Hairy Museum of Natural History

National Geographic has a report on Puertasaurus reuili, a newly-named sauropod of gigantic proportions.

According to the article, Puertasaurus is known from only four vertebrae. But as this photo shows, even one vertebra is enough to see that this was an enormous animal. Comparisons with smaller, more-completely-known relatives suggest that Puertasaurus would have been between 115 to 131 feet (35 to 40 meters) long and weighed between 88 and 110 tons (80 and 100 metric tons). It is estimated that its chest alone would be as large as a full-grown elephant.

The vertebrae of Puertasaurus reuili (named after Pablo Puerta and Santiago Reuil, who discovered and prepared the fossils) were found in 70,000,000 year-old rocks in Argentina’s Santa Cruz province. Interestingly, the only sauropod that rivals Puertasaurus in size is the massive Argentinosaurus huinculensis, who was stomping around Cretaceous Argentina 20,000,000 years before Puertasaurus. Something about South America in the Late Cretaceous seems to have favored the evolution of giant titanosaur sauropods, and similarly scaled-up predators.

Palentologist Fernando Novas announced the discovery of Puertasaurus during an event earlier this month at the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales. A press kit containing photos of the locality and restorations by paleoartist Gabriel Lio is available to download here.

Update 7/31: You can download a 2.3Mb PDF of the paper describing Puertasaurus from the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales.

—Matt Celeskey.

File under: Cretaceous, Dinosaurs, Recent Discoveries.

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I’ve added several new links to the blogroll off to the left–some of which I’d mentioned before, others that I’ve just discovered. A quick run-through of the new names:

Ask Doctor Vector
By paleontology grad student Matt Wedel. Sauropods, consumer rants, and the occasional case of Miocene clams.

The Lancelet
By paleontology grad student Martin Brazeau. Early vertebrates, lobe-finned fish, and the occasional dose of anti-creationism.

Vertebrate Paleontology Blog
By paleontology grad student Benjamin J. Burger. All things Vert. Paleo.

Rosetta Stones
Natural science writing and photos by Melissa Barton.

Oldworld
Japanese site with many handsome paleo-illustrations and diagrams. The related Geocities site contains a treasure-trove of charming restorations.

Studio d’Arte Corvo
Which I’ve mentioned before but finally got around to putting in the sidebar.

I’ve also updated some of the links on the Links page, which has become more of a collection of permanent-type resources (including a healthy list of Natural History Museum websites).

—Matt Celeskey.

File under: Miscellany, Recent Discoveries.

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Its been quite the disappointing week.

To review: World War III, IV, and/or V has broken out in the Middle East, depending on whose count you believe. President Bush has surrendered our collective uterus to rampaging hordes of parasitic “snowflake babies.” And Jessica Simpson makes headlines for releasing a song in the new, exciting MP3 format.

Luckily for all right-thinking people on this good green earth, there is a tonic. The newly rerecording New York Dolls have put together a foot-tapping number urging all intelligent-design-creationists to set aside their sanctimonious claptrap and act like the primates that they are. And the just-released video for “Dance Like a Monkey” is full of natural-historical (and Pastafarian) goodness.

Download the video from Roadrunner Records or catch it on YouTube.

Tip of the toupee to the illustration blog Drawn!

—Matt Celeskey.

File under: Paleo-Pop.

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The 58th edition of the Tangled Bank is online, hosted this time by Salto Sobrius. As usual, there are a plethora of entries (including one from the ol’ HMNH) that should satisfy every appetite for pithy tales of science. The Tangled Bank is a carnival of science and medicine writing on the web, collected every other week and presented by rotating hosts.

—Matt Celeskey.

File under: Miscellany.

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Whilst writing up that last post about Tanystropheus‘ hefty backside, I came across this French site (English translation here) offering up free horoscopes based on the prehistoric zodiac. They claim that of all the astrological systems, this one is “the most primitive, certainly the ancestor of all the others.” And all you need to know is the time of your birth in order to access your “prédiction antédiluvienne.”

Who am I to refuse, eh?

Turns out I was born under the sign of Tanystropheus! Well, that might explain my fondness for obscure Triassic Reptilia. And sushi. And I guess I’ll have to be careful not to let my butt get too much wider…let’s see what my horoscope has to say:

Aw, jeez. Commentary like that sure isn’t going to help my self-esteem. Still I wonder, could it be accurate? Can a cheap French parlor trick based on grotesque stereotypes of long-dead animals actually shed some light onto my true nature? No, of course not. Such a thing would be patently ridiculous. Or…am I being too eager to dismiss the hidden truths of my existence, truths that I am deathly afraid to face? I just don’t know anymore, and my head is beginning to hurt…

Some days I wonder what the point of it all is. I’m going back to bed.

—Matt Celeskey.

File under: Paleo-Pop.

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