Post by Infinity Blade on Feb 16, 2022 22:17:07 GMT 5
Alternative episode ideas
As I was reviewing this series, I became interested in how we might make a show like this today. As I’ve explained throughout this retrospective review, a lot of the scenarios conjured up in this program required mental gymnastics to be turned into fights or hunts. However, the fossil record isn’t short on examples of real conflict or predation between animals. That’s to be expected, because animals fight in real life, and prehistoric animals were no different from their modern counterparts and descendants. So let’s imagine we had to reboot this show today: what would be some interesting episode ideas to explore?
1) Velociraptor vs Protoceratops
Image source->
This is an obvious one. The Fighting Dinosaurs arguably constitute the most unambiguous and extraordinary piece of evidence of two prehistoric animals fighting each other. I mean, just look at them. It’s clear that these two animals were in direct conflict with each other right before they died. The Protoceratops had the raptor pinned down and was biting one of its forelimbs with its sharp beak. On the other hand, the Velociraptor gripped the frill of the ceratopsian with one of its clawed forelimbs and had a sickle claw right at the herbivore’s throat. It escapes me why JFC chose not to do an episode on this: is it because it had no winner?
This episode might need to clear up some misconceptions about Velociraptor, particularly its size. It would also be necessary to point out that Velociraptor likely primarily hunted small prey, but (evidently) could and would also hunt prey larger than itself if needed.
2) Tyrannosaurus vs Triceratops
© @ FredtheDinosaurman->
We have evidence of these behemoths duking it out as well: a Triceratops specimen with a horn core bitten in half and parts of its frill with Tyrannosaurus bite marks (Happ, 2008). These bite marks healed, showing that the Triceratops was alive when the bite marks were made, and that it survived the encounter. The fact that Tyrannosaurus tried to attack a live animal would be used to clear up the misconception that it was only a scavenger. Some might see the revelation of the Triceratops surviving the fight as a forgone conclusion, but I think that’s okay (and besides, what can you really do about it?). The scenario depicted might then be more to show how the Triceratops may have survived the encounter (i.e. did it kill the T. rex or not?).
Additionally, similar evidence of tyrannosaurid predation on ceratopsids exists. One chasmosaurine specimen from the Kirtland Formation shows evidence of bite marks on its skull, some healed, others not (Dalman & Lucas, 2018); this ceratopsian was likely attacked and survived, then attacked later but killed and eaten that time. This could also be presented to further support the prospect of a fight between a Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus, as well as show that a Tyrannosaurus could very well kill its prey too (leaving the viewers wondering how this Trike survived). Bringing up the Dueling Dinosaurs is optional, but potentially useful. If that indeed represents a hunting attempt, it could also be brought up to show that even a juvenile Tyrannosaurus could and would attempt to hunt Triceratops.
3) Smilodon fatalis vs Aenocyon dirus
Image source->
Believe it or not, there is a dire wolf skull with part of a Smilodon canine still embedded in its forehead (Martin, 1980).
Why might this be considered evidence of a fight as opposed to scavenging? Well, if the Smilodon were feeding, why would it make one puncture to a thick bone in the skull? This would be necessary to explain why this fossil find would be the result of a direct confrontation as opposed to postmortem feeding. Further evidence of saber-toothed predators (including Smilodon itself) puncturing the skulls of conspecifics could also be presented to illustrate a way in which Smilodon could have killed competitors, as well as its highly aggressive nature.
Beyond that, it’s up to the writers consulting paleontologists to figure out what else happened here. Was the dire wolf with a pack (probably)? What were they fighting over? What happened to the Smilodon?
4) Arén hadrosaurid vs unknown theropod
This is a pretty obscure one, but why should that stop me? A hadrosaurid specimen recovered from Blasi 3 (a dinosaur site in Spain) has a caudal vertebra with signs of infection. It appeared that the dinosaur died of infection shortly after the injury, and it is believed that the injury was the result of a theropod bite (Canudo et al., 2005).
But here’s the kicker: no large theropod is known from Blasi. Unlike a T. rex biting the tail of an Edmontosaurus on the other side of the world at around the same time, it’s thought that this bite maker was a smaller theropod that jumped on top of the hadrosaur. In other words, whatever this theropod was, it was punching above its own weight.
Admittedly, this would be one of the more speculative episodes. Not only do we not know the exact nature of the predation event (i.e. was this theropod alone or hunting in a group?), but I don’t think we even know exactly what this smaller theropod looked like. Nevertheless, still an interesting predation event to cover.
