Re: SDCC Dinosauria: Dienosuchus vs. Parasaurolophus
Alright, and now that I have more energy and haven't been awake for 22 hours straight, I can actually churn out this post again.
I have to say I love the direction SS took with this piece. Initially I was a bit confused as to why there was no shoreline in the picture if the Parasaur was being snagged while drinking. The concept of the Parasaurolophus being attacked in mid-swim is actually much more appealing to me. It's extremely evocative of the manner of forceful attacks we see when a Great White shark surges upward while attacking an fur seal. The shere force of the attack is propelling the swimming Parasaur from the water, leaving it airborne and grounded only within the jaws of its killer. I've seen similar tactics when crocodiles attack nile monitors, startling boaters as they rocket through the surface with their prey aloft.
Now to some other details that I find compelling. The description details the Deinosuchus as a 45 foot long female. According to the most recent estimates by Schwimmer, Deinosuchus probably ranged from 30-40 feet in length, with large outliers falling around 40. Now bear in mind this is all rather speculative based on the relatively scant remains we do have for this large crocodilian. That being said, if Deinosuchus was anything like extant crocodilians, males are larger than females. This specimen in the diorama would be extremely large, even based on current estimates for Deinosuchus. However, the size for the female in the diorama could be make plausible if it were a specimen having survived to an abundant count of years. Unlike mammals, crocodiles don't stop growing with age, so perhaps this female is very, very old; say 100+ years at least. Then the size and gender coupling could actually make sense. With crocodiles, the individuals of advanced age are no less formidable as geriatrics; rather they are the largest and, terrifyingly, most cunning.
The guile brings me to my next observation here. The backstory is written quite intriguingly, to make the female appear quite calculating. This could tie into the observation that this is certainly a geriatric individual, and with a keen knowledge of her surroundings. Crocodiles are extremely territorial, and once an individual carves out a territory, they often hold it for decades if not the better part of a century from rivals. The result is an individual which knows its environment, and the prey within it, extremely well. Crocodiles are indeed much more intelligent than people usually give them credit. They aren't simply large mindless brutes. For example, Estuarine crocodiles have been known to haul sharks
out of the water in order to dispatch them more easily... a most interesting adaptive and likely learned behavior for organisms which have evolved chiefly to drag large terrestrial animals
into the water where the prey is dismembered and killed. Equally compelling is that with smaller fish, crocodiles dine in the water, bringing their heads to the surface as they attempt to swallow their prey as quickly as possible... whereas sharks are brought to shore, held within the jaws for a time, and when they cease to struggle as furiously, are shredded and eaten in turn. Completely different tactics to hunt and kill prey specimens, and evocative of what makes the animals rightly wondrous and frightening.
Just burned up my Reward Points on this one. Knocked $119 off the price
*love me some dinosaurs . . . *
Did that for the Carnotaurus myself!
Gotta love the reward points!
This new piece looks great, but where is the piece that was shown in the COmic-Con Teaser video ?
The one with the spikes ???
Like JC, I am inclined to say it is one of the spikes from the Styracosaurus. In hindsight they probably shouldn't have included it in the SDCC teaser.
Aw, you guys should have preordered from me. I'd have given you a discount.
I think the blood is adequate. It's a fresh wound, after all. Poor fella will probably get ripped apart shortly after drowning.
Well, I must say I have a great deal of consumer loyalty with SSC based on past service and the awesome and friendly artisans they have aboard, and the reward points don't hurt much either, nor the customer service, nor getting the pieces as soon as SS releases them.
That being said, how much of a discount are we talking here? If you could guarantee a low edition number I'd be intrigued.
Also, as to the gore with this most recent diorama, it has nothing to do with the freshness of the wound and everything to do with the type of dentition inflicting it. Compare the bite of a crocodile today with that of a Tiger shark. A fresh bite from a crocodile can have little to no blood since the teeth essentially just impale and hold, whereas with a Tiger shark blood will flow freely almost immediately from a fresh bite being that the teeth are designed to saw through flesh and bone with relative ease via serrations and sharp lateral shaking of the maw, gouging out large chunks of the prey organism rather than keeping it in anchored. Crocodilians maintain a hold on their prey until the organism is dispatched, whereas most species of large predatory sharks deal a vicious initial blow and then pull back and wait for the victim to bleed to death, a tactic shared by many species of large monitors as well. This is why, for example, you would see a much greater amount of blood from an initial wound inflicted by a Tyrannosaur than you would from a wound inflicted by a Deinosuchus. Granted, if a crocodile were to loosen its vice-like grip, there would be blood, though not the profusion one might expect from other carnivores. I'm not sure whether the amount of gore in the piece was intentional or not, but to have the amount that they do, if planned, is really very insightful on the part of Anthony Mestas, Pablo Viggiano and the rest of the team.
Thanks, gents! I wish I had the time. Spent all of today at work, yesterday at a party for people I don't even know, and Saturday mainly observing a male Sharp-shinned hawk hunting finches and sparrows, snatching them right off their perches; our little guy has a 91% success rate for kills this year so far! 
