Talk:Dinosaur

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This article, image or category is supported by WikiProject Dinosaurs, which aims to improve Wikipedia's coverage of dinosaurs and dinosaur-related topics. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page for more information. FA This article has been rated as FA-Class on the quality scale. Amphibians and Reptiles Portal Dinosaur is part of WikiProject Amphibians and Reptiles, an attempt at creating a standardized, informative, comprehensive and easy-to-use amphibians and reptiles resource. If you would like to participate, you can choose to edit this article, or visit the project page for more information. FA This article has been rated as FA-class on the quality scale. Top This article has been rated as top-importance on the importance scale. Biology Portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Tree of Life, an attempt to better organise information in articles related to taxonomy and the phylogenetic tree of life. For more information, visit the project page. FA This article has been rated as FA-class on the quality scale. High This article has been rated as high-importance on the importance scale. Article Grading: The following comments were left by the quality and importance raters: (edit · refresh) First, I apologize if this is not a talk page, but I cannot find it. I just want to point out that in the Dinosaur page, it contains a piece of information saying elephants are 'hairless.' In reality, they are not. Or you can check out a photo at http://picasaweb.google.com/beckydono/PaiElephantTrek/photo#5052795800087148306 If anyone know how to change and is able to do so, please correct the inaccurate information. Thank you. Tc03a (talk) 00:10, 14 June 2008 (UTC)

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Additional information: FA This article has been rated as FA-Class on the assessment scale. ??? This article has not yet received an importance rating on the assessment scale. This article is included in the 2006 Wikipedia CD Selection, or is a candidate for inclusion in the next version. Please maintain high quality standards and, if possible, stick to GFDL-compatible images. This article is a vital article. The following comments have been left for this page: First, I apologize if this is not a talk page, but I cannot find it. I just want to point out that in the Dinosaur page, it contains a piece of information saying elephants are 'hairless.' In reality, they are not. Or you can check out a photo at http://picasaweb.google.com/beckydono/PaiElephantTrek/photo#5052795800087148306 If anyone know how to change and is able to do so, please correct the inaccurate information. Thank you. Tc03a (talk) 00:10, 14 June 2008 (UTC) (edit)

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[edit] Is there a prejudice against the possibility of aquatic dinosaurs?

I removed the statement that no dinosaurs became aquatic. There seems to be a sort of reluctance to place them in water. This is probably because it is regarded as a retrograde condition (harking back to the image of water-bound, sluggish sauropods). Some dinosaurs may have been amphibious. There is some recent study on the possible amphibious lifestyle of diplodocids. It has been speculated that spinosaurids such as Baronyx may have hunted in rivers. And it seems unlikely that creatures that so successfully dominated every environment (save the seas, dominated by other reptiles, and the skies, dominated by pterosaurs) would not also have taken to the rivers and lakes. Elephants today display no obvious aquatic characteristics. But given the opportunity, they spend much time in water. They may have no specific adaptations to water but they have none mitigating against (observe how versatile the trunk is in varied environments. Likewise the marine iguana has no obvious adaptations to an aquatic lifestyle. That certainly doesn't stop it though! So I suggest we not appear to be dogmatic about the question.--Gazzster (talk) 00:16, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

Could we put our hands on our hearts and say no dinosaurs took to the water? It is harder to believe that none ever enjoyed water than to believe that they didn't.--Gazzster (talk) 00:38, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

Do we have a reliable source (say a peer-reviewed paper) which states any of them were aquatic? Firsfron of Ronchester 00:49, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

Do we have a reliable source to say that none were? There are however studies of diplodocids and spinosaurids that suggest some dinosaurs may have been amphibious. But I am not defending the aquatic habits of dinosaurs: I am pointing out that the statement as it stands is unjustifiably dogmatic and without a citation.--Gazzster (talk) 04:00, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

No prejudice, we just don't have any yet. If anything, I'd be happy to see "aerial" gone, since there's a decent chance some of the whole mishmash of almost avian nonavians were aerial. "Aquatic" may be a loaded term, though, since the real point is to distinguish them from definite marine animals like plesiosaurs, ichthyosaurs, and mosasaurs. J. Spencer (talk) 04:22, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

OK. Maybe we should use the word marine then. And add that some may have been aerial.--Gazzster (talk) 04:27, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

Or rather, none are known to have been marine creatures.--Gazzster (talk) 04:32, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

First, I agree with J. Spencer's point that we can't say there were no aerial dinosaurs - Origin of birds contains a lot of the details.

"Aquatic" is ambiguous, as it could cover anything from otters or crocs, which are physically not very different from their nearest terrestrial relatives (extinct on the case of crocs), to modern whales, which are practically helpless on land. AFAIK no fossils have been found that are clearly dinos and are at least as well adapted for swimming as they are for walking. Perhaps the article should be equally explicit - and provide a citation or two, as Gazzster suggests. Philcha (talk) 23:32, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Elephants are not hairless

I want to point out that in the Dinosaur page, it contains a piece of information saying elephants are 'hairless.' In reality, they are not. Or you can check out a photo at http://picasaweb.google.com/beckydono/PaiElephantTrek/photo#5052795800087148306. The following website has an elephant's tail with hairs. http://www.globelens.com/african-elephant/ There is also a BBC News mentioning hairs of elephants. http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolpda/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_4567000/4567534.stm?REF=0

If anyone is able to edit the page, please correct the inaccurate information. Thank you. Tc03a (talk) 00:17, 14 June 2008 (UTC)