Dec 22 2009I'd Still Hit It: Venomous Raptor Discovered
So archaeologists recently discovered that Sinornithosaurus, a turkey-sized raptor that lived around 128 million years ago in modern China, was venomous and would paralyze its prey before OM NOM NOMing the shit out them with tens billions of razor sharp teeth.
"You're in the forest," says Burnham, part of a team that recently documented the beast's venomous abilities. "You can't really see what's behind you. ... You may hear something in the leaves, but by the time you turn around it's too late.
"It jumps on your back, embeds its teeth in your tissues and within a minute you're into toxic shock, and just lay helpless as this thing devours you."
No word on how they actually know it was venomous, but if I had to guess I'd say it was from watching Jurassic Park. Regardless, I'm gonna need to start building up my Sinornithosaurus venom immunity now. That way when I travel back in time....
"Oh no, a Sinornithosaur has bit me -- whatever will I do? Heavens, I think I'm being paralyzed." (Now's the time when I start acting all stiff and fall over). BOOM -- DINO GENITALS IN MY FACE!
Major discovery for KU researchers: 1st venomous raptor [ljworld]
Thanks to Mike D, Erica, Jason and ted, who all know what I like. I like turtles!
Reader Comments
1. koushoku - December 22, 2009 5:42 PM
FIRST
2. ninjaGnome92 - December 22, 2009 5:46 PM
second!?
3. toridude - December 22, 2009 5:48 PM
third?
4. Yorkiebar - December 22, 2009 5:50 PM
So you're gay for Sinornithosaurs then?
5. Reverend Gonzo's Brother - December 22, 2009 5:52 PM
Old, my brother got one of these for Christmas like 65 million years ago
6. Kenneth - December 22, 2009 6:04 PM
sixth?
7. headcheez - December 22, 2009 6:05 PM
i bet katie would give that raptor a titty bang.......just before she ate him....or maybe he'd eat her.....out.....apparently she likes that.....poor katie.
8. Tennist0 - December 22, 2009 6:18 PM
GW is teh man wit teh plan
9. AaronZZZ - December 22, 2009 6:33 PM
@1 @2 and @3 You all win the Fucktard Award, but the firstard award goes to you koushoku, for being just intelligent enough to be able to spell "FIRST" but just stupid enough to think anyone really gives a shit that you managed to be first on a thread and had nothing better to say than "FIRST". Congratulations on being an first class dip shit.!
10. Paleoreef103 - December 22, 2009 6:57 PM
Archaeologists study the remains and artifacts of humans. Paleontologists are the scientists that worked on Sinornithosaurus. They published their results on the similarity between the teeth and jaw structure of Sinornithosaurus and rear fanged snakes.http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=bird-like-dinosaur-used-venom-to-su-2009-12-21&sc=DD_20091222
11. Bec - December 22, 2009 7:38 PM
They're proposing that it was venomous because there's a space in the skull that might have housed the venom gland and a channel running from that space through the jaw and to the teeth, which also have grooves in them for the venom to pass through into whatever they're biting.
However, there has been some controversy about whether or not this actually means they were venomous: http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2009/12/groovy_teeth_but_was_sinornithosaurus_a_venomous_dinosaur.php
12. Brrrrian - December 22, 2009 7:43 PM
I simply adore turtles.
13. Katie - December 22, 2009 7:44 PM
Paleoreef103. THANK YOU. I'm an Anthropology major and it pisses me off to no end when people say Archaeologists study dinosaurs.
14. Closet Nerd - December 22, 2009 8:09 PM
Damn, can you imagine being paralyzed, then eaten alive?!
15. bw - December 22, 2009 9:24 PM
Really, GW? Archaeologists? I'd expect something like this from the Superficial writer, but damn. I don't study dinosaurs!
16. William "Cheshire Wolf" - December 22, 2009 10:01 PM
@7
and the Raptor would be kind enough to return it with a bitty bang
17. Archaeologist - December 22, 2009 10:37 PM
Archaeologists only dig up the remains of human life. PALEONTOLOGISTS dig DINOSAURS.
18. Hayley - December 23, 2009 5:19 AM
Sorry to disappoint GW, but from the looks of this picture there are no dino genitals to speak of.
19. JADE - December 23, 2009 10:50 AM
@14 that happens to me everytime I drink Yeager....just sayin!
20. kory botz - December 23, 2009 11:22 AM
@11, why the controversy, can't we all just get along?
wtf else would its purpose be? Maybe they were mutantly large saliva glands, this could be a new dinosaur, droolinornithosaurus.
21. Bec - December 23, 2009 5:52 PM
@21 You can't just take the word of the scientists who wrote the paper - of course they want to be the first people to ever find evidence of venomous dinosaurs, but there's not enough evidence yet to make that assumption.
Alternate explanation? The grooves could act to relieve stress on the dinosaurs' teeth when they bite into prey - the space provided by the groove prevents strong and painful suction when they pull their teeth free. And the space in the skull assumed to be a vemon gland might simply be an extention of the air sac that all theropods have in front of their eye sockets. Not to mention this area of the fossil was damaged.
#justsayin
22. meowmo - December 24, 2009 2:03 AM
scientist, or MAD scientist?
23. Lebron James shoes - January 15, 2010 10:11 AM
Your article is really very unique view.
From this article I learned a lot.
24. MRoth1138 - March 12, 2011 2:09 AM
24th!!!