JORMUNGANDR (Midgard Serpent)

Midgard Serpent by ~Hieronymus7Z

Fall of Gods 

berggreen

Midogaruzuorumu

The name of the Midgaard Serpent in Norse myth and a metaphor for geologic violence particularly associated with the mid-Atlantic Ocean. Jormungandr dwelt under the sea. Whenever he tightened his coils about the world, earthquakes and tempests lashed out. In the Twilight of the Gods (Goetterdaemmerung or Ragnarok), the monster's death agonies caused a worldwide flood, part of the universal destruction that ended a former age of greatness.

Germanic myth evinces a real fear of this no-man's-land outside the settlement, and the idea of the frontier is there all the time, with the gods serving to ward off dangers from the wild. The islanders and the people along the shore believed that a universal ocean surrounds the earth, with an unfathomable abyss at the horizon and a huge snake curling at the edge to hold the world together. The serpent is called the Midgardr serpent or Jörmungandr; according to Snorri, this monstrous ophidian bit its tail-a concept that does not occur in the Eddic poems but that is quite common in Eastern religions and that was introduced in Scandinavia by medieval Christian scholarship. The symbol (similar to the ouroboros in Jungian psychology) may be borrowed, but the concept is old, as the name Jörmungandr shows. Connected with jörmungrund (meaning "earth" in st. 20 of the Lay of Grimnir), jörmun- (also a name of Odinn) is an adjective meaning "great, powerful, lofty," and gandr means "magic wand." The compound eormengrund also appears in Beowulf (line 859).

Thor and the World Serpent

Although the Norse Thor may be most closely associated with giant-killing, in Germanic myth the greatest archetypal example of the sky-god with thunder-weapon battling demonic power is manifested in Thor's struggle with Jormungandr, the world serpent, a struggle which does not reach its climax until the final cataclysm at Ragnarok. In this conflict Thor manifests the Indo-European patriarchal sky-god who battles evil incarnate in an attempt to protect humankind; we well might say that in this archetypal opposition Thor represents life and light, while Jormungandr represents death and darkness. Myths concerning such polarized battles between the forces of life and those of death are particularly well suited to mid-winter, when rituals related to them also may take place. This association may be especially true in the far north, where darkness and cold always threaten the delicate balance of subsistence; it is Thor, in the Germanic pantheon, who stands between his followers and the frigid abyss. The thunderer's battle with the world serpent, then, carries mythic overtones regarding ancient and widespread concerns about agricultural fertility. Two familiar comic Norse myths provide the context for this particular manifestation of that struggle, which turns starkly serious at the time of the apocalyptic battle between the gods and their foes. Our first glimpse of Thor's conflict with the great serpent comes from the saga of Utgard-Loki told by Snorri; we pick up the tale shortly after Thor has taken Thialfi and Roskva into his service as recompense for the lameness of his goat.

In this myth Thor has his revenge upon Jormungandr for Utgard-Loki's trick, and in taking this vengeance Thor reasserts those qualities of literal mindedness, wrath, and straightforward power with which audiences were most familiar. It is probably in part for these reasons that this was and remains one of the most popular and enduring myths of Thor. It is also, in this version by Snorri, a finely told and funny story. There are three other versions of this myth known to exist, and this myth was most certainly known in England during the Viking period: the Gosforth Slab shows Thor fishing with an ox head, while the Gosforth Cross contains an illustration of Thor fighting Jormungandr; both are from Gosforth churchyard in Cumbria, and both are from ca. 900 ce. In comparative terms, Thor's bait-the ox head-recalls Feridun's Gurz, and this association may suggest the early and archetypal origin of this late Norse version of an Indo-European myth; further, the ox's name ("Skybellower") might indicate a faint cultural recollection of Thor's archetypal identity as protector sky-god. Finally, this myth has been persuasively associated with the medieval tradition of Christ catching Leviathan on a hook. Laughter aside, however, Jormungandr proves to be-quite literally-Thor's nemesis, and with this foreknowledge the comedy of this myth has a ring of pathos. Thor's last battle with the monster and their mutual destruction un derscore the final failing of the old gods of the North; when Thor falls, the forces of order have lost their greatest part: 

Thor and Jormungandr at Ragnarok

On the dawn of the day of the final struggle, when Heimdalr has sounded his horn and thus announced the approach of Ragnarok, Thor will strap on his girdle of strength, put on his iron gloves, take up Mjollnir, and mount his chariot. Thor will ride into battle at the hand of his father, who will be the first to engage the enemy in the form of the great wolf Fenris. Before Thor can turn to Odin's aid, however, he will be attacked by Jormungandr, and their struggle will be mighty and fearsome to behold. Thor's power will prove the greater at the last, but in its death throes the great worm will spew forth rivers of venom so potent that even the thunderer's vigor will be overcome. Thor will stumble back nine paces and fall, stricken by the serpent's poison. The battle will rage on without him, but the hopes of the gods die with Thor.

