Talk:Ceratosaurus

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Contents 1 Unhinge its jaws like a snake? 2 Possibly confusing text in article 3 What evidence? 4 Conflicting Points 5 Addition of an external link requested 6 scale graph

[edit] Unhinge its jaws like a snake?

A book I have states that the way Ceratosaurus's skull was built indicated it was probably able to unhinge its jaws like a snake, allowing it to swallow prey whole. I doubt that theory still stands, but are there any other sources discussing this? Jerkov 13:06, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

Bakker's Dinosaur Heresies discusses this to some extent on pages 264-266 (paperback). He talks about "how to swallow something larger than your head" and has an illustration of a Ceratosaurus gaping its jaws like a python. It never implies that it ate small animals whole, however. lawofmetal43 16:23, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Hmmmmm... I've never heard that about Ceratosaurus. I really doubt it could un-hinge it's jaws. If you look at a snakes lower jaw, it has a space that splits the jaw equally in half thus allowing it to un-hinge its jaws. The same thing would have to present on the lower jaw of Ceratosaurus in order for it to un-hinge its jaws. Just as a reference, I compiled this from a bunch of different books and experiences. --Silverstag89 03:27, 19 November 2007 (UTC)

This idea was also discussed in Bakker's larger paper on how wide theropods could open their jaws. See the wide-gape illustration of Allosaurus, based on the reconstructions in that paper. I don't think the jay was 'unhinged', it just had a mechanism that allowed it to open really, really wide. Dinoguy2 (talk) 02:05, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

That's what I meant. Ceratosaurus was good at widening it's jaws, but not for swallowing prey whole, just for taking bigger bites out of its prey. Most big carnivorous dinosaurs could do that like, as mentioned by Dinoguy2, Allosaurus and my favorite Tyrannosaurus Rex. --Silverstag89 02:22, 2 December 2007 (UTC)

Actually I don't think T. rex had the wide-jaw adaptation. IIRC the paper only found it (or only studied) various allosaurs and ceratosaurs. Dinoguy2 03:35, 2 December 2007 (UTC)

What need it for after all? T. rex could cut to shish-kebab even hadrosaur bones.--Draco ignoramus sophomoricus (talk) 12:54, 29 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Possibly confusing text in article

Having run through this article, there are a couple of places in which I feel the text is potentially confusing and I need help in clarifying.

• 1. penultimate sentence of 'Discovery and species' section [[1]]: "While C. nasicornis remains the type species .......
• 2. last three sentences of 'Paleobiology' section [[2]]: "A recent study by Bakker^[1] confirmed that Ceratosaurs generally hunted aquatic prey, such as fish and crocodiles, although it had potential for feeding on large dinosaurs. The study also suggests that sometimes adults and juveniles ate together. This evidence is, of course, very debatable and Ceratosaurus tooth marks are very common on large, terrestrial dinosaur prey fossils."
• - Ballista 05:19, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] What evidence?

"Evidence suggests that there may also have been a row of small spurs or even a low sail, along the spine." - Weaselly. (WP:WEASEL). What's the evidence? -- Writtenonsand 20:04, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

I don't know, and i'm inclined to remove it from displaying on the page until a cite is provided. I do know that osteoderms have been found, but this seems to imply Diplodocus- or iguana-style dermal spines.Dinoguy2 20:55, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Conflicting Points

In "Discovery" it says that Ceratosaurus was larger than Allosaurus, but in Paleobiology the reverse is said. What should be done with these conflicting points? MelicansMatkin 22:30, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

I think that's based on an African specimen rumored to be very big. Either it wasn't really as big as claimed, or the biggest material was never published. Either way, I'll change this to reflect what's actually in the literature. Dinoguy2 00:58, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Addition of an external link requested

I would like to add and external link <http://www.namibia-1on1.com/Namibia-Northern/Dinosaur-Tracks.html> Are there any objections? Keith Irwin 15:03, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

The link is ok, but not for this page. As it mentions, the tracks cannot be identified to the genus level, and are Early Jurassic, making it imposible that they were made by Ceratosaurus. It does suggest there were made by Ceratosauria, i.e. some member of the larger group to which Ceratosaurus belongs, so it would be more appropriate on that page. Dinoguy2 16:05, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] scale graph

why does the scale graph for ceratosaurus make it look like its the size of Allosaurus? 24.208.55.168 18:56, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

Not sure actually... I remember hearing of very large Ceratosaurus remains that would indicate an animal of this size, but I'm having trouble finding sources now that I look for them. Dinoguy2 23:08, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

Article says 6-8m, and as best I can estimate, the image shows it about 7.2m. Debivort 23:20, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

I think it may be the pose and angle that's throwing me off. Just as a test I did a scale chart using the flat-on lateral view illustration. It comes out to the same length and same height if you measure them both, but it looks like a more reasonable size. Dinoguy2 00:08, 25 June 2007 (UTC)