{"id":2979,"date":"2021-10-22T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-22T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/?p=2979"},"modified":"2021-10-06T02:12:20","modified_gmt":"2021-10-06T02:12:20","slug":"recent-dinosaur-biomechanical-studies-reveal-their-bipedal-tail-wagging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/recent-dinosaur-biomechanical-studies-reveal-their-bipedal-tail-wagging\/","title":{"rendered":"Recent Dinosaur Biomechanical Studies Reveal Their Bipedal \u201cTail-Wagging\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With how frequent dinosaurs appear in popular media, you\u2019d think we would have dinosaur movements down pat by now. Truth is, there\u2019s so much more we have yet to find out about how these enigmatic, extinct creatures lived. All we can do to piece together the puzzle is take a look at the fossils of those that we have found, and try to piece together how they may have moved\u2014with some insights from their living relatives and descendants, of course. Scientists employ the help of crocodilians and birds, along with other living animals with similar-looking body structures, to help us figure out what these beautiful creatures may have looked like during their prime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of these explorations came through in a study published in the journal Science Advances<\/em>. Here, a team of researchers led by Peter Bishop, from Harvard University, sought after uncovering more secrets about how bipedal<\/em>, or two-legged, dinosaurs may have walked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bishop and team used the running biomechanics of the tinamou<\/em> (Eudromia elegans<\/em>), a bird found in the Americas that\u2019s commonly used as an analogue for nonavian theropods<\/em>, to design a computer simulation. The bird\u2019s muscles, in this case, were fully represented in 3D, giving much detail to its movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The tinamou is a bird found in the areas of Mexico, Central America, and South America. (Wikimedia Commons) <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Afterwards, they chose to apply their obtained walking \u201cframework\u201d to a musculoskeletal model of a genus of small theropod dinosaurs known as Coelophysis <\/em>(SEE-luh-fai-suhs). (Coincidentally, Coelophysis <\/em>was among the fossils famously dug up by one of the warring scientist factions during the infamous Bone Wars<\/em>.<\/a>) Coelophysis<\/em> are a genus of bipedal, carnivorous dinosaurs which, according to fossil remains, can grow up to 3 m (9.8 ft) long. These creatures lived around 221 to 196 million years ago, during the latter part of the Triassic Period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Coelophysis<\/em>, like the species C. bauri <\/em>seen above, are short, theropod dinosaurs from around the late Triassic Period, making them one of the oldest theropod dinosaurs known to paleontologists. (Petrified Forest Science Park\/Wikimedia Commons) <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Bishop and team, however, didn\u2019t expect to find what they call \u201cmarked [\u2026] lateroflexion\u201d in the tail of the dinosaur model, which was coupled with \u201chindlimb protraction-retraction.\u201d In short, the dinosaur was essentially wagging its tail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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