5) Acrocanthosaurus vs Sauroposeidon
© @ Scott Hartman
The Paluxy River has tracks of both sauropods and large theropods, most likely Sauroposeidon and Acrocanthosaurus, respectively. It was originally proposed that this was evidence of a chase, even that an Acrocanthosaurus physically attacked and latched onto a sauropod at one point in the track sequence. However, there is no clear evidence of an attack. Nevertheless, to my knowledge it’s still plausible that the theropods were following the sauropods. The theropod tracks run parallel to the sauropod tracks, and at one point they even turn together (link->).
After explaining all of this, the show might want to depict Acrocanthosaurus stalking Sauroposeidon (in accordance with the tracks), followed by Acrocanthosaurus attempting to prey on it (which is not reflected in the tracks, but it’s not an implausible scenario as far as I can tell).
6) Dinocrocuta vs Chilotherium
© @ Julio Lacerda.
Dinocrocuta was a large hyena-like carnivoran (although, there is a recent SVP abstract from 2020 discussing upcoming work that recovered Dinocrocuta as a member of Hyaenidae) that lived in Asia and Africa during the Miocene. The skull of a contemporary rhinoceros, Chilotherium, bears a healed wound interpreted as a bite mark from Dinocrocuta (Deng & Tseng, 2010).
The Chilotherium in question was an adult female. The program would provide possible explanations as to why the Chilotherium may have been attacked. Was it injured? Sick? Calving?
7) Allosaurus vs Stegosaurus
© @ Gregory S. Paul.
We actually have three fossil finds that document aggressive interaction between these two animals. The first is a Stegosaurus neck plate that was bitten by Allosaurus and shows no signs of healing (indicating the stegosaur did not survive the attack). The second is an Allosaurus caudal vertebra with a puncture mark matching the tail spike of a Stegosaurus (Carpenter et al., 2005). The third is an Allosaurus pubis that was entirely pierced by the tail spike of a Stegosaurus, with signs of infection that lacked healing (Bakker et al., 2014).
With all this evidence that Allosaurus preyed on Stegosaurus, the program could either based its scenario on one of them, or it could come up with its own hypothetical scenario and decide who would most likely win based on the three fossil finds we have.
8) Theropithecus oswaldi vs Homo erectus
There is a site in Kenya where the remains of 90 individual Theropithecus oswaldi were uncovered. The age structure of all the individuals suggests the mortality occurred in increments rather than in one single catastrophic incident. The cause of death is believed to be hunting by hominids (Homo erectus). Although most individuals recovered from the site were juveniles, 14 adults were present (Shipman et al., 1981). The scenario could depict the ancient humans hunting juveniles and adults alike in one hunting episode. It would also demonstrate the dangers of hunting these giant geladas (adult males were estimated to be 65 kg), even if their canines were much smaller than those of their relatives.
9) Dinictis vs Hyaenodon
© @ artbyjrc.
Saber-tooths may have delivered skull bites, but sometimes they were on the receiving end of them. By other predators. A specimen of Dinictis felina shows bite marks on its skull consistent with the canines of Hyaenodon (Hoganson & Person, 2011). The program would explain why this is evidence of Hyaenodon killing a Dinictis instead of scavenging it, as well as the morphological differences between the two, and what that means with regards to weaponry and hunting methods.
10) Steppe bison (Bison priscus) vs Cave lion (Panthera spelaea)
Image source->
Blue Babe is a mummified steppe bison found in permafrost. The body of this bison showed evidence that it was killed by a predator. The program might first ask, what predator killed this bison? After ruling out certain suspects, it will then explain why we think a cave lion killed this bison (tooth and claw marks, small bit of lion tooth embedded in bison, blood clotting in face consistent with muzzle-clamping strangulation bite in big cats; link->). But then, how many lions? How well did the bison fight? These are harder to answer, and the documentary might take some license on them, particularly the latter question.
11) Protocyon vs Glyptotherium
One adult specimen of Glyptotherium sp. shows evidence of having three different types of arthritis. Additionally, it shows evidence of predation by the extinct South American canid Protocyon (Araújo-Júnior et al., 2017). The program would discuss how this was possible (the glyptodont was crippled) and how much effort the hunt would have taken (as well as the impossibility for the canid to take on a healthy adult).
12) Rauisuchian vs phytosaur
© @ Julio Lacerda.
Two large paracrocodylomorph femora from the Chinle Formation show evidence of attack or feeding by phytosaurs. The first had an embedded tooth crown with evidence of healing, showing that this animal survived the attack. The second had unhealed bite marks, indicating it either didn’t survive the attack or was scavenged soon after it died. Given how the first individual had its femur bitten when it was alive, it’s likely the second specimen was also attacked (but wasn’t as lucky) (Drumheller et al., 2014).
You see where this is going at this point.
