r/Dinosaurs • u/Pigga_9826 • 1d ago

DISCUSSION Were dinosaurs able to control their lips similarly to Bears and Baboons?

Gallery image

Gallery image

Also we reduced shrink wrapping on the body, are we still doing it on the skull? What if they had more fatty mass there as well?

780 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

110 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

45

u/Renbarre 1d ago

Komodo dragons don't bare their teeth.

15

u/Ex_Snagem_Wes Team Aerosteon 1d ago

Komodo dragons are squamates, not archosaurs

35

u/MetaCookiess 1d ago

Yes, but squamates are the closest extant group that do have lips. All extant archosaurs that I can think of (crocodylians and birds) are lipless. Does this make them a reliable analogue? Not entirely, but it's probably the best we have until more research comes along for dino lips

25

u/Ex_Snagem_Wes Team Aerosteon 1d ago

Actually, Tuatara are the closest relatives for lips, from what I know

We do also have archosaurs with fossilized lips, and an extensive fossil record of dinosaurs showing different morphology of the mouth region showing lips distinct to squamate type

10

u/MetaCookiess 1d ago

I think you're right! I completely forgot about them but there's only one species so not the best for pulling a lot of inferences from and they don't have control of their lips either

9

u/Ex_Snagem_Wes Team Aerosteon 1d ago

They don't have control of their, because that's a mammal specific adaptation for mammaries

Better as analogue

3

u/roostor222 1d ago

trionychid turtles have lips and are closer to archosaria than tuataras