Dinosaurs Without Bones

by Anthony J. Martin

  p. 264 “The conventional wisdom about grasses is that they first evolved from non-grassy flowering plants during the Cenozoic Era… .” Kellogg, E.A. 2001. The evolutionary history of the grasses. Plant Physiology, 125: 1198-1205.

  p. 264 “The first detailed report on these coprolites was by Prosenjit Ghosh and five of his colleagues in 2003.” Ghosh, P., Bhattacharya, S.K., Sahni, A., Kar, R.K., Mohabey, D.M., and Ambwani, K. 2003. Dinosaur coprolites from the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Lameta Formation of India: isotopic and other markers suggesting a C3 plant diet. Cretaceous Research, 24: 743-750.

  p. 265 “Plants, through different means of photosynthesis, take in carbon and nitrogen isotopes in distinct ways, which is then reflected by their stable-isotope ratios.” Todd, E., Dawson, T.E., Mambelli, S., Plamboeck, A.H., Templer, P.H., and Tu, K.P. 2002. Stable isotopes in plant ecology. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 33: 507-559.

  p. 265 “Additionally, C3 plants make up nearly 90% of all modern vegetation, and include grasses.” Heldt, H.W. 2005. Plant Biochemistry. Academic Press, New York: 630 p.

  p. 266 “So in 2005, Vandana Prasad and four of his colleagues hit the jackpot, finding grass phytoliths in the same Late Cretaceous coprolites from India studied by Ghosh and others.” Prasad, V., StroÅNmberg, C.A.E., Alimohammadian, H., and Sahni, A. 2005. Dinosaur coprolites and the early evolution of grasses and grazers. Science, 310: 1177-1180.

  CHAPTER 9: THE GREAT CRETACEOUS WALK

  p. 268 “It was a time when Australia was close to the South Pole, and dinosaurs presumably walked across broad floodplains of rivers that coursed through its circumpolar valleys.” Rich and Vickers-Rich (2000).

  p. 270 “In North America, the U.S., Canada, and Mexico have tens of thousands of dinosaur tracks and plenty of other trace fossils… .” (1) Lockley (1991). (2) Lockley and Hunt (1995). (3) Lockley and Meyer (2000).

  p. 270 “Dinosaurs certainly lived there, as evidenced by theropod and ornithopod bones and teeth recovered from Early Cretaceous strata (120–105 mya) in Victoria, and theropod, ornithopod, and sauropod bones in central Queensland.” (1) Rich et al. (1988); (2) Rich, T.H., Vickers-Rich, P., and Gangloff, R.A. 2002. Polar dinosaurs. Science, 295: 979-980.

  p. 271 “In the 1980s, Greg and his father, David Denney, assisted Tom, Pat Vickers-Rich, and a crew of volunteers… .” Rich and Vickers-Rich (2000).

  p. 274 “For instance, some aquatic insect larvae dig burrows in sediments under very shallow water or on the surfaces of emergent sand bars… .” (1) Ratcliffe, B.C., and Fagerstrom, J.A. 1980. Invertebrate lebensspuren of Holocene floodplains: their morphology, origin and paleontological significance. Journal of Paleontology, 54: 614-630. (2) Charbonneau, P., and Hare, L. 1998. Burrowing behavior and biogenic structures of mud-dwelling insects. Journal of the North American Benthological Society, 17: 239-249.

  p. 274 “Insects and other invertebrates in polar environments cannot burrow into frozen sediment.” Danks, H.V. 2007. Aquatic insect adaptations to winter cold and ice. In Aquatic Insects: Challenges to Populations, Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society’s 24th Symposium: 1-19.

  p. 274 “Along those lines, I had published a paper in 2009 about physical sedimentary structures … and traces … on the North Slope of Alaska.” Martin, A.J. 2009. Neoichnology of an Arctic fluvial point bar, Colville River, Alaska (USA). Geological Quarterly, 53: 383-396.

  p. 275 “In 1980, a little more than thirty years before Tom, Greg, and I stepped foot on Milanesia Beach together, Tom and Pat Vickers-Rich found this track.” Rich and Vickers-Rich (2003).

  p. 275 “Still, I was lucky enough to have discovered possible dinosaur burrows and invertebrate trace fossils there, the latter nearly identical to the ones we were seeing that morning at Milanesia Beach.” Martin (2009a).

  p. 276 “This track later became the template for thousands of reproductions used for science education in Victoria, and photographs of it appeared in many popular articles and books.” Rich and Vickers-Rich (2003).

  p. 277 “The two tracks from 105-million-year-old rocks west of Melbourne—Knowledge Creek and Skenes Creek—were attributable to small ornithopod dinosaurs, like Leaellynasaura.” Rich and Vickers-Rich (1999).

