this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2025
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Science Memes

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[–] snooggums@piefed.world 112 points 3 days ago (3 children)

So one of the biggest leaps they have made in reconstruction over the last few decades is matching similar bone structure that supports soft tissue. It doesn't work for all soft tissue, but if the beavers tail bones have bumps or other features that hint at supporting extra soft tissue there is a chance.

All the stuff birds have, like inflatable neck sacks and feathers that move with muscles are examples of things we absolutely wouldn't get with fossils that are even better than a beaver tail.

[–] GraniteM@lemmy.world 51 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Well, now I want to see an artist's rendition of a T. rex doing this:

[–] Catoblepas@piefed.blahaj.zone 16 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The Prehistoric Planet documentary series does it with sauropods, it’s pretty sick.

[–] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 22 hours ago

i'm also a big fan of carnotaurus' tiny piddly arms being brightly colored on the inside and them waving them around like mad

[–] ch00f@lemmy.world 5 points 3 days ago

Also, in 40 million years, you can match the beaver fossils to the bones of their still living descendants and find similar features.

[–] sleen@lemmy.zip 8 points 3 days ago

I always appreciate an enthusiastic and educational response to situations like this.