• GraniteM@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    2 months ago

    Fuck that, I’ve been in close proximity to ostriches and emus and they one hundred percent seem like dinosaurs.

  • AmidFuror@fedia.io
    1·
    2 months ago

    TIL dimetrodon is not a dinosaur, based on a silhouette in a cartoon.

    I haven’t really thought about dimetrodons since I was a kid.

    • leftzero@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      The name (di metro don ≈ two teeth sizes) is a clue, as teeth specialization is very much a synapsid (i.e., mammal and proto-mammal) thing.

        • leftzero@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
          0·
          2 months ago

          True, (some) snakes have also evolved specialized fangs.

          Several times independently with significantly different designs, it seems.

          • lemming@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            0·
            2 months ago

            I’m a little disappointed, I was hoping for some very specific explanation why it’s technically different :-) It’s cool that they are independent, thanks!

            • leftzero@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
              1·
              2 months ago

              Well, reptiles seem to have split pretty early on between the ancestors of lizards and snakes (and the lonely tuatara), and the ancestors of turtles, crocodiles, and dinosaurs, the main differences seemingly being in the bones of the skull, and specifically for the group with the snakes and lizards in, the ability to self-amputate the tail (though that’s lost in many of their descendants), and the keratinized scales; you won’t see a turtle, crocodile, or dinosaur molting its whole skin in one go like lizards and snakes do, they’ll molt their scales (or feathers, or scutes) one at a time.