  p. 277 “Large-sized theropods, about the size of a smaller version of Allosaurus, likely made the two 115-million-year-old tracks in rocks east of Melbourne.” (1) Molnar, R.E., Flannery, T., and Rich, T.H. 1981. An allosaurid theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Victoria, Australia. Alcheringa, 5: 141-146. (2) Molnar, R.E., Flannery, T., and Rich, T.H. 1985. Aussie Allosaurus after all. Journal of Paleontology, 59, 1511-1513.

  p. 278 “… I was traveling in uncharted territory for dinosaur trace fossils, an ichnological analog to ‘The Ghastly Blank,’ an endearing term applied to the desert interior of Australia.” Actually, it was not such an endearing phrase in the 19th century, when Burke and Wills applied it to describe the region they explored and died in: Joyce and McCann (2010).

  p. 283 “Nearly a year later, in early June 2011, Tom … succeeded in carrying out his quixotic goal.” In a video produced by Museum Victoria, titled First Victorian Dinosaur Trackway, Rich describes the recovery of these two sandstone blocks: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=TpMLuPWHTDA

  p. 286 “They had a merry adventure doing this, climbing over hill and dale, while I, doing my best Marlin Perkins Wild impression, stayed safely on the beach… .” One of the recurring tropes of the TV show Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom (1963–1985), which I watched religiously as a child, was that the show’s host, Marlin Perkins (a zoologist), would stay in his vehicle (usually a jeep) while his assistant, Jim Fowler, would imperil himself while facing various deadly animals.

  p. 287 “Sure enough, exactly one year later, on June 14, 2011, my coauthors and I … received the good news that our scientific article had been accepted… .” Martin, A.J., Rich, T.H., Hall, M., Vickers-Rich, P., and Vasquez-Prokopec, G. 2012. A polar dinosaur-track assemblage from the Eumeralla Formation (Albian), Victoria, Australia. Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology, 36: 171-188.

  CHAPTER 10: TRACKING THE DINOSAURS AMONG US

  p. 290 “They can be 2 m (6.6 ft) tall and weigh as much as 80 kg (175 lbs), making them among the heaviest birds alive.” Corlett, R.T., and Primack, R.B. 2011. Tropical Rain Forests: An Ecological and Biogeographical Comparison. John Wiley & Sons, New York: 336 p.

  p. 290 “Given their weights, and that they are capable of running 45 km/hr (28 mph) and leaping more than a meter into the air… .” Although cassowaries are formidable animals, nearly all incidences of their attacking humans were indirectly caused by people, either through habitual feeding or trying to harm them: Kofron, C.P. 1999. Attacks to humans and domestic animals by the southern cassowary (Casuarius casuarius johnsonii) in Queensland, Australia. Journal of Zoology, 249: 375-381.

  p. 291 “Incidentally, if you are chased by a cassowary and try to escape it by jumping in a nearby water body, be aware that they are also excellent swimmers… .” Although many popular accounts attest to cassowary swimming abilities, I had a tough time finding it documented in peer-reviewed literature. Nevertheless, it is mentioned in: Taylor, S. 2012. John Gould’s Extinct and Endangered Birds of Australia. National Library Australia, Sydney, Australia: 247 p.

  p. 291 “In fact, they are so comfortable in water that, much like human hot-tub or pool parties, their mating rituals sometimes happen while immersed.” Again, I only found this factoid cited in secondary sources, and—sadly enough—the only photos of mating cassowaries I could find on the Internet showed them on land. Clearly we need more aquatically inclined nature photographers to document this, albeit very carefully.

  p. 291 “Cassowaries are omnivorous, eating fungi, forest invertebrates (insects and snails), and small mammals, but they are primarily known as terrific fruit eaters.” Bradford, M.G., Dennis, A.J., and Westcott, D. 2008. Diet and dietary preferences of the Southern cassowary (Casuarius casuarius) in North Qu
eensland Australia. Biotropica, 40: 338-343.

  p. 292 “Like other ratites, cassowaries are ground nesters, in which the males scratch out a meter-wide shallow depression in the forest floor that they rim with vegetation.” Taylor (2012).

  p. 292 “Once the eggs hatch, a male cassowary’s parental responsibilities do not end. Instead, they spend at least seven months tending to the cassowary chicks… .” Moore, L.A. 2007. Population ecology of the southern cassowary Casuarius casuarius johnsonii, Mission Beach north Queensland. Journal of Ornithology, 148: 357-366.