As I was reviewing this series, I became interested in how we might make a show like this today. As I’ve explained throughout this retrospective review, a lot of the scenarios conjured up in this program required mental gymnastics to be turned into fights or hunts. However, the fossil record isn’t short on examples of real conflict or predation between animals. That’s to be expected, because animals fight in real life, and prehistoric animals were no different from their modern counterparts and descendants. So let’s imagine we had to reboot this show today: what would be some interesting episode ideas to explore?
1) Velociraptor vs Protoceratops
Image source->
This is an obvious one. The Fighting Dinosaurs arguably constitute the most unambiguous and extraordinary piece of evidence of two prehistoric animals fighting each other. I mean, just look at them. It’s clear that these two animals were in direct conflict with each other right before they died. The Protoceratops had the raptor pinned down and was biting one of its forelimbs with its sharp beak. On the other hand, the Velociraptor gripped the frill of the ceratopsian with one of its clawed forelimbs and had a sickle claw right at the herbivore’s throat. It escapes me why JFC chose not to do an episode on this: is it because it had no winner?
This episode might need to clear up some misconceptions about Velociraptor, particularly its size. It would also be necessary to point out that Velociraptor likely primarily hunted small prey, but (evidently) could and would also hunt prey larger than itself if needed.
2) Tyrannosaurus vs Triceratops
© @ FredtheDinosaurman->
We have evidence of these behemoths duking it out as well: a Triceratops specimen with a horn core bitten in half and parts of its frill with Tyrannosaurus bite marks (Happ, 2008). These bite marks healed, showing that the Triceratops was alive when the bite marks were made, and that it survived the encounter. The fact that Tyrannosaurus tried to attack a live animal would be used to clear up the misconception that it was only a scavenger. Some might see the revelation of the Triceratops surviving the fight as a forgone conclusion, but I think that’s okay (and besides, what can you really do about it?). The scenario depicted might then be more to show how the Triceratops may have survived the encounter (i.e. did it kill the T. rex or not?).
Additionally, similar evidence of tyrannosaurid predation on ceratopsids exists. One chasmosaurine specimen from the Kirtland Formation shows evidence of bite marks on its skull, some healed, others not (Dalman & Lucas, 2018); this ceratopsian was likely attacked and survived, then attacked later but killed and eaten that time. This could also be presented to further support the prospect of a fight between a Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus, as well as show that a Tyrannosaurus could very well kill its prey too (leaving the viewers wondering how this Trike survived). Bringing up the Dueling Dinosaurs is optional, but potentially useful. If that indeed represents a hunting attempt, it could also be brought up to show that even a juvenile Tyrannosaurus could and would attempt to hunt Triceratops.
3) Smilodon fatalis vs Aenocyon dirus
Image source->
Believe it or not, there is a dire wolf skull with part of a Smilodon canine still embedded in its forehead (Martin, 1980).
Direct evidence for the strength of the stabbing force can be seen in several fossil skulls which show stab wounds in the forehead made by dirk-toothed cats. These include a skull of Nimravus stabbed by Eusmilus, and a dire wolf with part of a Smilodon canine still imbedded in its forehead (Miller, 1969). The forehead includes some of the thickest bone in the skull and the fact that it was penetrated in all the above examples indicates that saber-toothed cats could stab with considerable force.
Why might this be considered evidence of a fight as opposed to scavenging? Well, if the Smilodon were feeding, why would it make one puncture to a thick bone in the skull? This would be necessary to explain why this fossil find would be the result of a direct confrontation as opposed to postmortem feeding. Further evidence of saber-toothed predators (including Smilodon itself) puncturing the skulls of conspecifics could also be presented to illustrate a way in which Smilodon could have killed competitors, as well as its highly aggressive nature.
Beyond that, it’s up to the writers consulting paleontologists to figure out what else happened here. Was the dire wolf with a pack (probably)? What were they fighting over? What happened to the Smilodon?
4) Arén hadrosaurid vs unknown theropod
This is a pretty obscure one, but why should that stop me? A hadrosaurid specimen recovered from Blasi 3 (a dinosaur site in Spain) has a caudal vertebra with signs of infection. It appeared that the dinosaur died of infection shortly after the injury, and it is believed that the injury was the result of a theropod bite (Canudo et al., 2005).
But here’s the kicker: no large theropod is known from Blasi. Unlike a T. rex biting the tail of an Edmontosaurus on the other side of the world at around the same time, it’s thought that this bite maker was a smaller theropod that jumped on top of the hadrosaur. In other words, whatever this theropod was, it was punching above its own weight.
Admittedly, this would be one of the more speculative episodes. Not only do we not know the exact nature of the predation event (i.e. was this theropod alone or hunting in a group?), but I don’t think we even know exactly what this smaller theropod looked like. Nevertheless, still an interesting predation event to cover.