Dreadnoughtus schrani

An artist's rendering of Dreadnoughtus schrani, an herbivore that most likely spent much of its life eating massive quantities of plants. Artist: Jennifer Hall

Size and weight comparisons for Dreadnoughtus schrani, thought to be the world's largest dinosaur. Lacovara Lab, Drexel University

By Matthew Liddy 

Scientists think they've found the world's largest dinosaur in Argentina. But just how big is Dreadnoughtus schrani?

The palaeontologists behind the discovery of Dreadnoughtus estimate it measured 26 metres from head to tail and weighed approximately 60 metric tonnes.

That is more than twice as long as a typical bus, and heavier than a Boeing 737.

The dinosaur weighed more than an adult sperm whale or a herd of African elephants - and seven times as much as the Tyrannosaurus rex.

Palaeontologist Kenneth Lacovara of Drexel University in the United States, who discovered the dinosaur and led its excavation, says its weight was calculated on the basis of the bones in its upper arm and thigh.

The scientists say the long-necked, long-tailed herbivore roamed the Earth about 77 million years ago.

They found a remarkably complete and well-preserved fossil in the southern Patagonia region of Argentina.

The dinosaur's neck measured 11.3 metres and its tail 8.7 metres.

Is this really the world's biggest dinosaur?

There's some dispute about this.

Professor Lacovara and his team say Dreadnoughtus was "substantially more massive than any other supermassive dinosaur for which mass can be accurately calculated".

Palaeontologists can only use the fossils they have found to estimate a dinosaur's weight.

In the case of Dreadnoughtus, the scientists have found a remarkably high 70 per cent of the skeleton's bones, not including the skull.

Another giant dinosaur, Argentinosaurus, may have been larger, Professor Lacovara says, but its scant remains do not allow a reliable weight estimate.

Only 13 bones out of approximately 250 in the Argentinosaurus have been found.

The scientists, meanwhile, did not reveal why the person shown in this reconstruction of the dinosaur is waving. It seems more likely they would be running, or possibly taking a selfie.

What's with the dinosaur's cool name?

The dinosaur was named Dreadnoughtus because "we thought it was time a plant-eating dinosaur got a badass name", according to researcher Matt Lamanna of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh.

"Those are usually reserved for the meat-eaters," said Mr Lamanna, a palaeontologist.

The name is drawn from the huge battleships of more than a century ago, and means "fearer of nothing".

"When you're as big as this thing was, you're probably not afraid of too much," Mr Lamanna said.

A Gigantic, Exceptionally Complete Titanosaurian Sauropod Dinosaur from Southern Patagonia, Argentina

New find sheds light on dinosaur flight

The dinosaur's long tail probably worked like the elevator and flaps of an aircraft, helping to control the animal's pitch and reduce speed for landing (Stephanie Abramowicz/Dinosaur Institute NHM)

Stuart Gary
ABC

Fossils of the largest dinosaur capable of flight have been discovered in China, according to a new study.

A report in the journal Nature Communications, says the 1.2-metre-long raptor named Changyuraptor yangi, was covered with plumage, including 30-centimetre-long tail feathers.

This discovery shows this 125-million-year-old raptor was flying long before birds split off from dinosaurs, says one of the study's authors Dr Luis Chiappe, a palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

"What makes this special is its size," says Chiappe.

"This four-kilogram dinosaur is much bigger than previous dinosaurs that we thought could fly, so it extends our understanding of what these animals were capable of doing."

The long feathered tail is thought to have played an important flight role, given the raptor's relatively large body size.

Chiappe and colleagues believe the long tail worked like the elevator and flaps of an aircraft, helping the dinosaur to control up and down pitch movements, and reduce speed for landing.

