Anatomically Strange Dinosaur Vacuumed Up Food

TaeKwonDood writes "A paleontologist has discovered a 110 million-year-old dinosaur that had a mouth that worked like a vacuum cleaner, hundreds of tiny teeth and nearly translucent skull." The creature's vertebrae also consisted of more air than bone, and CT scans of the head suggest it continually held its head low for food vacuuming. Low-hanging fruit, indeed.

I'm sorry, I can't resist....

[MLease (652529)]

So this is a dinosaur that really sucked?

-Mike

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[eebra82 (907996)]

Yes. It's ancestors have found their way to the Congress/White House.

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[infinity314159 (1109701)]

I think you mean descendants...

Re:I'm sorry, I can't resist....

[CastrTroy (595695)]

No, these dinosaurs are more evolved, so I think we should say ancestors.

Not sure about that

[Fross (83754)]

Have you seen Strom Thurmond? Or some of his decisions as senator?

(Not recently, thank god)

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[sqldr (838964)]

No, he was right with ancestors. I mean, look how old Dick Cheney is..

Re:I'm sorry, I can't resist....

[russ1337 (938915)]

Yes. It's ancestors have found their way to the Congress/White House.

Congress?

and I thought the dinosaur's Latin name was RIAAsaurus. Bottom feeders with air in their skulls indeed.

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[FredDC (1048502)]

Vacuum Dinosaur?

I thought Hollywood script writers were on strike?

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[RuBLed (995686)]

Aha! That's the missing link, now my theory have support. Not all humans living today are of the same species... clever dinosaur genes, trying to mimic homo sapiens...

Re:I'm sorry, I can't resist....

[halvin (883516)]

I hear they're going to call it a Dysonosaur.

Re:I'm sorry, I can't resist....

[Slashidiot (1179447)]

Well, my sources indicate that Roombasaurus is being also considered...

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[chord.wav (599850)]

Or Lewinskysaur...

Re:I'm sorry, I can't resist....

[ozmanjusri (601766)]

I was going to say Hooversaurus

The Hooversaurus was contemporary, but became extinct when it's bag filled up.

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[Hognoxious (631665)]

You know how hard it can be getting spares for things that are even ten years old. Now just imagine how it is for something 600 times as old.

Obligatory ,,,

[ozbird (127571)]

... Wikipedia link [wikipedia.org].

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[by Anonymous Coward]

This image is highly suspect... or is it just my dirty mind that reads too much into it?

http://www.forumpix.co.uk/uploads/1195208745.jpg [forumpix.co.uk]

Photo of dino

[phillips321 (955784)]

Here's the image of the bones
http://www.forumpix.co.uk/uploads/1195208745.jpg [forumpix.co.uk]

Re:Photo of dino

[oliderid (710055)]

To see a drawing of this beast (Nigersaurus taqueti)
http://dino.lm.com/images/display.php?id=1065 [lm.com]

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[AaxelB (1034884)]

After some searching, I actually found a series of images documenting the discovery of the dinosaur:
1 [uclick.com]
2 [uclick.com]
3 [uclick.com]
4 [uclick.com]
5 [uclick.com]
And, of course, Profit!!! [uclick.com]

Complete Scientific Article

[Selanit (192811)]

Thanks to the Public Library of Science, their complete publication is available to us under the enthralling title Structural Extremes in a Late Cretaceous Dinosaur [plosone.org]. I found Figure 1 [plosone.org] especially interesting for its 3D visualizations of the skull structure. The thing's mouth really does resemble the shape of a vacuum cleaner, particularly one of those older models where the brush is on the end of a tube and all the machinery is in a little tug-along chassis. I'm inclined to think that it probably bit off the plants it was eating rather than "sucking" them up, though.

Still, neat stuff, and yet more proof that there are a whole bunch of Really Weird Things(TM) out there.

like a fish?

[goatherder23 (1189859)]

I've seen fish like Carp act like vacuum cleaners - maybe this dino grazed in water?

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[Silver Sloth (770927)]

I thought that as well, especialy when the lightweight skeleton is taken into consideration (less strength needed when the bulk is water bourne) but if you read this article linked from TFA [plosone.org] it makes it quite clear that the current thinking is that it was a land animal. In addition a downward facing mouth doesn't do too well for a swamp dweller - how's it going to breath?

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[BytePusher (209961)]

My guess about the lightweight skeleton is that perhaps it was mostly cartilage. Another article states that it was a very fast growing animal. Perhaps due to the speed of growth it needed a very flexible skeleton to accommodate uneven growth. My guess is that they will eventually find an older one with more substantial bones.

