their windpipe) while keeping their mouth closed, producing something comparable to a low-pitched swooshing, growling, or cooing sound,' said Dr. Clarke. According to Vox, the most notable dinosaur sounds from the Jurassic Park series were mainly constructed using combinations of different types of mammal sounds, including tigers, lions, koalas, donkeys, dolphins, and elephants. Dr. Clarke adds that T-Rexes did not typically open their mouths and roar like the movies depicted. 'The Jurassic Park films have got it wrong,' said Dr. Clarke in another interview with BBC. 'A lot of the early reconstructions of dinosaurs have been influenced by what we associate with scary noises today from large mammalian predators like lions. In the Jurassic Park movies, they did use some crocodilian vocalisations for the large dinosaurs, but on screen, the dinosaurs have their mouths open like a lion roaring. They wouldn't have done that, especially not just before attacking or eating their prey. Predators don't do that – it would advertise to others nearby that you have got a meal, and it would warn their prey they are there.' Jurassic World: Rebirth is expected to release on July 2, 2025. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Two-fingered dinosaur discovered in Mongolia with help of N.M. researcher
What has two fingers per hand and just got discovered by an international research team in Mongolia? This guy: Duonychus tsogtbaatari. A new species of therizinosaurus has been discovered in Mongolia. Paleontologist Anthony Fiorillo, the executive director of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, was part of the research team. The specimen was discovered at a construction site in a small village near the Chinese border. Spine segments, a humerus and most significantly, two arms, were uncovered. 'This discovery shows us how much more there is to be discovered, that there is so much more biodiversity out there to be found in the fossil record,' Fiorillo said. 'I can't wait for the next person to find the next cool thing.' It was the two preserved arms that indicated the specimen was the member of an undiscovered species of therizinosaurus. Each arm has two fingers. 'On both arms, instead of the more typical three fingers, this one has two fingers,' Fiorillo said. 'That in itself is very unique within this group of dinosaurs called therizinosaurus.' Duonychus tsogtbaatari is believed to have lived 90 million years ago, weighing in at almost 600 pounds and standing several meters tall. Therazinosaurus in general had an 'ungainly' body plan, Fiorillo said. 'They have long, longish necks, longish tails, a potbelly, and then these wickedly developed claws,' Fiorillo said. 'Many therizinosaurs had very long, somewhat straight claws.' Those lethal claws were fictionalized in Jurassic World: Dominion, when a toothy rival is shish-kebabed on a therizinosaur's three-fingered hands. The specimen discovered in Mongolia, however, has sharply curved, sloth-like claws. When Duonychus tsogtbaatari lived, in what is now the Gobi Desert, it would have looked significantly different. Although there are gaps in the fossil plant record in the Gobi, it was likely a warmer and more humid climate. The authors of the paper posit the scythe-like claws were used to hook and bring vegetation to the dinosaur's mouth. Duonychus tsogtbaatari largely ate plants. The two-fingered arm raises questions as well. Several strains of theropods, a group of bipedal dinosaurs including Tyrannosaurus rex, independently evolved to have fewer fingers on each arm. Why? That remains to be seen, Fiorillo said. 'Beyond a broad statement that there's something driving evolution for, if you will, an increased efficiency of digit reduction, what you really like about a study is when it raises additional questions,' Fiorillo said. 'That is certainly one of the questions: Why is this going on, and why is it happening across multiple groups? And we don't have a real good answer for that yet.' The lead author, Hokkaido University paleontologist Yoshitsugi Kobayashi, an expert in Mongolian dinosaurs, was a student of Fiorillo's. Another author on the paper, Tsogtbaatar Chinzorig with the University of North Carolina and the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, was Kobayashi's student. Duonychus tsogtbaatari is named after his father. But that's not the only link between the Land of Enchantment and the new species. Fragmented fossils of therizinosaurs have been found in the Zuni Basin near the New Mexico/Arizona border. 'It's reasonable to suspect there may be more than one kind found here,' Fiorillo said. 'The great thing about paleontology is you realize how the world is connected.'
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists study ancient mammal remains found in New Mexico
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – Scientists are studying the 60-million-year-old remains of a very very early resident of New Mexico. 'This was a tree dwelling mammal, weighing about 3 pounds. So it would've been bigger than your typical squirrel that you would see around here,' said Dr. Thomas Williamson, New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. Rio Grande Arts & Crafts Spring Fest returns to EXPO New Mexico Mixodecties punges lived about 4 million years after most of the dinosaurs died off. A skeleton was found near Farmington, which at the time was a tropical forest. The remains show traits similar to modern primates and Dr. Williamson said he had help tracking down the little critter. 'I drove them up there on a weekend and we went fossil hunting. My kids were 10 years old at the time. They're twins. We were looking around, and one of them stumbled upon this site,' said Dr. Williamson. The area between Farmington and Cuba is known as one of the best places in the world to find fossils from this ancient era. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
