Sign in / up

back to article Scientists tremble before 'thunder-thighs' sauropod

Scientists have identified a new species of Early Cretaceous sauropod - a six-tonne beast with a fearsome set of rear legs which have prompted paleontologists to dub it "thunder-thighs". A team including Dr Mike Taylor of University College London unearthed the remains of an adult and juvenile in Hotel Mesa Quarry in Grand …

COMMENTS

House rules Send corrections
This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Annihilator
    Go

    Hey Herbert..

    If you see Meg, tell her "thunder-thighs are on the move, thunder-thighs are loose"

    0 0
  2. lawndart

    says

    Ahh, if only McIntosh had been a MacDonald...

    0 0
  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Coming next week in the Daily Mail

    Does Brontomerus have cellulite?

    As for the fossil hunters who smash up these sites - may I suggest a hammer to the testicles?

    1 0
    1. James Hughes 1
      Reply Icon

      Fossil hunters

      Used to be a phrase for good - I suggest the correct term for the people who trash these site are money grabbing tossers. It's just a source of income for them, nothing to do with fossil hunting.

      4 0
      1. Trevor 7
        Reply Icon
        Stop

        RE: Fossil hunters

        And that is why you should never buy fossils.

        There are ways to legally collect and keep fossils for free (in the southwest USA).

        1 0
  4. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    Simple maths

    thunder thighs + vegetarian diet = incredible backdraft

    Maybe the thighs were needed to make sure thunder-thighs did not slip its footings?

    0 0
  5. Efros

    Should have been

    Brontomerus CeeYouJimmiii

    0 0
  6. Anonymous Coward
    Troll

    Thunder Thighs

    I see it still has some living relatives around today, plenty of thunder thighs out there.

    0 0
  7. John Sturdy

    An alternative explanation?

    Perhaps it could run very fast backwards?

    1 0
  8. VeganVegan
    Happy

    But when you do catch one of these...

    what a ham repast!

    0 0
  9. P. Lee
    Troll

    Yay for extrapolation!

    At first I thought the white areas were missing parts of the fossil. Then I read the notes.

    I'm sure there are good reasons for their assumptions and I'm as excited as anyone else about finding a stonking new beast that walked the earth, but the actual physical evidence seems rather thin.

    That isn't to say they are wrong, but the full skeletal drawings and artists impressions are educated guesswork and extrapolation. There's nothing wrong with that in itself, but it hides the fact that we actually have very little actual evidence available to us. I'd hate to see science brought into disrepute because it is portrayed as being able to answer questions it doesn't.

    0 0
This topic is closed for new posts.