  p. 293 “Moreover, about fifteen families of flowering plants there are directly descended from plants that were alive when Australia was still attached… .” Metcalfe, D.A., and Ford, A.J. 2009. A re-evaluation of Queensland’s Wet Tropics based on “primitive” plants. Pacific Conservation Biology, 15: 80-86.

  p. 293 “For example, Austrobaileya scandens, a perennial flowering vine that composes part of the shady undergrowth in the rainforest… .” Feild, T.S., Franks, P.J., and Sage, T.L. 2003. Ecophysiological shade adaptation in the basal angiosperm, Austrobaileya scandens (Austrobaileyaceae). International Journal of Plant Sciences, 164: 313-324.

  p. 294 “A cyclone that hit this area just a little more than a year before had ripped open parts of the canopy, illuminating the way.” Cyclone Larry, a Category 4 tropical storm, made landfall on the Queensland coast on the morning of March 20, 2006, with its eye just south of Mission Beach.

  p. 294 “Had I been eavesdropping on these avian conversations, they first would have alerted me to two people walking on the trail about a hundred meters behind us.” I realize such a specific interpretation based on songbird sounds and behaviors might sound a little too “woo-woo” for some of my more skeptical readers. But in my experience, it works well, and is increasingly backed up by peer-reviewed scientific research, such as: Evans, C.S., Evans, L., and Marler, P. 1993. On the meaning of alarm calls: functional reference in an avian vocal system. Animal Behaviour, 46: 23-28. For a less technical introduction to this topic, look at: Young, J. 2013. What the Robin Knows: How Birds Reveal the Secrets of the Natural World. Mariner Books, New York: 272 p.

  p. 294 “The low-frequency boom was subtle enough that at first I dismissed it.” Cassowaries have the lowest frequency call known for any bird, almost below the range of human hearing, as documented by: Mack, A.L., and Jones, J. 2003. Low-frequency vocalizations by cassowaries (Casuarius spp.). The Auk, 120: 1062-1068.

  p. 295 “Even in fiction, such as during the unforgettable scene of the first Tyrannosaurus attack in the movie Jurassic Park, this theropod’s petrifying roar… .” Hill, K. 2013. The animals hiding in a T. rex’s roar. Scientific American Blogs, April 10, 2013: http://blogs.scientificamerican. com/guest-blog/2013/04/10/the-animals-hiding-in-a-t-rexs-roar/

  p. 297 “Bird traces include their tracks, cough pellets, beak marks … as well as talon marks, nests, burrows, gastroliths, droppings, food caches, dust baths, and broken seashells… .” Elbroch and Marks (2001).

  p. 298 “For example, a Cherokee story tells how the Appalachian Mountains were made from the beating of a vulture’s wings against the earth… .” Krech, S., III, 2009. Spirits of the Air: Birds and American Indians in the South. University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia: 245 p.

  p. 298 “The Ngarrindjeri people of Australia have a Dreamtime story about a rivalry between the emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae) and brush-turkey (Alectura lathami)… .” Ziembicki, M. 2010. Australian Bustard. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Australia: 102 p.

  p. 298 “Ancient Egyptians revered a heron-like god, Bennu… .” Birds and other animals are frequently used symbols in world religions. For a good introduction to this topic, take a look at: Kemmerer, Animals and World Religions. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K.: 346 p.

  p. 298 “Birdwatching is among the most popular of all outdoor activities in the U.S., enjoyed by about 60 million people.” This might be an exaggeration, as surveys by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service place it at about 46 million, whereas the Audubon Society says 51 million. Regardless of the number, though, watching birds (and by default, dinosaurs) is very likely the most popular nature-related outdoor activity for Americans: USFWS Report 2006-4. 2009. Birding in the United States: A Demographic and Economic Analysis. Addendum to the 2006 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation: 20 p.

  p. 298 “In terms of an unconscious homage to birds, nearly every rock concert in the southeastern U.S. since 1973 has witnessed someone at some point yelling the words ‘Free Bird!’” For those of you not into this cultural joke, it refers to the title of a popular song by a 1970s southern U.S. rock band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, a name in which both parts also rhyme with “bird.” According to rock musicians who play in the southern U.S., this is by far the most-requested song by their audiences.

  p. 299 “First discovered in 1861, Archaeopteryx lithographica, from Late Jurassic (150 mya) rocks of Germany, was long regarded as the oldest known bird. However, some paleontologists now regard Archaeopteryx as more of a non-avian dinosaur… .” (1) Xu, X., Zhao, Q., Norell, M., Sullivan, C., Hone, D., Erickson, G., Wang, X., Han, F., and Guo, Y. 2009. A new feathered maniraptoran dinosaur fossil that fills a morphological gap in avian origin. Chinese Bulletin of Science, 54: 430-435. (2) Godefriot, P., Cau, A., Dong-Yu, H., EscuillieÅL, F., Wenhao, W., and Dyke, G. 2013. A Jurassic avialan dinosaur from China resolves the early phylogenetic history of birds. Nature, doi:10.1038/nature12168.

