So, due to grad night on thursday and my extreme tiredness and rather ill health last night, I've been a bit remiss in posting my fun facts of the day for the latter part of this week. But not to worry, for I shall compensate for this with a Fun Fact value Pack
TM! And since I am wearing my favorite tie, my dinosaur tie (complete with little labels for each awesome dinosaur picture), I decided that some dinosaur fun facts are in order. So, lets begin:
Fun Fact #1:
Tyrannosaurus Rex has small portions in it's skull that are jointed, with small gaps in between the adjoining portions. This, in life, would have played a potentially fascinating role in it's predatory habits: shock absorption. You see, the most prominent weapon that the Tyrant lizard king possessed was it's skull; specifically, it's enormous jaws and teeth. But in order to deploy these for predation, it would have to basically smack in to other animals such as hadrosaurs in order to bite them. This may seem relatively straight forward, but running full tilt into another animal, jaws agape, poses serious risks of damage to the skull.
But, Tyrannosaurus evolved a solution to this: shock absorption. Portions of the skull are mobile and thus could have slid back slightly upon impact, mitigating the injurious effects of the force on the skull. The most appropriate modern analogue for this is the woodpecker, an animal which spends much of its life exerting heavy force on its skull by pecking on trees.
Fun Fact #2:
The largest currently known carnivorous dinosaur is Spinosaurus aegypticus, a North African dinosaur which is estimated to have grown over
60 feet as an adult.
That's exceptionally large, especially considering that Tyrannosaurus reached no more than 45 feet at maximum size. Many people may identify Spinosaurus as the primary antagonist in "Jurassic Park III", that more embarrassing member of the series. In the film, the size of Spinosaurus is accurate, but it's plane-crushing strength, and it's besting of a Tyrannosaur in a fight, are highly exaggerated. In actuality, Spinosaurus was not very strong, and likely fed on fish rather than large prey. It's immense sail, for which it is named, most likely was used in thermoregulation, like the ears of a jackrabbit. But yeah, T-Rex would so have won in that fight. Nonetheless, it is a very interesting dinosaur.
Fun Fact #3:
The longest proportional neck of any dinosaur belonged to Mamenchisaurus, an immense sauropod from China. This dinosaur had a neck that was nearly 30 feet long, compared to it's overall length of around 60 feet.
Many would associate this immense length (more than half of the animal in many specimens) with reaching high into trees for food, but in fact, it is unlikely that Mamenchisaurus could even reach its neck upwards very much at all. This is because it had long spines extending off each neck vertebrae, creating a great deal of overlapping support in the neck between each vertebrae. This would have thus limited upward bending of the neck, but not lateral movement. Thus, the proposed function of the neck was not to reach high into trees, but rather to crane laterally over a large lateral distance, grazing over a large area with minimal movement.
This adorable little bat lives in limestone caves in Thailand, coming out at night to hover around teak trees and bamboo clumps in search of small flies, spiders, and other small arthropods to eat. It is the only member of it's family, Craseonycteridae, and was not even officially described until 1974, due to it's small size and remote habitat. 
Just look at that picture again. Don't you just go "Awwwww"?
This allows sunlight to reach the bears skin, which is black for maximum heat absorption and covers a thick layer of fat for insulation. The result is a highly effective way for the bear to stay warm, even in the coldest parts of the Arctic year. In fact, especially in the summer months, most polar bears instead have problems keeping cool, 
and are often seen rolling around in ice or snow to cool them selves off, as you can see to the left.
You see, in actuality, Velociraptor mongoliensis was only around three feet tall, not nearly the size of the 6-7 foot animals in the film. However, this seems to stem from a genus mix-up. You see, Velociraptors belong to a group of dinosaurs called Dromaeosaurids, which are all characterized by stiff tails, long snouts, and lengthy/curved claws on the feet. Now, one such species of dromaeosaurid is Deinonychus antirrhopus, which meets the size and approximate physical features of the animals in the movie.
However, the animals in the movie are called velociraptors, but in the novel, they are specifically called Velociraptor antirrhopus. Thus, they had the same species name as Deinonychus, but a different genus name. This means that it is likely that the author/filmmakers were using "Velociraptor" as a genus name for a different species, now known as Deinonychus, and were not referring to the singular species of Velociraptor now accepted, which is only 3 feet tall.
Discoveries of impressions in the rock surrounding well-preserved specimens of several dromaeosaurids show that they did indeed have feathers coating their bodies, perhaps used for insulation, or as a sort of membrane to trap prey beneath. But hey, these are newer finds, so "Jurassic Park" can't be blamed. 
In fact, polar bears have been known to detect deceased seal carcasses from as far as 30 kilometers away, across miles of frozen sea. Black bears, which are frequently the species most commonly associated with stealing food from campers, are believed to be able to detect even food stored inside a vehicle from a long distance. Mathematically, they can smell around 2,100 times better than you can. Neato, no?
Well, my biology teacher last year, Mrs. Rayfield, is retiring this year, and one of the many artifacts stored in the room joining hers and my current biology teachers room (this sort of lab/storage room) is an octopus preserved in formaldehyde. 
But seeing as I have an interest in such things, Mrs. Nichter bequeathed the octopus to me, and I took it home today wrapped in a trash bag and several wash cloths, lest I trip and unleash a whole jar full of ancient formaldehyde. Because then they'd have to call a HazMat team, and no one wants that.
Except penguins do it for warmth in the dead of Antarctic winter, while people apparently do it for fun. But I say nay nay.
