ExtinctZoo - The Strange Dinosaurs No One Talks About...

Episode Date: August 10, 2024

Dinosaurs in general are pretty weird, but just how weird did they get? Well it turns out, pretty dang weird...

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Fit for your ambition for Citizens Bank. Dinosaurs, they're undeniably amazing, and their many shapes and sizes can sometimes make modern animals seem kind of bland. But they are also undeniably weird, and many of the most famous dinosaurs had characteristics that are hard to imagine. Take Spinosaurus, for example, who had a giant sail on its back that was taller than the average NBA player. Or look at Stegosaurus, with its stagomizer and played-like structures that ran along its back. Clearly, dinosaurs could be quite weird, but it's this weirdness itself that has given many of them their everlasting fame.

However, because there are currently over 700 valid dinosaur species and counting, it can be quite hard to keep up with them all. So naturally, you probably aren't aware of some of the more obscure, terrible lizards. And this is a darn shame, since these obscure dynos are sometimes the strangest of the bunch. Take Linheinichus, for example, a relatively unknown theropod who lived in China during the late Cretaceous. In overall appearance, it was quite generic. And like some other theropods, it too had rather odd and funny-looking arms. Yet its situation was much more severe than anything seen elsewhere, and to date it remains the only dinosaur known to have had a single second digit. On top of this, of all known Alvara's swords, the family to which it belongs, the Linheinikis holds the title of having the most reduced digit.

This digit, or claw, was attached to a ridiculously tiny arm, essentially transforming the Linhainikis into an animal who had teeny tiny cones for four limbs. This puts the rest of the Theropod group to shame, who are well known for sometimes having smaller arms, but not this small. So at this point, you should probably be feeling better for the T-Rex or Carnatoris, who are usually the main victims of armjoke. delin hei nicas' rather unique arms has obviously generated a lot of talk on what their purpose was. Originally, one of the main ideas was that they had no real use and were basically vestigial. However, more recent research and cross-analysis of its closest relatives have revealed that their arms were actually likely their main tools. This is because, like many others within its family, delinecice was an insectivore, a thought further supported by a stentician, which consisted of small needle-like teeth. And in order to round up these insects, it is believed to have used its arms as built-in diggers

that could claw through ant and termite nests in a fashion similar to what is seen in modern-day ant-eaters. And it seems to have worked out well for the Linnaeus, whose fossils spanned for 4 million years, specifically from 75 to 71 million years ago. But short-hands wouldn't be the only extreme that dinosaurs would develop, or rather had developed, as nearly 90 million years before it, during the Middle Jurassic, there was a dinosaur prowling around that had the opposite problem, freakishly long hands. This was Epidexaterics. Now, you're most likely familiar with the therazenosaurs,

a family of theropods who are famous for possessing extremely long claws. But Epidexatyrics was neither a therazenosaur nor a dinosaur with long claws. Instead, it was the fingers themselves that were elongated, giving it somewhat the resemblance of this guy. Alas, this dinosaur wasn't an old intranemortem, rather a manoraptoran, meaning it was more closely related to birds than to Ornithamimids, and its size was also closer to what is seen in birds and other non-avian dinosaurs.

As like the Linnaeus, it was very small. In fact, Epidexaterics is among the smallest known dinosaurs, with fully grown adults being no bigger than a very small pigeon, which is quite a far cry from the norms, considering that the average dinosaur was equal in weight to a small African elephant. Given this small size and its relation to birds, you might be thinking that the long fingers had something to do with wings, since when you think about it, animals like pterosaurs and birds

would have had strange-looking arms if they didn't actually turn into wings. Although, while some of its relatives did have wings, specimens of the epidexatyrics actually seem to suggest that it didn't have wing feathers nor a wing membrane, meaning that the weird fingers were possibly on full display. But while it probably didn't have wings, it does seem that the fingers did have something to do with flight after all, or at least what comes a few steps before it.

as paleontologists currently believe that the epidexteterics used its long fingers to grip vertical objects while climbing, leading to a highly arboreal lifestyle. This climbing adaptation would have let this manoraptorin safely anchor itself without much effort, allowing it to feast on a variety of tree-based organisms such as small insects, worms, and larva. Along with climbing, the fingers may have also been used to pry bark off, exposing the contents underneath. And to add on to this, its lifestyle in the trees was further aided by teeth that were quite weird,

