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Dilophosaur Venom?
Topic Started: Aug 25 2011, 01:15 PM (3,214 Views)
lamna
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Surprise! Bet you thought this was some kid who saw Jurassic Park and thought that was what Dilophosaurus was like. Well no, it's me.

I've been watching a documentary on Komodo Dragons and how they hunt. They have very weak jaws with very long sharp teeth and a fragile skull, which got be thinking about Dilophosaurus, which from what I know was similar. Perhaps like the dragon, Dilophosaurus would chase down prey, snap at it, tear the flesh with it's jaws and work venom into it's prey.

Any thoughts?
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bloom_boi
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You know, I always puzzled on it having weak jaws yet being a reasonably sized carnivore. So yes, venom/poison is reasonable. Though what kind of venom/poison?
"You shall perish, whatever you do! If you are taken with arms in your hands, death! If you beg for mercy, death! Whichever way you turn, right, left, back, forward, up, down, death! You are not merely outside the law, you are outside humanity. Neither age nor sex shall save you and yours. You shall die, but first you shall taste the agony of your wife, your sister, your sons and daughters, even those in the cradle! Before your eyes the wounded man shall be taken out of the ambulance and hacked with bayonets or knocked down with the butt end of a rifle. He shall be dragged living by his broken leg or bleeding arm and flung like a suffering, groaning bundle of refuse into the gutter. Death! Death! Death!"



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lamna
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Well the dragons use an anticoagulant, but I don't see any way to could prove what the venom was.
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Speculating.....thats what we do really >.>
"You shall perish, whatever you do! If you are taken with arms in your hands, death! If you beg for mercy, death! Whichever way you turn, right, left, back, forward, up, down, death! You are not merely outside the law, you are outside humanity. Neither age nor sex shall save you and yours. You shall die, but first you shall taste the agony of your wife, your sister, your sons and daughters, even those in the cradle! Before your eyes the wounded man shall be taken out of the ambulance and hacked with bayonets or knocked down with the butt end of a rifle. He shall be dragged living by his broken leg or bleeding arm and flung like a suffering, groaning bundle of refuse into the gutter. Death! Death! Death!"



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Ànraich
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Maybe it didn't use venom at all. Maybe it's strategy was to maul its prey and track it while it died of natural infections in the wound. Worked well for us 10,000 years ago.
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lamna
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Not infections, chasing until it's exhausted. That kind of hunting requires tracking, but I suppose smell could work.

Also, I don't know of any animal that was weaponised it's mouth bacteria.
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Zorcuspine
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lamna
Aug 25 2011, 02:10 PM
Not infections, chasing until it's exhausted. That kind of hunting requires tracking, but I suppose smell could work.

Also, I don't know of any animal that was weaponised it's mouth bacteria.
*cough*komodo dragons use bacteria in their mouths along with venom*cough*
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Dracontes
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Reports of venomous dinosaurs are greatly exaggerated ;)

First let's do some superficial comparative anatomy
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You'll see that behind the eye the Komodo skull is loosely built whereas in the case of Dilopho' there are solid bars of bone linking the cheek area to the back and top of the skull. The skull itself is taller than that of V. komodoensis and I see little reason to consider the jaw weak: compare with Allosaurus
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the proportions of the jaw and back of the head are reasonably similar which indicates that while not on par with Tyrannosaurus is wasn't a pushover either.

Also the venom glands in lizards are seated deep within lips which is doubtful dinosaurs ever had given the phylogenetic bracket and how archosaurs develop beaked forms at the drop of hat which suggests what they had covering their mouth margins wasn't the same thing as what lepidosaurs have.

One option for predatory techniques could be hit and run tactics much like Great Whites do with seals. Or being axe-crazy as Bakker would have it, http://www.mnhn.ul.pt/geologia/gaia/10.pdf
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Empyreon
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Are you plausible?

I've always thought that thin area at the front of the dilophosaur upper jaw (as seen in the picture) seemed a little flimsy. I think there's some Darwinian sense in supplementing what could potentially be a weak bite with some chemical and/or bacterial "venom."

Hey, maybe they actually "spit" their venom or something? And maybe had some sort of warning signal like a rattle, or... yeah, a great big frill! What a cool and interesting idea! :geek: :#
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food for thought
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lamna
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Quote:
 
*cough*komodo dragons use bacteria in their mouths along with venom*cough*
Got any proof of that? Anyone done any studies? Because aside from them having nasty mouths, like most predators it just seems to be people repeating a hypotheses.

I think the weird hook thing is supposed to be the weak part, I honestly don't know that much about these dinosaurs.
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I thought it was a known fact that Komodos use not venom, but bacteria. It cant be that hard to find out and it has been stated many times. And dracontes you seem to be a good dino nerd, I'll take your word for it. But I've grown up with dino encyclopedias saying dilos had weak jaws.
"You shall perish, whatever you do! If you are taken with arms in your hands, death! If you beg for mercy, death! Whichever way you turn, right, left, back, forward, up, down, death! You are not merely outside the law, you are outside humanity. Neither age nor sex shall save you and yours. You shall die, but first you shall taste the agony of your wife, your sister, your sons and daughters, even those in the cradle! Before your eyes the wounded man shall be taken out of the ambulance and hacked with bayonets or knocked down with the butt end of a rifle. He shall be dragged living by his broken leg or bleeding arm and flung like a suffering, groaning bundle of refuse into the gutter. Death! Death! Death!"



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lamna
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Nope, it was recently proved that dragons have venom. Nothing either way for mouth bacteria as of yet.
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TAXESbutNano
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Why does Dilophosaurus have to have venom, when it's got sharp teeth? (Maybe the notch is for a large tooth. Sabre-toothed dinos... *Drools*) I'd say that the teeth could probably pierce windpipes, major blood vessels... Dilo is probably an accomplished predator in the same way that all the others are.
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lamna
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It does not need venom, it's a possibility.

And if it had sabre teeth then it would have sabre teeth. Sabre teeth are the most obvious sign and animal had sabre teeth.
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TAXESbutNano
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I was just thinking of how awesome a Dilo would be with sabre-teeth... Even if it doesn't.
Yea. I just do that when people talk about weak-jawed theropods.
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