5) Acrocanthosaurus vs Sauroposeidon
© @ Scott Hartman
The Paluxy River has tracks of both sauropods and large theropods, most likely Sauroposeidon and Acrocanthosaurus, respectively. It was originally proposed that this was evidence of a chase, even that an Acrocanthosaurus physically attacked and latched onto a sauropod at one point in the track sequence. However, there is no clear evidence of an attack. Nevertheless, to my knowledge it’s still plausible that the theropods were following the sauropods. The theropod tracks run parallel to the sauropod tracks, and at one point they even turn together (link->).
After explaining all of this, the show might want to depict Acrocanthosaurus stalking Sauroposeidon (in accordance with the tracks), followed by Acrocanthosaurus attempting to prey on it (which is not reflected in the tracks, but it’s not an implausible scenario as far as I can tell).
6) Dinocrocuta vs Chilotherium
© @ Julio Lacerda.
Dinocrocuta was a large hyena-like carnivoran (although, there is a recent SVP abstract from 2020 discussing upcoming work that recovered Dinocrocuta as a member of Hyaenidae) that lived in Asia and Africa during the Miocene. The skull of a contemporary rhinoceros, Chilotherium, bears a healed wound interpreted as a bite mark from Dinocrocuta (Deng & Tseng, 2010).
The Chilotherium in question was an adult female. The program would provide possible explanations as to why the Chilotherium may have been attacked. Was it injured? Sick? Calving?
7) Allosaurus vs Stegosaurus
© @ Gregory S. Paul.
We actually have three fossil finds that document aggressive interaction between these two animals. The first is a Stegosaurus neck plate that was bitten by Allosaurus and shows no signs of healing (indicating the stegosaur did not survive the attack). The second is an Allosaurus caudal vertebra with a puncture mark matching the tail spike of a Stegosaurus (Carpenter et al., 2005). The third is an Allosaurus pubis that was entirely pierced by the tail spike of a Stegosaurus, with signs of infection that lacked healing (Bakker et al., 2014).
With all this evidence that Allosaurus preyed on Stegosaurus, the program could either based its scenario on one of them, or it could come up with its own hypothetical scenario and decide who would most likely win based on the three fossil finds we have.
8) Theropithecus oswaldi vs Homo erectus
There is a site in Kenya where the remains of 90 individual Theropithecus oswaldi were uncovered. The age structure of all the individuals suggests the mortality occurred in increments rather than in one single catastrophic incident. The cause of death is believed to be hunting by hominids (Homo erectus). Although most individuals recovered from the site were juveniles, 14 adults were present (Shipman et al., 1981). The scenario could depict the ancient humans hunting juveniles and adults alike in one hunting episode. It would also demonstrate the dangers of hunting these giant geladas (adult males were estimated to be 65 kg), even if their canines were much smaller than those of their relatives.
9) Dinictis vs Hyaenodon
© @ artbyjrc.
Saber-tooths may have delivered skull bites, but sometimes they were on the receiving end of them. By other predators. A specimen of Dinictis felina shows bite marks on its skull consistent with the canines of Hyaenodon (Hoganson & Person, 2011). The program would explain why this is evidence of Hyaenodon killing a Dinictis instead of scavenging it, as well as the morphological differences between the two, and what that means with regards to weaponry and hunting methods.
10) Steppe bison (Bison priscus) vs Cave lion (Panthera spelaea)
Image source->
Blue Babe is a mummified steppe bison found in permafrost. The body of this bison showed evidence that it was killed by a predator. The program might first ask, what predator killed this bison? After ruling out certain suspects, it will then explain why we think a cave lion killed this bison (tooth and claw marks, small bit of lion tooth embedded in bison, blood clotting in face consistent with muzzle-clamping strangulation bite in big cats; link->). But then, how many lions? How well did the bison fight? These are harder to answer, and the documentary might take some license on them, particularly the latter question.
11) Protocyon vs Glyptotherium
One adult specimen of Glyptotherium sp. shows evidence of having three different types of arthritis. Additionally, it shows evidence of predation by the extinct South American canid Protocyon (Araújo-Júnior et al., 2017). The program would discuss how this was possible (the glyptodont was crippled) and how much effort the hunt would have taken (as well as the impossibility for the canid to take on a healthy adult).
12) Rauisuchian vs phytosaur
© @ Julio Lacerda.
Two large paracrocodylomorph femora from the Chinle Formation show evidence of attack or feeding by phytosaurs. The first had an embedded tooth crown with evidence of healing, showing that this animal survived the attack. The second had unhealed bite marks, indicating it either didn’t survive the attack or was scavenged soon after it died. Given how the first individual had its femur bitten when it was alive, it’s likely the second specimen was also attacked (but wasn’t as lucky) (Drumheller et al., 2014).
You see where this is going at this point.