in themselves, since they were located only the front portion of the jaw, and were fairly straight and narrow, letting the epidexatyrics pick at its prey with pinpoint precision. But the weirdness didn't end here, as on the end of its body it had a few long feathers, which were rather primitive in nature, resulting in their structure being ribbon-like, of all things. Seeing this creature at night, or just unexpectedly, would have been quite the shock, despite it not being a massive threat, but even it probably wasn't as weird as the next dinosaur, the Leoninaosaurus. To put it bluntly, there is a chance of this dinosaur was a partially aquatic ankylosaur who hunted prey. That's a lot to break down, so perhaps it's best to start at the

beginning, with its discovery. Like the Linhainicus and Epidexatyrics, this odd dinosaur was found within China, and it is believed to have lived during the early Cretaceous. Since the holotype was first retrieved, over 20 specimens of this creature have been recovered, some of which have been found in pristine condition, which is allowed paleontologists to deduce that it was likely an incalosaur, since it possessed dental and skeletal features only seen in other ankyllosaurids. Though scientists were also quick to realize that a few things about this new genus were far from the norm, including the fact that a certain specimen had fish and lizard contents within its stomach. This completely perplexed everyone and led to further research which only revealed

even more unusual findings, including fork-like denticles on the top of its teeth and rather sharp claws that made its founder more confident that it was at least to a degree, carnivorous. And these paleontologists would also make the bold claim that not only did I have a taste for blood, but that it also had a knack for a watery lifestyle. This hypothesis stemmed from what could have been a bony plate that covered the underside of its body, thus offering protection from underneath attacks while swimming. Additionally, a lack of fusion between its hips and spines were further proposed to be a result of an aquatic lifestyle, as it would have allowed more flexible leg kicking. Of course though, such a claim has been met with a lot of skepticism,

with the main counterpoints being that its so-called underplate didn't exist, and the lack of fusion wasn't an aquatic adaptation, but rather a byproduct of the specimens actually representing juveniles, since every skeleton was very small, being no more than 1.5 feet or half a meter long. Yet, those who do still think it might have been aquatic maintain that the one-footers or half-meter specimens were adults, while the even smaller specimens that were shorter than a ruler, were the babies. Regardless of its preferred habitat, this dinosaur is still quite odd, and still holds the distinction of being the first member of the Encalisoria group to possess a tail club, while also being the oldest known member of the Encalisorid family. And hopefully as more remains

are unearthed, we can finally figure out if this little dinosaur was a swimmer or not. Another relatively unknown and equally strange dinosaur that has nearly as much debate surrounding it is the Chalasaurus. This was a genus of herbivorous dinosaur that lived during the late Jurassic period and resided within what is today Chile. This quote-unquote nationality ultimately led to its name. However, a more suitable name might have been the chimerasaurus, because while it wasn't a combination of mammals and reptiles like the fictional chimera usually is, it was a mashup of dinosaurs. Specifically, research on its remains revealed that it had traits that are classically associated with both theropods, sarapodomorphs, and ornithicians, a three-for-one combo, so to speak.

Despite its seemingly mixed heritage, the Chileosaurus superficially resembled to Theropod the most, which led to it originally having been placed within a basal position of the Theropod group, the Tetonure. Though its strange features could not be ignored, which included Sarapodomorph-like limbs and an Ornithician-like hip, which was oddly similar to the hip of the Stegosaurus. This mix of features caused quite the confusion during its original discovery, and for a bit, paleontologists first thought they discovered three separate dinosaurs. Additionally, because the hip was extremely similar to what was seen in the stegasors, some recent cladograms have suggested that this dinosaur wasn't a theropod at all,

but rather some kind of strange or an efficient. And in regards to its similarities to sarapotomorphs, paleontologists currently think that convergent evolution is the answer, as its limbs appear to have been its main defense, with them being relatively strong for their size and equipped with an extendable large claw that could have slashed at would-be predators or competitors. But the strangeness does not stop here, as its teeth were quite odd too, being elongated,

spatula-shaped, and pointing forwards. Which is interesting because this dentition is really only seen in a select few dinosaurs and suggested a highly herbivorous lifestyle. And beyond its odd blend of dinosaurian traits, the chilasaurus was a smaller dinosaur for those times, and measured only three meters or ten feet from head to tail, while weighing around 200 pounds at its largest. This enigmatic creature has definitely confused a lot of people. but sometimes you can also be confused by simply outward appearances,

which is best showcased by Yi Chi. Funnily enough, a relative of this theropod was already mentioned, the epidexatyrics. And similar to its relative, it also had long hands. However, unlike the epidexatyrics, Yi Chi's strange long hands seems to support it a wing membrane. This, in addition to evidence that indicates heavy feathering, may give you a mental image of an animal that would have looked a lot like a bird,

