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Why don't turtles still have tail spikes?


Still Waters

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We're all familiar with those awesome armored giants of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods - Stegosaurus and Ankylosaurus - and their amazing, weaponized tails. But why aren't similar weaponized tails found in animals living today? In a study covering 300 million years of evolutionary history, researchers from North Carolina State University and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences found four necessary components to tail weapon development: size, armor, herbivory and thoracic stiffness.

https://phys.org/news/2018-01-dont-turtles-tail-spikes.html

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hey, yeah! what gives?

neat article, sea turtles interestingly enough only fit one or two of the traits required, depending on the species.

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We have just lost several species of very large hirnd and tail clubbed land turtles in the last few thousand years. Which strikes me as a shame.

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