Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with dinosaur

Penny for your Bat-Thoughts?

Spyder's Game — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 22:56:29 -0800

Why does Batman keep a giant penny and a huge replica of a Tyrannosaurus Rex in the Bat Cave? Very often, when you see depictions of Batman's hideaway, it includes a giant penny (sculpture?) and a (possibly life size?) T Rex just sitting around. Why is this? I know he's a detective. I know he's got some astounding computer/information gathering equipment that helps his detective work but... what's with the penny? And the dinosaur?

She was a model dinosaur. truly a credit.

nihlton — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:58:00 -0800

where can i find super high quality, anatomically accurate 3D models of dinosaur skeletons? I want some models for an art project, but the only ones I can find are cartoonish or just plain inaccurate.

with the rise of rapid prototyping, I have to imaging that models have been made to replace the costly shipping of scientific replicas between colleges/institutes.

is there a repository out there someplace?

free is good, but Id also be willing to pay.

I am specifically looking for a trex but really, any i could get my hands on would be awesome.

Seems dinosaurs and humans do coexist

Listener — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 13:33:14 -0800

Why aren't turtles dinosaurs? Turtles are ancient reptiles that have existed since the Triassic, the time of the dinosaurs. Why aren't they considered dinosaurs?

Dino Fantasia

BE ADEQUITE — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 19:58:15 -0800

I need a decent still of the dinosaurs in the movie "Fantasia." It's the scary dinosaur scene with the Stravinsky music. I need a decent image of the dinosaurs, and so far everything I can find is really unusable for almost anything.

Can you link me to something?

Delicious dinos

Johnny Assay — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 20:18:26 -0800

Yet another Sci-Fi ID request: I once read a tongue-in-cheek short story involving a fidgety time travel portal, dinosaurs, and culinary adventures. IIRC, the story was told in the first person. The two protagonists are trying, unsuccessfully, to build a portal through which objects can travel in time. At one point, some fluctuation causes a clutch of dinosaur eggs to fall through the portal. The protagonists put the eggs off to the side and keep trying to get the portal to work. They keep at it for several months, during which time the eggs hatch and the dinos start to breed, but they never get the portal to work again. However, through a freak accident they discover that the dinosaurs are delicious, and so they go into business breeding them and live happily ever after. Any ideas?

Everybody do the Dinosaur

kidsleepy — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 08:55:26 -0800

Where can I find dinosaur slippers? Specifically, they must make a "roaring" noise each step you take. Do these even exist or am I imagining them?

What do Greek speakers call dinosaurs?

Plutor — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 09:10:06 -0800

What do Greek speakers call dinosaurs? Do they use the same Greek-derived words that English speakers do ("dinosaur", "tyrannosaurus", "stegosaurus", etc)? Do these names sound as silly to them as calling those extinct animals "terrible lizards", "tyrant lizards", and "roof lizards" would to us?

T-Rexcellent

Mach3avelli — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 11:36:27 -0800

I'm looking for a goofy, full-costumed T-Rex outfit for Halloween. Something like in this Chapelle's Show clip (2:00 mark). Hopefully someone with better google skills or knowledge of specific outlets in the SF Bay Area.

Can you remember this arcade game?

Grums — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 02:53:14 -0800

I fondly remember an arcade game from my childhood at the local junk-food kiosk, but I can not remember the name. I have tried to search Google, but I have not found anything. The game, as I remember it, was a side-scrolling shoot ‘em up. You flew planes (1 player or 2 players) and on the ground beneath you dinosaurs where actively trying to kill you with their prehistoric might. So you had to wipe out all the dinosaurs once again, I guess. The game was colorful and cartoony and your weapon got upgraded with power ups. You saw the planes from the side, and not from the top, as e.g. 1942.

Can anyone else remember this game and its name?

Dinosaur Bone Cartoon

booksprite — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 07:39:35 -0800

Can you help me find a cartoon drawing I first saw in a book or magazine at least 10 years ago, which shows a small dog digging up a bone? Attached to the bone, buried under the ground, is shown the rest of the tail and the entire skeleton of a large dinosaur.

hot shit

yesster — Mon, 03 Oct 2005 06:29:48 -0800

Does microbial activity in the gut of organisms contribute to their thermoregulation? I've been wondering about the role of exothermic bacteria, present in the digestive system, and their role in thermoregulation.

Exothermic bacteria make compost piles hot -- sometimes over 160 degrees Fahrenheit. These same bacteria are already present in digestive systems of many animals. It might be fruitful to view the digestive system as a kind of compost pile (peristaltic action effectively “turns” the pile?). The gut is a good insulator, too, so what if these bacteria create heat that contributes to the host organisms metabolic heat? In fact, it may be that the host body has to cool the intestines, since these exothermic bacteria can generate so much heat.

We know that cows and other ruminants have bacteria that essentially cause fermentation in the rumen, and fermentation is an exothermic process.

There's an ongoing debate on whether dinosaurs were warm or cold-blooded, though that distinction is itself over-simplified, since there's evidence for both. What if their digestive systems functioned as hot composters, providing them with an internal source of heat energy for accelerated metabolism, while retaining mostly cold-blooded physiological features? This might go some way in explaining the polar dinosaurs.

This potentially has broad implications. I've been googling around this topic, and haven't found anything. Looking for input, and any links to more information.

I should be working on getting a job, but I can’t help but look into things like this which become interesting to me, for some reason.

How do you kill a T-Rex

longbaugh — Sat, 25 Jun 2005 13:34:59 -0800

How do you kill a T-Rex? So yeah, the boy and I are watching "The Lost World" : Jurassic Park II and I note that Pete Postlethwaite is carrying an elephant gun. Seeing as an elephant or rhino weighs up to maybe 2 tons and a T Rex weighs between 5 to 10 tons I am not certain of exactly how they intended to bring it down if they needed to. I know the chances of encountering an enraged 8 ton chicken are slim in this day and age but me and my son were wondering if there is any hope at all of stopping a hungry Tyrannosaur and what you'd realistically need to do it. Any experienced MeFi hunters willing to take a shot at it?

Wooden Dinosaurs R We?

metaculpa — Tue, 21 Jun 2005 00:10:30 -0800

How are the wonderful wooden dinosaur models made?
Is it done, perchance, with lasers? More to the point, what is their wholesale cost? How would that change if I wanted 10k of a single model? If I guaranteed an order of 1k, each with a different pattern?

And how does one find these things out?
I suppose I should just call someone up and ask, eh?

Holy Sh*t! Dinosaur Jr.?!

emptybowl — Wed, 20 Apr 2005 06:41:10 -0800

I just found out that Dinosaur Jr. a) just got back together with their original lineup and b) played on the Late Late Show the other night. Anyone know where I could find a video of said performance? Also, they must have really buried the hatchet to get back together. I remember reading an interview with Lou Barlow a few years back where he said his dream was to play on SNL and behead J Mascis with his guitar before killing himself live on TV.