This is exhibit is right up our alley. For the next few months, the Pittsburgh Museum of Natural History is displaying strange prehistoric critters as part of its "Bizarre Beasts" series. Descriptions provided by the Museum.
Helicoprion
A coil of teeth caps the lower jaw of a sculpture of a 13-foot (4-meter) whorl-tooth shark, or Helicoprion, a fish genus that lived about 250 million years ago.
Artist Gary Staab depicts the animal's jaw as something of a spiral conveyor belt, in which new teeth would advance to replace old ones (concealed here by skin) . But the true arrangement and purpose of the teeth remains a mystery. Some scientists suggest that it may have operated like a spiked whip, possibly curled underneath the lower jaw like a weaponized elephant trunk.
So new to science that it hasn't even been named yet, this African pterosaur lived alongside dinosaurs about 110 million years ago in the Cretaceous period.
Nail-like teeth and a 16-foot (5-meter) wingspan likely helped the flyer catch,Aeiand hold onto,Aeifish from African rivers, according to University of Chicago paleontologist Paul Sereno, whose team discovered the species in the Sahara of Niger.
Diatryma gigantean
They call 55-million-year-old Diatryma gigantean a terror bird. And the evidence is compelling.
This flightless species stood some seven feet (two meters) tall and was armed with a strong beak and powerful clawed feet. In North America and western Europe, scientists say, Diatryma likely took over as top predators once the dinosaurs had died off,Aeipossibly even hunting ancestors of today's horses.
Zooillogix
Don't Stick Your Fingers in the Cage
Video of the Week
Hairless Racoon
Bleiman Brothers Profile
In the wild, Andrew feeds on fish, sponges, small crustaceans, nematode worms and protozoans.
Benny's diet is very specialized, consisting mainly of the interior of Ramy nuts, nectar from the Traveller's Palm tree, some fungi and insect grubs. He is also known to raid coconut plantations, and has been seen eating lychees and mangoes, which are also plantation crops.
Search
Recent Posts
- Agility Gerbil Is Go
- FYI
- Happy Belated Mole Day!
- Fruit Bats Join Short List of Creatures Who Dig Fellatio!
- Sir, a Bloodbelly Comb has decloaked and is firing on the Zooillogix!
- Most Extreme Animal Shirts
- The Latest Addition to the Rat-cademy
- Zoologist Gets Shagged By Endangered Parrot
- Vegetarian Spider Lives By Its Own Rules
- Toilet Training of the Shrew
Recent Comments
- sciencedude on Agility Gerbil Is Go
- andrew b on FYI
- Teknoloji on Miniature Pigs: Pets of the Future
- gecengece on Tough Love for Fat Hamsters
- gecengece on Weird Fish Tanks
- gecengece on FYI
- Y on Most Extreme Animal Shirts
- oilcloth on FYI
- LiderPaylasim on Gallerie d'Bug Arte
- LiderPaylasim.net on Rare Pink Dolphin Pictures
Archives
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
Blogroll
Look How Important We Are
View blog authority
Read the super-informative Interview with the Bleiman Brothers
World's Largest Zoo and Shot Glass Collection
Now accepting donations in exchange for recognition and fame on Zooillogix!
Currently Featured: Seattle Aquarium from Jason Brunet of JeffTheFish.com - the official website of baby rats!
The List:
Adventure Aquarium
Aquarium of the Bay
Baton Rouge Zoo
Birch Aquarium at Scripps
Bronx Zoo
Brookfield Zoo
Cincinnati Zoo
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo
Florida Aquarium
Georgia Aquarium
Honolulu Zoo
Knoxville Zoo
Lincoln Park Zoo
Los Angeles Zoo
Maritime Center in Norwalk, CT
Milwaukee Zoo
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Mystic Aquarium
New England Aquarium
New York Aquarium
Newport Aquarium
North Carolina Aquarium
North Carolina Zoological Society
Oakland Zoo
Philadelphia Zoo
Pittsburgh Zoo
Rio Grande Zoo
Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies
San Antonio Zoo
San Diego Zoo
San Francisco Zoo
Santa Barbara Zoo
Sea World San Diego
Seattle Aquarium
Shedd Aquarium
Smithsonian National Zoo
South Carolina Aquarium
Tennessee Aquarium
Vancouver Aquarium
Feed me Seymour!
« Over Half of Male Marmosets Carry Brother,Aeos Sperm | Main | Human-Sheep Hybrid Created »
Bizarre Beasts at the Pittsburgh Museum of Natural History
Category: creatures in my basement • prehistoric • pterodon • shark • terror bird
Posted on: March 29, 2007 5:23 PM, by ableiman
Share this: Facebook Twitter Stumbleupon Reddit Email + More
TrackBacks
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://scienceblogs.com/mt/pings/48360
Comments
Personally I think it is another incorrectly identified prehistoric creature.
supposition even when based on what may seem cast iron clad evidence, doesn't necessarily mean this fellow had a circular saw for his dental arrangement.
My theory would be, the lower jaw was squashed over the millennia forming the circular jaw, Just think how that jaw would work, it would act like a axe, splitting its prey in two, either side of the mouth !
Posted by: Alan Figg | April 2, 2009 4:21 AM