  p. 299 “As far as bird trace fossils are concerned, the oldest suspected bird tracks come from Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous rocks in various places… .” Lockley, M.G., Yang, S.Y., Matsukawa, M., Fleming, F., and Lim, S.K. 1992. The track record of Mesozoic birds: evidence and implications. Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences, 336: 113-134. This record, of course, has improved considerably since 1992.

  p. 299 “For example, bird tracks are preserved in Cretaceous rocks formed in previously polar environments of Alaska as well as a few I recently co-discovered with colleagues in Victoria, Australia.” (1) Fiorillo, A.R., Hasiotis, S.T., Kobayashi, Y., Breithaupt, B.H., and McCarthy, P.J. 2011. Bird tracks from the Upper Cretaceous Cantwell Formation of Denali National Park, Alaska, USA: a new perspective on ancient northern polar vertebrate biodiversity. Journal of Systematic Paleontology, 9: 33-49. (2) Martin, A.J., Vickers-Rich, P., Rich, T.H., and Hall, M. 2013. Oldest known avian footprints from Australia: Eumeralla Formation (Albian), Dinosaur Cove, Victoria. Palaeontology, online version at: DOI: 10.1111/pala.12082.

  p. 299 “Explaining the evolutionary history of birds is a massive undertaking, and other people have written excellent, lengthy books on this topic, such as Thor Hanson’s Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle (2011) and Living Dinosaurs: The Evolutionary History of Modern Birds (2011)… .” Another very good book I should have mentioned here that directly connects bird evolution to theropod dinosaurs is: Chiappe, L.M. 2007. Glorified Dinosaurs: The Origin and Early Evolution of Birds. Wiley-Liss, Wilmington, Delaware: 192 p.

  p. 300 “For example, if you took a trip back in time to the Eocene of North America, you might meet up with Gastornis (formerly known as Diatryma)… .” Mathew, W.D., and Granger, W. 1917. The skeleton of Diatryma, a gigantic bird from the Lower Eocene of Wyoming. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 37: 307-336.

  p. 300 “Paleontologists now suggest its huge beak was better suited for large fruits and nuts or for scavenging.” One analysis showed that Gastornis was capable of crushing bones with its beak, but later work, including its probable habitats, has caused paleontologists to lean more toward herbivory in this giant bird: Naish, D. 2012. Birds. In Brett-Surman, M.K., Holtz, T.R., Jr., and Farlow, J.O. (editors), The Complete Dinosaur (2nd Edition). Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana: 379-423.

  p. 300 “For an example of the latter, the largest flying bird known from the fossil record is the giant teratorn (Argentavis magnificens) from the Miocene Epoc
h (about 15 million years ago) of South America.” Naish (2012).

  p. 300 “On land, terror birds—known by paleontologists as phorusrhacids—lived in South America and the southern part of North America from about 60 to only 2 million years ago.” Naish (2012).

  p. 301 “Among these terror birds was the Miocene Kelenken guillermoi of Argentina, which possessed the largest skull of any known bird: 71 cm (28 in) long, just smaller than that of an Allosaurus.” Bertellia, S., Chiappe, L.M., and Tambussi, C. 2007. A new phorusrhacid (Aves: Cariamae) from the middle Miocene of Patagonia, Argentina. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 27: 409-419.

  p. 301 “Like the South American Kelenken that also lived during the Miocene, Dromornis stood about 3 m (10 ft) tall… .” Murray, P.F., and Vickers-Rich, P. 2004. Magnificent Mihirungs: The Colossal Flightless Birds of the Australian Dreamtime. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana: 416 p.

  p. 301 “For example, the elephant birds of Madagascar, which consisted of species of Aepyornis and Mullerornis. …” Hume, J.P., and Walters, M. 2012. Extinct Birds. T. & A.D. Poyser, London: 544 p.

  p. 301 “Sadly, all elephant birds were extinct by the end of the 18th century, likely victims of a disastrous blend… .” Burney, D.A., and Flannery, T.F. 2005. Fifty millennia of catastrophic extinctions after human contact. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 20: 395-401.

  p. 302 “New Caledonia, a Pacific island with a main landmass that was connected to Australia and New Zealand during the Mesozoic, had both Sylviornis neocaledoniae … and Megapodius molistructor. …” Steadman, D.W. 1999. The biogeography and extinction of megapodes in Oceania. Zoologische Verhandelingen, 327: 7-21.