I froze the frame in a trailer - I know someone who will jump up and
down, lol!

Dry Gulch Pete wrote:
> I froze the frame in a trailer - I know someone who will jump up and
> down, lol!

Don't get me started! You wouldn't like me when I'm started.

On Jan 17, 1:46 pm, "Enzo Matrix" <enz> wrote:
> Dry Gulch Pete wrote:
> > I froze the frame in a trailer - I know someone who will jump up and
> > down, lol!
>
> Don't get me started!  You wouldn't like me when I'm started.
>
~
LOL

On Jan 17, 1:46 pm, "Enzo Matrix" <enz> wrote:
> Dry Gulch Pete wrote:
> > I froze the frame in a trailer - I know someone who will jump up and
> > down, lol!
>
> Don't get me started!  You wouldn't like me when I'm started.
>
> --
~
http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/20...eeth-you-have/

Sorry to get you started, REnzo, but would you care to comment, lol?

Dry Gulch Pete wrote:
> On Jan 17, 1:46 pm, "Enzo Matrix" <enz> wrote:
>> Dry Gulch Pete wrote:
>>> I froze the frame in a trailer - I know someone who will jump up and
>>> down, lol!
>>
>> Don't get me started! You wouldn't like me when I'm started.
>>
>> --
> ~
> [..]
>
> Sorry to get you started, REnzo, but would you care to comment, lol?

That's not necessarily /Smilodon/ . In fact, it doesn't look anything like
/Smilodon/ because it doesn't seem to be as robust as would be expected. The
picture shows a very gracile creature, that looks like a leopard. /Smildon/
looked more like a very large lynx. It could be a /Hoplophoneus/ . Strictly
speaking, /Hoplophoneus/ wasn't even a cat. It was a Nimravid, which were a
parallel development and eventually evolved into hyenas.

The markings on the animal in the picture would support the theory that it
is /Hoplophoneus/ . /Hoplophoneus/ lived in lightly forested areas, similar
to the environment of the modern jaguar, and so it has similar markings to a
jaguar.

It will be interesting to see whether they show the sabre-tooth roaring.

On Jan 18, 12:51 pm, "Enzo Matrix" <enz> wrote:
> Dry Gulch Pete wrote:
>>
>
> That's not necessarily /Smilodon/ .  In fact, it doesn't look anything like
> /Smilodon/ because it doesn't seem to be as robust as would be expected. The
> picture shows a very gracile creature, that looks like a leopard. /Smildon/
> looked more like a very large lynx. It could be a /Hoplophoneus/ . Strictly
> speaking, /Hoplophoneus/ wasn't even a cat. It was a Nimravid, which were a
> parallel development and eventually evolved into hyenas.
>
> The markings on the animal in the picture would support the theory that it
> is /Hoplophoneus/ . /Hoplophoneus/ lived in lightly forested areas, similar
> to the environment of the modern jaguar, and so it has similar markings toa
> jaguar.
>
> It will be interesting to see whether they show the sabre-tooth roaring.
>
~
Wow - you certainly know your stuff! :-)

Dry Gulch Pete wrote:
> On Jan 18, 12:51 pm, "Enzo Matrix" <enz> wrote:
> ~
> Wow - you certainly know your stuff! :-)

*strutt*

Another thing to check is the length of the tail. If the animal on the show
has a long tail then it is *not* /Smilodon/ . The tail of /Smilodon/ was
very short indeed, just like that of a lynx. It will be interesting to see
how large they make the animal. Everyone assumes that sabre-toothed cats
were huge. Not so. The largest /Smilodon/ skeleton is only slightly larger
than an average lioness. The largest cats that have ever lived are modern
tigers.

On Jan 18, 6:29 pm, "Enzo Matrix" <enz> wrote:
[..]
>
> Another thing to check is the length of the tail. If the animal on the show
> has a long tail then it is *not* /Smilodon/ .  The tail of /Smilodon/ was
> very short indeed, just like that of a lynx. It will be interesting to see
> how large they make the animal. Everyone assumes that sabre-toothed cats
> were huge. Not so. The largest /Smilodon/ skeleton is only slightly larger
> than an average lioness.  The largest cats that have ever lived are modern
> tigers.
>
> --
~
I shall watch with interest - sabre-tooth? - that Primeval beast had
TUSKS! :-D

Dry Gulch Pete wrote:
> On Jan 18, 6:29 pm, "Enzo Matrix" <enz> wrote:
>>
>> Another thing to check is the length of the tail. If the animal on
>> the show has a long tail then it is *not* /Smilodon/ . The tail of
>> /Smilodon/ was very short indeed, just like that of a lynx. It will
>> be interesting to see how large they make the animal. Everyone
>> assumes that sabre-toothed cats were huge. Not so. The largest
>> /Smilodon/ skeleton is only slightly larger than an average lioness.
>> The largest cats that have ever lived are modern tigers.
>>
>> --
> ~
> I shall watch with interest - sabre-tooth? - that Primeval beast had
> TUSKS! :-D

The teaser for next week's show specifically stated that the animal was
/Smilodon/ .

As for the tusks... Did you notice that the cat couldn't open its mouth
wide enough to clear the tips of its incisors? What is the point of that?
/Smilodon/ had a jaw that opened much wider than any of the currently extant
cats. It was necessary to allow /Smilodon/ to hunt and kill. Current
theories hold that /Smilodon/ hunted extinct megaherbivores. Rather that
crabbing its prey by the muzzle and suffocating it, as modern pantherine
cats do, /Smilodon/ probably attacked the throat of the prey animal. The
large incisors would have served to sever the blood vessels in the neck,
causing the prey to expire very quickly from hypovolemia.

