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Opalized dinosaur skull (Kakuru kujani)?


aplomado

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While their have been opalized skulls found (like Eric the Plesiosaur http://io9.gizmodo.com/5987941/eric-the-pliosaur-one-of-the-most-interesting-fossils-on-the-planet) this is not one of them. the anatomy is all wrong and it simply looks like a creation of Photoshop.

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Agreed it looks like it's fabricated. Wikipedia who is a reference I do not like to use states that this species is only known from a few leg bones and the tibia was opalized?

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^ is there anything faker than fake?

As for opalization though. I have never seen it myself in bone.

Do these specimens (which I assume are rarer than rare) tend to opaline all the way through? Or just on the outer layers?

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...Do these specimens (which I assume are rarer than rare) tend to opaline all the way through? Or just on the outer layers?

The Australian plesiosaur is described as being " opal-covered".

post-423-0-62807500-1460576788_thumb.jpg

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"There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant

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>Paleontology is an evolving science.

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Do these specimens (which I assume are rarer than rare) tend to opaline all the way through? Or just on the outer layers?

Opal fills voids in the rock / bone where it is found. The bone would have to dissolve out and would then have the hole filled with the opal for the opal to be a complete replacement of the bone. I have never heard of this. But I have seen shells like that.

Tony

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  • 3 weeks later...

It's definitely a fake. The anatomy is totally wrong, and it clearly doesn't belong to an animal that was similar to Kakuru kujani. If it was real, a fossil like that would be as famous as Eric the pliosaur.

The only remains of Nakuru were a partial opalised tarsometatarsus and a possible pedal phalanx.

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Opalised fossils are the best: a wonderful mix between paleontology and mineralogy!

 

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Looks like a poorly-modelled Ornitholestes skull in which the infratemporal fenestra has mysteriously disappeared.

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  • 4 years later...
On 5/2/2016 at 7:55 AM, Arion said:

Looks like a poorly-modelled Ornitholestes skull in which the infratemporal fenestra has mysteriously disappeared.

The skull of the Ornitholestes holotype has an infratemporal fenestra (see drawing of Ornitholestes holotype skull at Wikimedia). Only thing is, a clear view of the infratemporal fenestra in AMNH 619 is complicated by the braincase inside the skull.

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29 minutes ago, DD1991 said:

The skull of the Ornitholestes holotype has an infratemporal fenestra (see drawing of Ornitholestes holotype skull at Wikimedia). Only thing is, a clear view of the infratemporal fenestra in AMNH 619 is complicated by the braincase inside the skull.

Yes, that was my point; Ornitholestes (like every other dinosaur) has an infratemporal fenestra. The absence of one in the OP’s “skull” is a glaring inaccuracy indicative of forgery by someone who doesn’t really understand tetrapod anatomy.

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I realize this topic is over four years old, but the "opal" in this image looks Photoshopped.

 

On 4/13/2016 at 11:44 AM, aplomado said:

 

Opal.jpg

 

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The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true.  -  JJ

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