"If you're a heavy animal you could injure yourself unless you can slow down to land safely," says Chiappe.

Four-winged dinosaur

Changyuraptor is part of a group of predatory, feathered, non-avian dinosaurs called Microraptorines which include several small 'four-winged' species.

"We refer to these as 'four-winged', not because they had four wings, but because they had very long feathers on their hind legs," says Chiappe.

He says the dinosaur's sharp steak-knife-like serrated teeth indicate "it was definitely a predator."

"Stomach contents from its close cousin the microraptor showed bird and fish remains," says Chiappe. "Presumably they also ate small mammals and lizards."

The dinosaur was discovered in north-eastern China's Liaoning Province, a region which has developed into a prolific dinosaur fossil bed over the last decade.

"This is an incredible place with spectacular fossils, offering us a ten-million-year window on an ecosystem that existed between 130 and 120 million years ago," says Chiappe.

Changyuraptor yangi lived in what was a temperate forest of mostly conifers, with an undergrowth of ferns and some of the earliest flowering plants.

The forest surrounded a series of interconnected lakes and streams, dominated by active volcanos erupting clouds of ash and deadly pyroclastic flows.

These flows pushed the remains of these animals into the lakes where they were covered by volcanic ash and sediments.

"This quick burial and lack of oxygen helped preserve this animal from predators and microbial decay, allowing us to find it," says Chiappe.

"To many people the idea of flying dinosaurs is a novel concept, feathered flight has always been assumed to be the domain of birds," says Chiappe.

"There's now plenty of evidence to show that birds were descended from dinosaurs, and we're also learning that these dinosaurs were also capable of flight."

Dinosaurs not warm or cold-blooded

Dinosaurs' higher metabolic rate allowed them to move faster making them a more dangerous predator.

Rachel Sullivan
ABC

Dinosaurs were neither warm-blooded like mammals, nor cold-blooded like reptiles, instead they were somewhere in between, suggests a new study.

Exploiting the middle ground as a strategy may have helped dinosaurs rule the Earth for more than 100 million years, scientists report today in the journal Science .

The question of whether dinosaurs were lumbering cold-blooded or active warm-blooded animals has been debated for decades, but finding a definitive answer has proven difficult.

Now, biologist John Grady from the University of New Mexico and colleagues, have developed a new method for analysing dinosaurs' metabolic rates.

Building on previous work by palaeontologists and physiologists, they created a large database on growth and energy in both living and extinct groups of vertebrates including 21 species of dinosaurs.
They then used statistical analyses and energetic models to determine the relationship between growth rate and energy use.

Annual growth rings in fossils were used to determine growth rates, while metabolic rates were estimated by using changes in body size as an animal grows from birth to adult (known as ontogenetic growth).

"We found that growth rate is a good indicator of energy use in living animals. Warm-blooded (endothermic) mammals grow 10 times faster than cold-blooded (ectothermic) reptiles, and metabolise 10 times faster; in general doubling one's metabolic rate leads to a doubling in growth rate," Grady explains.

However, when they examined the growth rates of dinosaurs, although there was some variation in the rate they grew, they had neither the high metabolic rate of mammals and birds, nor the low metabolic rate of reptiles.

"Surprisingly we found that, instead, they occupied the middle energetic ground."

Today, mesothermic animals are uncommon, but living species come from across the evolutionary spectrum, and include leatherback turtles, tuna, great white sharks and the echidna.

These animals at times rely on internally-generated metabolic heat to maintain body temperatures, while being subject to external temperatures in others.

"They generate enough heat to warm their blood above ambient temperature, but don't do anything to maintain it, such as shivering which humans do when they are cold," says Grady.

"Meanwhile, echidna body temperatures can fluctuate by up to 10 degrees when they are active."

Evolutionary advantage

Dinosaurs evolved around 200 million years ago, and competed for resources with ectothermic animals like lizards.

Their higher metabolic rate meant they could move faster making them a more dangerous predator, or more elusive prey, says Grady.

"A higher metabolic rate gave them other competitive advantages as well: they could grow faster and reproduce faster.

"But being completely warm-blooded like a mammal limits the maximum size an animal can reach — it is doubtful that a lion the size of T. rex would be able to eat enough wildebeasts (or elephants) without starving to death.

"With their lower food demands, however, the real T. rex was able to get really big while still maintaining their advantage over their competition."