For that reason, it was imprtant that the lower jaw could clear the tips of
the incisors. This was shown quite clearly in a bust of /Smilodon/ that
Cutter had in his office in Season 1. Of course, now that Season 2 is in a
different reality and Cutter works from the ARC, we are unlikely to see that
office again.

Here's something that is annoying me. The Haven sponsorship adverts mention
having a holiday "with your monsters", implying that the creatures seen in
"Primeval" are themselves "monsters". They are *not* monsters. They are
simply animals.

On Jan 19, 10:04 pm, "Enzo Matrix" <enz> wrote:
> Dry Gulch Pete wrote:
>>
> The teaser for next week's show specifically stated that the animal was
> /Smilodon/ .
>
> As for the tusks...  Did you notice that the cat couldn't open its mouth
> wide enough to clear the tips of its incisors?  What is the point of that?
~
Christopher Lee had trouble closing his mouth sometimes when he had
his fangs in, lol!
~
> /Smilodon/ had a jaw that opened much wider than any of the currently extant
> cats. It was necessary to allow /Smilodon/ to hunt and kill. Current
> theories hold that /Smilodon/ hunted extinct megaherbivores. Rather that
> crabbing its prey by the muzzle and suffocating it, as modern pantherine
> cats do, /Smilodon/ probably attacked the throat of the prey animal. The
> large incisors would have served to sever the blood vessels in the neck,
> causing the prey to expire very quickly from hypovolemia.
>
> For that reason, it was imprtant that the lower jaw could clear the tips of
> the incisors. This was shown quite clearly in a bust of /Smilodon/ that
> Cutter had in his office in Season 1. Of course, now that Season 2 is in a
> different reality and Cutter works from the ARC, we are unlikely to see that
> office again.
>
> Here's something that is annoying me.  The Haven sponsorship adverts mention
> having a holiday "with your monsters", implying that the creatures seen in
> "Primeval" are themselves "monsters".  They are *not* monsters. They are
> simply animals.
>
~
Victoria Vetri and Racquel Welch might beg to differ, lol!

Sorry, not very scientific!

Btw, you *do* know your stuff! :-)

On 19 Jan, 22:04, "Enzo Matrix" <enz> wrote:
> Dry Gulch Pete wrote:
>>
> The teaser for next week's show specifically stated that the animal was
> /Smilodon/ .
>
~
I thought they said 'sabre-toothed cat'! :-S

Next week ought to be fun, though - well, it *ought* to be but they
will probably cock it up!

In article <8YydnRCUt9pI7g_anZ2dnUVZ8vOdnZ2d>,
"Enzo Matrix" <enzo55> writes:
> Current
> theories hold that /Smilodon/ hunted extinct megaherbivores.

It won't've had much to eat, then.

> Here's something that is annoying me. The Haven sponsorship adverts mention
> having a holiday "with your monsters", implying that the creatures seen in
> "Primeval" are themselves "monsters". They are *not* monsters. They are
> simply animals.

`Monster' is a relative term. If it's enormous, out of place, and very
scary indeed, involving eating people alive, and that, it isn't unreasonable
to describe it as a monster.

My children are relatives of mine, and can be monsters at times.

Dry Gulch Pete wrote:
> On 19 Jan, 22:04, "Enzo Matrix" <enz> wrote:
> ~
> I thought they said 'sabre-toothed cat'! :-S

In the dialogue of the teaser, Cutter specifically referred to /Smilodon/ .


> Next week ought to be fun, though - well, it *ought* to be but they
> will probably cock it up!

Even if they make a complete and utter hash of it, it will still be better
than "Torchwood".

Sam Nelson wrote:
> In article <8YydnRCUt9pI7g_anZ2dnUVZ8vOdnZ2d>,
> "Enzo Matrix" <enzo55> writes:
>
> It won't've had much to eat, then.
>> `Monster' is a relative term. If it's enormous, out of place, and
> very scary indeed, involving eating people alive, and that, it isn't
> unreasonable to describe it as a monster.
>
> My children are relatives of mine, and can be monsters at times.

:-)

I've noticed that Primeval has actually done quite well presenting these
creatures as animals rather than monsters. The glaring error in season 1
was showing a /Pteranodon/ that was about twice as big as they were in real
life. From the teaser for next week's episode, it looks like the
sabre-toothed cat will also be far bigger than it needs to be.

But Primeval isn't nearly as bad as the Jurassic Park movies. The dinosaurs
depicted in those movies were significantly bigger than they would have been
in real life. The Tyrannosaur seemed to grow bigger with each successive
movie. By the second movie they were no longer dinosaurs, they were just
movie monsters. They might as well have had Godzilla rampaging around San
Diego.

On Mon, 21 Jan 2008 12:49:20 -0000, "Enzo Matrix" <enzo55>
wrote:

>But Primeval isn't nearly as bad as the Jurassic Park movies. The dinosaurs
>depicted in those movies were significantly bigger than they would have been
>in real life. The Tyrannosaur seemed to grow bigger with each successive
>movie. By the second movie they were no longer dinosaurs, they were just
>movie monsters. They might as well have had Godzilla rampaging around San
>Diego.

I thought that was a deliberate gag/reference, with the T Rex chasing
a bunch of Japanese tourists.