yet Yi Chi looked like no bird you've ever seen. and its wings were unlike anything we know of, bearing more similarity to the wings of a certain flying mammal, bats. Specifically, a highly modified wristbone and a peculiar membrane structure, both pointed to wings that were leathery and featherless, which along with its overall appearance made it look a bit like a certain fictional creature, leading to some nicknaming the Yi Chi, the dragon dinosaur. Though despite having a pair of wings, the Yi Chi was no flyer,

which is a result of it lacking attachment points for large enough muscles to support powered flight. Instead, its hard-to-miss wings were used to glide around, similar to how flying squirrels travel through the air. Like the Epidexatyrics and other members of its family, the Yi Chi lived a life in the trees where it hunted insects among the vast forests of late Jurassic China, which at this point, we can pretty much say,

was seemingly a place with a large amount of strange dinosaurs. The uniqueness of its wings definitely played a role in its initial success of occupying such a specific niche. Except, it also ended up being likely the culprit behind, its swift downfall, as it co-existed with a large amount of competitors, namely terrosaurs and basal birds, who are in general much better at getting around, leaving the Yi Chi in the dust, or rather trees, so to speak. Along with its wings, another interesting aspect of the Yi Chi is that it's one of the few dinosaurs that we may know the color of,

since an electron microscope found the presence of eumelanosomes, a melanosome that has brownish-black in nature. This color would have helped provide camouflage amongst trees, allowing for easier predation of prey and staying away from danger. Camouflage is surely nifty, but still no amount of it could have hidden what made this next dinosaur, the incisceros, weird. And that was, its teeth. From the outside, it was fairly normal, being your standard of a raptosaur, who inhabited surprise surprise, China during the early Cretaceous. The teeth, though, they were anything but normal, and had been likened to dentition found within rodents of all things, leading some to refer to this dinosaur as rat teeth.

And similar to rats, it was the front teeth in particular that were abnormal, being flattened and buck-like. Its odd teeth structure confused paleontologists on what its diet could have been, a question further complicated by the debate surrounding over raptosaurus diets in general, and in the beginning it was concluded that it had an omnivorous lifestyle. Eventually, though, more detailed examinations of its teeth reveal dental wear patterns that shed more light on the true nature of his diet, showing that in reality this rodent-like dinosaur was mainly a herbivore. And it gets a bit stranger, as analysis on its jaws showed that it wielded these teeth with crazy power, possibly biting down with the same force as a dinosaur 33 times its body size.

And seeing that it weighed about 4.5 kilos or 10 pounds, this means that it likely bit with the same force as a dinosaur that would have been 33 pounds or 150 kilos. It is hypothesized that the strange shape of the teeth and their ridiculous power was the result of the insized of a source possessing a very peculiar niche, which in fact that it was a strange shape of the teeth, involved extremely tough vegetation. It's also possible that the immense power was used to occasionally scavenge meat. And with the incisiveosaurus, this list of strange and relatively obscure dinosaurs is pretty much wrapped up.

But there is one more that I wanted to mention, the U.Tyrannis. Unlike the others featured, this theropod is somewhat known, but definitely isn't well known to mainstream media, and it's still undeniably one-of-a-kind, as it is the largest known dinosaur to have given us direct evidence of feathers. This discovery came not from one, but three separate specimens who together had the presence of feather imprints on their feet, pelvis, tail, neck, and arms, indicating that individuals were pretty well covered. This widespread distribution has made paleontologists think that the feathers served as means to regulate their body temperature, an idea backed by its environment as the U.Tyrannus inhabited the Yishian formation during the early Cretaceous.

And at the time, this area was associated with the climate comparable to the temperate forest seen in Western Canada. and was also susceptible to extreme seasonal changes that would have brought on considerable snowfall. It's because of this climate that some also speculate that its feathers would have been light in color. And within the large diversity of theropods, this feathered beast is thought to have belonged to the pro-serratosaurida family.

It was one of the largest members of its family, and the three recovered specimens indicate a max size of around 9 meters or 30 feet, with a weight of about 1.5 tons. For context, this size is quite comparable to the average allosaurus, which would have allowed it to hunt down a wide range of dinosaurs that included serotopsians, overraphtosaurs, and maybe even saropods. The idea that a hunted big aim like saropods comes from the location of the recovered specimens,

as all three known skeletons were found in the exact same location, suggesting that this carnivore likely hunted in packs. Another unusual feature amongst their pods. And news flash, it lived in China too. So basically, if you want to see a little bit of the carnivore, strange, wacky dinosaurs. Go to Mesozoic. Own it all. Pay off your home, travel for life. Drive a Ferrari.

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