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Dinosaurs. Warm or cold blooded?


TheWhiteRaider

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Originally posted by -=Chi3f=-

Giant egg laying reptiles = cold blooded.

 

what about chickens. they lay eggs are they considered cold blooded.

 

 

like i said before you really can't categorize dinosaurs either cold or warm blooded. cuz some differ from others.

 

Scientists have conflicting opinions on this subject. Some paleontologists think that all dinosaurs were "warm-blooded" in the same sense that modern birds and mammals are. that is, they had rapid metabolic rates. Other scientists think it unlikely that any dinosaur could have had a rapid metabolic rate. Some scientists think that very big dinosaurs could have had warm bodies because of their large body size, just as some sea turtles do today. It may be that some dinosaurs were warm-blooded. The problem is that it is hard to find evidence that unquestionably shows what dinosaur metabolisms were like.

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What Skitzo says is correct.

 

If you've ever seen the dinosaur with the huge "sail" or windshield on it's back (can't remember the name), then you would assume they were cold blooded as the only logical explanation of the "solar sail" is that it used it to collect heat from the sun very rapidly.

 

Birds evolved from dino's (or did they? see evolution thread) and they are warm blooded as far as I know - another point to debate.

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Actually the "sails" on the back of dinosaurs supports that they were warm blooded (endotherms). These "sails' were believed to radiate away excess body heat.

 

More supporting evidence for dinosaurs being warm-blooded is that many were found in the arctic and antarctic, where cold-blooded animals could not survive

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Originally posted by ckcsaber

Actually the "sails" on the back of dinosaurs supports that they were warm blooded (endotherms). These "sails' were believed to radiate away excess body heat.

 

More supporting evidence for dinosaurs being warm-blooded is that many were found in the arctic and antarctic, where cold-blooded animals could not survive

 

You know what, you're absolutely right.

 

Dinosaurs have indeed found to be living on antarctica.

 

And the solar sail theory you present sounds much more plausible than mine.

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Originally posted by -s/<itzo-

 

what about chickens. they lay eggs are they considered cold blooded.

 

 

like i said before you really can't categorize dinosaurs either cold or warm blooded. cuz some differ from others.

 

Scientists have conflicting opinions on this subject. Some paleontologists think that all dinosaurs were "warm-blooded" in the same sense that modern birds and mammals are. that is, they had rapid metabolic rates. Other scientists think it unlikely that any dinosaur could have had a rapid metabolic rate. Some scientists think that very big dinosaurs could have had warm bodies because of their large body size, just as some sea turtles do today. It may be that some dinosaurs were warm-blooded. The problem is that it is hard to find evidence that unquestionably shows what dinosaur metabolisms were like.

 

You have a point, but...

 

First we're not talking about warm blooded chickens and the fowl family, we are talking about cold-blooded reptiles. There is evidence to prove that reptiles and the reptile like dinosaurs are cold-blooded.

 

Second, not everything in that time period, as historians have found, was a reptile. Other forms of life were around that spawned what we know today as domestic and wild animals. It's like a person that lives in a different climate develops different physical and social charecteristics. It's how life adapts to the environment. Maybe being cold-blooded is a natural response to the environment at prehistoric times. Who knows, I wasn't there, lol

 

Third you have to use your judgement on this. I've never been to Australia, but a globe tells me it's there. A globe tells me a lot about the Earth that I don't really know to be true. How can I really be sure any of it's true? There comes a point where you have to rely on instinct as well as fact, ya know? All forms of reptiles today are cold-blooded. What's to say they weren't millions of years ago? This is one of the many questions that we'll probably never know the answer to.

 

 

Good topic, btw

 

 

:D

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If dinosaurs lived on antarctica, how could they have been cold blooded?

 

Either they were a mix of warm and cold blooded creatures (with warm blooded ones adapting to a freezing environment), or they were all warm blooded, IMO.

 

EDIT - I suddenly remember something: I think it's been theorized that antarctica was once a lush, hot climate - but I'm not too sure.

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In my opinion it was both warm blooded and cold blooded.

 

If herbivores (plant eating dinosaurs) were warm-blooded they would have to eat 10 times the amount of calories a cold-blooded animal would. This means they would have trouble finding enough food for their immense body mass if they were warmblooded, but if cold blooded they would not need to eat as much.

 

I believe that the meat-eating dinosaurs were warm-blooded and the giant plant-eating dinosaurs were cold-blooded.

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Originally posted by Cjais

If dinosaurs lived on antarctica, how could they have been cold blooded?

 

Either they were a mix of warm and cold blooded creatures (with warm blooded ones adapting to a freezing environment), or they were all warm blooded, IMO.

 

EDIT - I suddenly remember something: I think it's been theorized that antarctica was once a lush, hot climate - but I'm not too sure.

 

I think you're right. Lizards can live in cold climates. In exteme cold temperatures, reptiles burrow into the soil where heat doesn't escape. The polar caps haven't been around forever. It may have been one of the reasons why dinosaurs became extinct. It may also be why animals, like the whooly mammoth, came to be. Who knows, but good point.

 

 

@ -s/<itzo-: Oh no, I'm just being a smart ass, lol. Under no circumstances do I get pissed at a fellow swampie. The -=DoW=- clan on the other hand...

 

 

He he he...

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I do not think that Antarctica was a hot climate. At least not during the dinosaurs time but I am not sure.

 

Regarding coldblooded dino's living in extrem cold conditions, they can't live under ground all the time. They would be extremly sluggish and you have to be alert to hunt in that weather.

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Originally posted by ckcsaber

In my opinion it was both warm blooded and cold blooded.

 

If herbivores (plant eating dinosaurs) were warm-blooded they would have to eat 10 times the amount of calories a cold-blooded animal would. This means they would have trouble finding enough food for their immense body mass if they were warmblooded, but if cold blooded they would not need to eat as much.

 

I believe that the meat-eating dinosaurs were warm-blooded and the giant plant-eating dinosaurs were cold-blooded.

 

 

 

Another good point. Environmental adaptation.

 

 

 

Boy, we should start a Swampies science team, we bad! we bad! :ewok:

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