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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThanks to a new fossil discovery, we suddenly know a lot more about dinosaur sex
(Salon) No one predicted that January 2021 would be a banner month for dinosaur news. Last week an article in the scholarly journal Cretaceous Research revealed that dinosaur bones in Argentina may have belonged to a creature so massive that it would have been the largest land animal know to have existed. Now a study published in the journal Current Biology gives us an up close look at these animals namely, at their butts.
A team of scientists from the University of Bristol and the University of Massachusetts Amherst revealed that they had discovered and described in detail a dinosaur's cloaca that is, a vent in the animal's posterior that would have been the dinosaur's equivalent of an anus, urethra and genitalia based on a fossil that had distinctly preserved the skin patterns of a Psittacosaurus, a dog-sized dinosaur related to the Triceratops. Unlike bones, soft tissue does not usually preserve well over millions of years; hence, lacking any preserved organs or skin tissue, much of dinosaur anatomy and behavior has been a mystery. That makes this discovery of a cloaca a genuinely interesting clue that tells us more about dinosaur behavior, including mating.
"The cloaca is a multi-purpose opening that is used for everything that you do opposite of your mouth: peeing, pooping, having sex, laying eggs," Dr. Jakob Vinther, a paleontologist at the University of Bristol, told Salon. "Most of these animals have penises, except for some of the dinosaurs' descendants. Amongst birds you don't find penises so often. They do something else called cloacal kissing, where they basically put their cloacal openings up against each other and then they just vibrate until some sperm is released and that is absorbed by the female's cloaca. The question is, what would dinosaurs be doing?"
Until recently, paleontologists could only guess. ..............(more)
https://www.salon.com/2021/01/21/thanks-to-a-new-fossil-discovery-we-suddenly-know-a-lot-more-about-dinosaur-sex/
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Thanks to a new fossil discovery, we suddenly know a lot more about dinosaur sex (Original Post)
marmar
Jan 2021
OP
Dinosaur sex covered? Good. Ok, now someone please explain muskrat love.
Dagstead Bumwood
Jan 2021
#2
Enterstageleft
(3,396 posts)1. I think I need a cigarette!
Vinnie From Indy
(10,820 posts)13. LOL!
Cheers!
Dagstead Bumwood
(3,641 posts)2. Dinosaur sex covered? Good. Ok, now someone please explain muskrat love.
dweller
(23,640 posts)9. Let the dr explain
PJMcK
(22,037 posts)3. Science never ceases to amaze us!
The brilliance of our scientists is remarkable. Their discoveries have made modern life possible.
Good job and keep at it, folks.
Boxerfan
(2,533 posts)4. Scissor-Saurus
Bada Da Boom!
Is that you, Ross?
dweller
(23,640 posts)6. Amazing what a lack of political turmoil leads
our minds into ... 🤔
✌🏻
FakeNoose
(32,639 posts)7. Wow, dinosaur sex was NOT on my bingo card!
hlthe2b
(102,283 posts)8. Sex among "largest land animal know to have existed"--I'm guessing it is no exaggeration to say
they felt the earth move!
Ferrets are Cool
(21,106 posts)11. Ok, you won today
after I spit my drink all over my keyboard.
Nevilledog
(51,112 posts)15. *snort*
panader0
(25,816 posts)10. Do the dinosaur twerk!
El Supremo
(20,365 posts)12. Do you think they saurus?
Cracklin Charlie
(12,904 posts)14. Just what this week was missing!
Dinosaur sex.
Yavin4
(35,441 posts)16. "That guy is one giant cloaca".
Thanks for the new profanity.
Takket
(21,573 posts)17. bow chicka wow wow!!!!!!!!!
abqtommy
(14,118 posts)18. The good thing is the article didn't mention anything about a mushroom dick!
PCIntern
(25,552 posts)19. Here: