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T-Rex problems (i.imgur.com)
submitted 10 months ago by NotSpez@lemm.ee to c/4chan@lemmy.world
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[-] octoperson@sh.itjust.works 18 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I'll defer to actual paleontologists (or anyone who drops links), but my guess is T-Rex could go a month without food easy. Most modern large reptiles typically go a long time between meals.


Edit: following the intense scholarship in this thread, I have changed my stance. T-Rex probably would not survive a month without food (or water). BUT ALSO, the entity setting the rules and betting 500 mil on it surviving is going to know that. So the Dino's getting fed either way.

[-] echodot@feddit.uk 8 points 10 months ago

Dinosaurs were not reptiles. Reptiles already existed when dinosaurs evolved and there are completely different evolutionary lineage.

[-] octoperson@sh.itjust.works 10 points 10 months ago

I'm just copy & pasting Wikipedia;

Dinosaurs (including birds) are members of the natural group Reptilia. Their biology does not precisely correspond to the antiquated class Reptilia of Linnaean taxonomy, consisting of cold-blooded amniotes without fur or feathers. As Linnean taxonomy was formulated for modern animals prior to the study of evolution and paleontology, it fails to account for extinct animals with intermediate traits between traditional classes.

But reptiles is more a culturally based category than a strictly defined biological class, so you might prefer a definition that excludes dinosaurs, and that's fine. I'll admit, it seems odd to class birds as reptiles, and strictly speaking if you exclude birds you should exclude dinos too.

[-] Gort@lemm.ee 1 points 10 months ago

What I also find interesting is that the nearest extant animals to birds are crocodilians. Both belong to the archosaur clade, even if there's around a 240 million years gap between them.

As you say, birds can be classified as belonging to reptiles under the cladistic route, but they're quite radically different to the reptiles that live today, so are seen as not really reptilian. It's not surprising, seeing that the link between crocodiles, true reptiles in all senses, and birds were the dinosaurs, who disappeared 65 million years ago. A whole lot of evolutionary change in that time.

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this post was submitted on 15 Nov 2023
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