this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2025
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Science Memes

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[–] snooggums@piefed.world 111 points 1 day ago (4 children)

So one of the biggest leaps they have made in reconstruction over the last few decades is matching similar bone structure that supports soft tissue. It doesn't work for all soft tissue, but if the beavers tail bones have bumps or other features that hint at supporting extra soft tissue there is a chance.

All the stuff birds have, like inflatable neck sacks and feathers that move with muscles are examples of things we absolutely wouldn't get with fossils that are even better than a beaver tail.

[–] ch00f@lemmy.world 4 points 11 hours ago

Also, in 40 million years, you can match the beaver fossils to the bones of their still living descendants and find similar features.

[–] GraniteM@lemmy.world 46 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Well, now I want to see an artist's rendition of a T. rex doing this:

[–] Catoblepas@piefed.blahaj.zone 13 points 17 hours ago

The Prehistoric Planet documentary series does it with sauropods, it’s pretty sick.

[–] ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml 12 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (1 children)

The idea of non-avian dinosaurs with the diverse features and behaviors birds have is very fun to me, and I hope fictitious depictions of birdsaurs becomes as common as classic dinosaurs's.

[–] WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world 1 points 4 hours ago

I want to see a T. Rex do this.

[–] sleen@lemmy.zip 7 points 19 hours ago

I always appreciate an enthusiastic and educational response to situations like this.