alphynix:L is for Leaellynasaura Leaellynasaura amicagraphica was a basal ornithopod dinosaur from t
alphynix:L is for Leaellynasaura Leaellynasaura amicagraphica was a basal ornithopod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Victoria, Australia, about 110 million years ago. It was fairly small, probably reaching around 1m (3'3") in length. It was essentially a huge tail with a dinosaur attached to one end. Its tail contained over 70 vertebrae, and was three times longer than the rest of the body. During the Early Cretaceous Australia was connected to Antarctica, and Victoria would have been within the Antarctic Circle. Although the polar climate at that time wasn’t as frigid as it is today, it would have still been quite cold with winter ice and 3 to 5 months of complete darkness each year. Leaellynasaura’s long tail would at first seem disadvantageous in such cold conditions, massively increasing its surface area to volume ratio and thus heat loss from its body. Studies of the growth rings in the fossilized bones have shown no evidence of the seasonally slowed development that would be expected if these dinosaurs were hibernating through the colder months, so they were clearly capable of staying warm and active all year round. Based on the now-known filamentous structures in other ornithopods such as Psittacosaurus and Tianyulong, this brings up the (very speculative) possibility that they may have possessed a thick coat of feather- or fur-like fuzz to ward off the cold. -- source link
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