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Alien Anatomy, Species, & Genetics
Topic Started: Sep 5 2009, 06:04 PM (1,866 Views)
Giant Blue Anteater
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I was insulted by the blatant biological errors in the second video. He was trying to disprove the mythological "lizard men" (which is true that they are complete nonsense), but his evidence against them was really dodgy. He says that non-avian dinosaurs lived for 300 million years, when a quick fact check says otherwise. Reptiles may have been around for over 300 million years, but hello, non-avian dinosaurs only lived for 165 or so million years! He then mentions that there is no evidence for dinosaurs becoming sapient. Of course there isn't! But does that mean it isn't possible? Of course not! Ironically, in both of the videos, he shows a picture of three dinosauroids (Russel's, McLoughlin's, and Ramjet's), and here he dismisses the possibility of sapience in dinosaurs only because they are reptiles. Then he mentions the dinosaurs becoming extinct and stating that modern mammals evolved from RODENTS (anyone who has actually studied the history of life on Earth knows this is wrong, as a rodent isn't just any small mammal). He then states that if humans (a single genus) took a "couple thousand years" to develop advanced technology, what does that say about 300 million years of dinosaur (read:reptiles, a whole class of animals) evolution, then... it just gets frustrating how he set up this biological strawman.
Edited by Giant Blue Anteater, Sep 5 2009, 08:41 PM.
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Ànraich
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This was all very interesting. Not what I was expecting, but interesting. I'm thinking of inviting this guy to the forum. Though biology doesn't exactly seem like his field, he seems like the kind of guy that might be interested in the Habitable Zone.
We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar.

"The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming

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lol lizardmen... this got me wanting to find some lizardman conspiracies...
Oh Fine.

Oh hi you! Why don't you go check out the finery that is SGP??

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Parasky
Sep 5 2009, 06:37 PM
This was all very interesting. Not what I was expecting, but interesting. I'm thinking of inviting this guy to the forum. Though biology doesn't exactly seem like his field, he seems like the kind of guy that might be interested in the Habitable Zone.
He does bring up some interesting points, but the strawman he set up in the second video is not a mistake someone who actually studied the natural history of this planet in-depth would make. Not to mention his utter ignorance of dinosaur biology that makes them unique from most reptiles.

Expect a video response debunking all of that soon.
Edited by Giant Blue Anteater, Sep 6 2009, 12:58 AM.
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Ànraich
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I wouldn't exactly say that a dinosaur is a reptile. It's a dinosaur. They kind of had skin and were luke-warm blooded. And the few that actually were reptilian were nothing like reptiles today.

They had scales made of keratin! Keratin! It would be like being covered in fingernails! FINGERNAILS!
We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar.

"The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming

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Parasky
Sep 6 2009, 10:22 PM
I wouldn't exactly say that a dinosaur is a reptile. It's a dinosaur. They kind of had skin and were luke-warm blooded. And the few that actually were reptilian were nothing like reptiles today.

They had scales made of keratin! Keratin! It would be like being covered in fingernails! FINGERNAILS!
Cladistically, they are still reptiles based on the fact that they descended from them. And I think all dinosaurs were warm-blooded, due to their size and their fine integumentation (e.g., feathers, quills, etc.).

Dinosaurs are a strange type of reptile as we mammals are a strange type of synapsid.
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Ànraich
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From what I've read they were "luke-warm blooded," somewhere between warm and cold blooded. But quite honestly nobody is certain how the regulated their temperature. We should hurry up and clone a few already so we can answer all these questions.
We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar.

"The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming

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Parasky
Sep 6 2009, 10:37 PM
From what I've read they were "luke-warm blooded," somewhere between warm and cold blooded. But quite honestly nobody is certain how the regulated their temperature. We should hurry up and clone a few already so we can answer all these questions.
Large dinosaurs would produce heat on their own as they moved. Small dinosaurs warmed themselves up with feathers.

And we do know how dinosaurs regulated their temperature, they used feathers to trap heat or squeeze it out like birds do, and what big dinosaurs did not have feathers got rid of excessive body heat via pulmonary air sacs and pneumaticized bones, they channel out heat out of their body with each breath. Since birds are warm-blooded and are dinosaurs, it isn't too unreasonable to conclude that their ancestors were the same.

And our best bet for making a dinosaur is making one out of a dinosaur. Read: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29537188/
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A remember seeing a documentary on creating something like a non-avian dinosaur from a bird, I think it was called Dinosaurs Back to Life or something along those lines.
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ATEK Azul
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d76fiWRobU4&feature

That link is for a disney video with a theoretical Mars with oxygen and liquid water and has some interesting ideas for inspiration in my opinion. :P B)
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Are you plausible?

Say what you will about Disney, but they've always had some creative animators...
Take a look at my exobiology subforum of the planet Nereus!

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food for thought
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Ànraich
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I love the ideas of the plants that eat themselves, as well as the flying hunter that focuses sunlight into a beam to kill its (small) prey.
We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar.

"The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming

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I liked the plant that ate itself also.

And Disney is creative even if I doubt Marvel will remain untouched by them(curse greed, ressesions and the ways of buisness!).
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Holben
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Isn't eating themselves a bit of a silly idea though?
Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea.

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Are you plausible?

The flying sunlight concentrator is a truly inspirational sight. Too bad I can't think of a place to put it in Nereus...
Take a look at my exobiology subforum of the planet Nereus!

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food for thought
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