Perhaps this one's bone structure is not standard as well. Raditaion poisoning from near surface uranium? Malnutrition? Some kind of acid maybe thinned the bones? Osteoporosis(Maybe

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[Silver Sloth (770927)]

I suppose that it could raise it's head above water to breath in the same way that a whale comes to the surface to breath but the skeleton indicates that the head was habitually pointing downwards. All paleontology is a matter of guesswork but an air breather who's head is habitually pointing downwards is probably land based - don't take my word for it - RTFA.

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[LarsWestergren (9033)]

All paleontology is a matter of guesswork but an air breather who's head is habitually pointing downwards is probably land based

That presumes it breathed through its head, couldn't it have had air intakes conveniently placed on its back? :)

Loss of suction?

[Panitz (1102427)]

Did it lose suction when it got full? Or does it have dual cyclone technology?

Re:Loss of suction?

[Mister Transistor (259842)]

Possible species names:

Dysonasaurus

Tyrannolectrolux

Eurekaceratops

Rainbodocus

Hooverdon

Re:Loss of suction?

[ceeam (39911)]

Vistasaurus.

Re:Loss of suction?

[Red Flayer (890720)]

Meh. Wake me up when the pterashopvactyl is discovered.

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[josquint (193951)]

SuckZilla

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[houghi (78078)]

... and what would that do to patents considering there is previous art?

Seriously

[ThirdPrize (938147)]

had a mouth that worked like a vacuum cleaner

I knew a girl like that once ...

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[nick79au (791048)]

I knew a girl

pfftt.. this is /.

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[dvice_null (981029)]

Yeah, only girl he knows is his mother.

o_O

[by Anonymous Coward]

http://i.usatoday.net/tech/_photos/2007/11/15/dino472.jpg [usatoday.net]

Just because he sucked food doesnt mean u have to take a picture with the dinos head there....

Odd vaccum

[belg4mit (152620)]

/me checks the hall closet, my vacuum doesn't seem to have teeth and a transluscent head...

Sucky (get it, suck) journalism?

[SmallFurryCreature (593017)]

Its head is shaped like a vacuum cleaners nozzle, but the article also states that it grazed like a cow. Cows don't vacuum (more the other way around) and nowhere in the article is there any suggestion that it vacuums except in sentences that seem to be written by a journalist, not a scientist.

If the animal did hover up its food it would need some way to create a large enough vacuum. Some fish do it, by suddenly expanding their mouth so that water, and hopefully ffood is sucked in to the "new" space. But that is a lot easier then to do the same thing with air. Just check the amount of power needed to vacuum up even an ant.

Unless the animal has some radicial new systems the only way for it to create a vacuum would be to expand its body to take in air. Doable,and if you are a large animal the amount of suction would be impressive but, well why?

If it grazed it meant it ate plants, you can't vacuum up plants because they are attached to their roots. Once you cut of the grass with your mouth, you no longer need to suck it up.

About the only thing I could see it being used for is to suck up small animals, like say sucking up ants. Still, I think that animal would also be sucking up a lot of dirt.

Frankly I think this is just bad journalism, the scientist said its mouth looks like a vacuum cleaner nozzle and the journalist turned that into the critter vacuums up its food.

Anyone found ANY link suggesting otherwise?

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[gEvil (beta) (945888)]

National Geographic is referring to it as a "fern mower".

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[SubliminalLove (646840)]

Cows don't vacuum (more the other way around)

No, my vacuum doesn't cow either.

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[Chysn (898420)]

> > Cows don't vacuum (more the other way around)

> No, my vacuum doesn't cow either.

My vacuum cows. Sometimes I wish it'd just grow a pair and suck it up already.

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[ideonode (163753)]

Cows don't vacuum (more the other way around)

You know, I've spent the last ten minutes trying to understand that clause. I don't get it. Help...

Just right for a modern stone age family

[dgun (1056422)]

An upgrade from the woolly mammoth model?

Not strange, but...

[dotancohen (1015143)]

If this dinosaur were female, it would not be called (as per the title) "anatomically strange". It would be called "anatomically correct".

Flintstonian archeology

[sadangel (702907)]

They've finally discovered Wilma's vacuum cleaner.

Sucking up food?

[jonr (1130)]

Sounds like my ex...

Better Title...

[bigkahunafish (708759)]

"Newly discovered dinosaur sucks."

A dinosaur that can suck like that!?

[JCSoRocks (1142053)]

Must be called YoMommasaurus.

See it in action

[volpe (58112)]

Here. [tripod.com]

Toddler-Sized Teeth

[Chysn (898420)]

My wife turned on Good Morning America while I was still groggy from sleep. While I lay there listening to the TV, they ran this story, saying that the dinosaur had "over 500 toddler-sized teeth." I thought, "A toddler is a strange thing to compare the size of a tooth to, but my god, that thing's HUGE!"

Re:I once dated...

[dotancohen (1015143)]

Paying $50 in a back alley is not considered dating where you're from?