As well as helping us understand how warm-blooded animals evolved, understanding dinosaurs' energy use challenges our understanding of how life operates, Grady explains.

"They were ecologically dominant for more than 100 million years, and understanding how they lived and what contributed to their dominance helps us understand why some animals win over others.

"Dinosaurs' intermediate lifestyle may have been the key to their evolutionary success. Against today's polarised landscape, dinosaurs stand out as a successful middle way."

Life-size robotic dinosaurs unveiled at the West Australian Museum

By Emma Wynne
 

Inside the historic Hackett Hall at the WA Museum 20 dinosaurs roar, snap their jaws and wave their tails in a new exhibit designed to show visitors life-size creatures of the Cretaceous period.

Dinosaur Discovery: Lost Creatures of the Cretaceous opens in Perth on April 11, and is a first for the WA Museum.

Stephen Goldsworthy is the designer who has spent the past two years working with the museum’s palaeontologists to create the dinosaurs, and said they have tried to make them as scientifically accurate as possible.

“Palaeontologists, paleo-artists and paleo-botanists have all given us information," he said.

“We have worked from fossils and drawings and the scientific information that is available.

“We spent a lot of time working on the engineering. They are steel frames with electronic motors, and it’s all computerised.

"We also worked with the palaeontologist at the museum to make sure the movement was in line with the bone structure.”

It is not quite Jurassic Park, but the creatures do contain an extraordinary amount of detail, including individually hand-carved scales.

“The Spinosaurus actually breathes, its spine and tail moves. It really is an amazing piece of engineering. It took about four months to construct,” said Mr Goldsworthy.

In addition to the 10-metre high Brachiosaurus, whose long next stretches into the first floor bookshelf, the exhibition also includes some less familiar animals.

“The Leaellynasaura is a very cute dinosaur and a dinosaur that not many people will know about,” Mr Goldworthy said, pointing at a small bird-like creature with an orange beak.

“If you could have one as a pet today you would.”

Council of Wyrms

Council of Wyrms by Jeff Easley

There are a chain of islands called Io's Blood Island Chain. These islands represent all major climates. It is separated from the rest of its world by very large oceans.

The dragons on the islands are described as having a loose democratic government with a caretaker. Each dragon clan with a wyrm level dragon gets a vote on issues before the Council of Wyrms. The caretaker only gets a vote on tie issues. Thus dragonkind cooperates and makes decisions on issues affecting dragon welfare.

Humans are not native to the islands, and those humans who come to the islands are mostly adventurous dragon slayers

The Council of Wyrms, with representatives from each of the 15 branches of dragonkind, arbitrates major disagreements to keep minor skirmishes from developing into full-fledged dragon wars. While it is the Council's job to chart diplomatic courses through even the most turbulent waters of conflict, it also remains ever vigilant for signs of the dread human invaders who once almost destroyed the dragons of the isles. The player character dragons are born into this setting and must face the dangers and challenges of the isles and the seas around them. 

Dragons rule the isles. They are the ultimate creatures, feared and respected because of their size, physical prowess, and magical abilities. They sit atop the food chain, barely acknowledging those beneath them. Still, the tests faced by the children of Io are legion, for no dragon hatches full grown and at the peak of its power. It must survive long enough to develop its strengths and abilities, to grow large, to gain the experience of passing centuries. For majesty might and magic, the dragons reign supreme. 

Kindred work in cooperation with dragonkind. These demihumans, while not as long-lived as their dragon masters, can at least survive through more than a single dragon life stage. Kindred are not slaves. They freely acknowledge the superiority and majesty of dragonkind, and readily offer their services in exchange for leadership and protection. Just as a medieval vassal swears allegiance to a liege lord, a demihuman bonds with a particular dragon of her liege clan. These demihumans handle the tasks their lords cannot or will not do. There are simply times, circumstances and locations where a small, bipedal being is better suited to a task than is a massive dragon. Kindred fill a specific and honorable station in draconic society. 

Half-dragons strive to rise above the prejudices and limitations of their station. Some find acceptance (or at least a place to dwell) among the more tolerant clans. Others run from hostile clans that hate the half-breeds beyond all sense or reason. In most cases, half-dragons are outcasts who wander the isles in search of ways to prove their worth to the dragons they fear, respect, love, and hate.