Dinosaurs with venomous fangs!!

Crap!!!
Like being attacked by a raptors isnt threatening enough!!!
CRAP!!

Dinosaur Packed Venom in Fangs

Using snake-like fangs, saber-toothed dinosaur relatives of velociraptors likely subdued their prey with venom, scientists now suggest.
Their investigation revealed its upper teeth are grooved, long, and fang-like, and its upper jaw contained pockets that could have housed venom glands. These pockets are connected to the base of the teeth by narrow ducts.

Yet another reason our ancient creatures were AWESOME.

Hah! Yes! I've been waiting for these little suckers since I was a kid!

next they need to find a "mole dinosaur" for me. I've always wondered why we hadn't found any yet. There's got to have been some sort of burrowing dinosaur. You don't go 170 million years without some critter poking its head in the dirt.

What about a burrowing, swimming, venomous, dino with wings?

That guy would be scary.

Cool!! Venomous dinos, that makes the idea of travelling back in time even more dangerous."Got the raptor-bite kit Lou?" Do you have a link to the story?

Just when you thought dinosaurs can't possibly get any cooler

Do you also have the link to the article, please?

Here a link to Sinornithosaurus. The article contains drawings and photos.

scienceblogs.com...

reply to post by Wallachian


did some web snooping for ya

Linky

dang beaten by the shew

[edit on 21-12-2009 by Kalomar]

Sorry guys!!
I forgot the news story!!

Guess that might have been helpful if wanted to know more......Link to the awesome frickin dino article

You actually have a living breathing venemous dinosaur alive today...

It's the Komodo Dragon.

These huge Lizards from Indonesia can grow to over 3 metres long, and have recently been proven to have deadly venemous bites which are capable (over time), of bringing down an Adult Water Buffalo!!

I've seen footage of this happening.

Their normal diet is carrion, as well as snakes, birds, various mammals, other lizards... pretty much anything with meat on it!

The venomous nature of their bites has only recently been uncovered (May 2009 I think?) and is now mentioned on sites like wikipedia

LINK to Wiki article

"...In 2009, the same researchers published further evidence demonstrating that Komodo dragons possess a venomous bite. MRI scans of a preserved skull showed the presence of two venom glands in the lower jaw. They extracted one of these glands from the head of a terminally ill specimen in the Singapore Zoological Gardens, and found that it secreted a venom containing several different toxic proteins. The known functions of these proteins include inhibition of blood clotting, lowering of blood pressure, muscle paralysis, and the induction of hypothermia, leading to shock and loss of consciousness in envenomated prey..."

The footage I saw was aired on UK television very recently, but I can't recall which TV show or channel was responsible... I think it may have been the BBC series LIFE?
I'll try and verify that.

regards,
G

edit: to add link to the BBC LIFE programme mentioned above

Link to BBC LIFE video Dragon's Teeth

[edit on 21-12-2009 by Gordi The Drummer]

reply to post by Gordi The Drummer


Bit of a technical point, Komodo's are not dinosaurs. Different family.

[edit on 21-12-2009 by RuneSpider]

Originally posted by RuneSpider
reply to post by Gordi The Drummer

 

Bit of a technical point, Komodo's are not dinosaurs. Different family.

[edit on 21-12-2009 by RuneSpider]

Dinos are thought to warm blooded not cold.

I have to agree with Rune.

Originally posted by watcher73

Originally posted by RuneSpider
reply to post by Gordi The Drummer

 

Bit of a technical point, Komodo's are not dinosaurs. Different family.
[edit on 21-12-2009 by RuneSpider]

Dinos are thought to warm blooded not cold.
I have to agree with Rune.

Thanks Watcher and Rune!
My apologies for using the term dinosaur loosely! (Terrible-Lizard!!)

EDIT: To remove error! I didn't read your post correctly!!
Regards,
G

[edit on 21-12-2009 by Gordi The Drummer]

Oh wow! That trip to Jurassic Park I've been planning just got even scarier!

Nah, that is well cool though. I've always thought dinosaurs were pretty awesome anyway, but ones with venomous fangs! Wow!

Thanks for sharing, any dino news is well recieved by me

reply to post by Gordi The Drummer


No worries, I came off a bit of a prick I think, sorry.

Neat thing is though, birds are in the same family as raptors, and are living dinosaurs in that sense.

Originally posted by RuneSpider
reply to post by Gordi The Drummer

 

No worries, I came off a bit of a prick I think, sorry.

Neat thing is though, birds are in the same family as raptors, and are living dinosaurs in that sense.

Cool, no worries here too!

Very true, now fang-wielding venemous birds..... that would be interesting!

G

There's a paleontologist at the University of maryland who says they are too quick to assume this 'grooved' fang dinosaur was venemous.

Apparently not all are convinced this is definitivie proof. He says that the cavity in the bone structure could just as likely be a air bladder for cooling or such.

I would think that the likelihood of comparing this turkey-sized dino with a Komodo dragon may be a little skewed as well. It seems more like a Gila Monster since the grooved fangs are in the back of the mouth instead of the front.

This seesm to imply that it was not a 'striking' fanged animal but a grab-and-hold predator like the Gila. (Assuming it was venemous.)

Just my .02....

[edit on 24-12-2009 by Maxmars]