Chapter 1 : Baryonyx - Facts and Pictures Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. Continue Reading Below Advertisement Ever since the stegosaurus was first discovered in, scientists have had a hard time figuring out exactly how those trademark plates were arranged on its body or for that matter, how a stegosaurus filled out a trademark application. No evidence suggested that they were covered in spikes, but paleontologists added them when they were determined to be totally badass. That shingled-roof formation is actually what gave the stegosaurus its name, and all things considered, it was a fairly reasonable assumption to make. Hell, we have tiny versions of that animal around now. What exactly did these plates do? Were they used for protection? Could they fold those suckers down like wings and take off like an airplane? I need this to be accurate. Ballou" wrote an article in the Ogden Standard-Examiner describing how stegosaurus plates could fold down at will, creating "gliding surfaces immeasurably like those of the planes of to-day. All it took for a 5-ton behemoth to leap from a cliff and sail gracefully across the Jurassic skies were a series of miniscule back-plates and giant dinosaur balls. Continue Reading Below Advertisement As brain-clubbingly stupid as the idea was, it did find some purchase in pop culture. Continue Reading Below Holy shit! Sounds like we all have some reading to do. So scientists theorized that these cavities were a braincase for a second, auxiliary brain. This "sacral brain" supposedly gave them the intelligence boost they needed to control the back half of their bodies, which is kind of like suggesting that putting a second steering wheel in the cargo hold of an wheeler would make it drive better. The myth still pops up from time to time, too But how about Discovery Channel specials? In the series Clash of the Dinosaurs, guest paleontologist Matt Wedel discussed the evidence against the two-brain hypothesis in a filmed interview, but since double-brained dinosaurs make for more fascinating TV, the editors deliberately chopped his words until he endorsed the idea. Only after he issued a bitter complaint did Discovery try to set his words straight What a bunch of butt-brains. Page 1
Chapter 2 : Dinosaurs - Pictures and Facts Prehistoric Animals, Jurassic Creatures, Large predatory dinosaur with red crests over their eyes and three-fingered hands with sharp claws Like all animals. Pteranodon are large flying pterosaurs with pointed wingtips, covered in scaly bodies. They have crests at the back of their heads and long beaks for mouths. Their claws can easily grasp prey and hold them on branches similar to birds. Behavior Pteranodon are social animals, with all encounters being with others of their kind. Description Edit These Pteranodon are brown, with a white underbelly and a blue tint along the back. Their crests are flatter than the other two variants, with a slight upward curve as well. Their beaks are very birdlike, with the tips pointing towards each other. Behavior While not much has been observed, they are known to perch on trees, something the other variants have not been seen doing. Description Edit These Pteranodon are huge, being nearly the size of the average Quetzalquatlus. They have straight beaks erroneously filled with teeth. Females are brown, with lighter brown, nearly golden underbellies. Their backs, parts of the wings, and beak are black, with red running down from the eyes. The males are black, with white on the wings and underbellies. The crest is similar in coloration to the females underbelly. The babies are pink, with pyctnofibers occasionally appearing along the back. Behavior Edit These Pteranodon are very aggressive, attacking most things that came in their aviary and a small town in Canada. They are known to be great caretakers of their young, but seem to either abandon them early on or stop caring when given freedom from their cage. They also give them live prey, likely to teach them how to kill as modern predators will do. Description Edit These Pteranodons are all similar in size to males of the prehistoric animals. They are grey, with most individuals having red wings and crests. Some individuals have blue crests, but it is unknown if this is sexual dimorphism or individual variation. Behavior Edit These Pteranodon are known to be relatively aggressive after being locked up, attacking multiple people near a large body of water. They are attracted towards splashing, probably because they associate this with their fish prey. Unlike the other variants, this Pteranodon is known to dive similar to many sea birds and possibly their prehistoric counterparts. They are known to nest on cliffs, where they will congregate similar to sea birds. Page 2
Chapter 3 : 15 Terrifying and Little Known Prehistoric Monsters - Listverse There are many prehistoric turtle-like creatures that resemble modern turtles but this unusual animal also has a long neck giving it a long-necked dinosaur appearance. The sauropods are a group of massive dinosaurs such as the Brachiosaurus that all have long necks just like the snake-head turtle. Contact Author Dinosaurs are immensely popular with both children and adults alike. Nothing sparks the imagination like giant lizard-like creatures that once actually roamed our Earth. The enormous success of the Jurassic Park movies is a testament to the enthusiasm people have about dinosaurs and other creatures that are often confused as such. Surely at some point, young people have imagined what it would be like to have a dinosaur as a pet. Thanks to the exotic pet trade, you can actually own dinosaur look-alikes as imagined and in some cases, actual close relatives of dinosaurs. Source The Frilled Dragon The frilled dragon is relatively easy to find in the reptile trade and may instantly remind someone of the dilophosaurus, a species made famous from the original Jurassic Park movie. Source The Armadillo The most commonly owned armadillo species is the South American native three-banded armadillo, which is an animal that can fully close itself into a ball. The hairy armadillo and American native 9-banded armadillos are also sometimes kept. Armadillos are not animals for beginners to keeping exotic pets and require extensive housing and deep substrate to burrow in. These fascinating animals strongly resemble the ancient creatures known as aetosaurs. Armadillos are not legal in many states, sometimes because of the fear that they may transmit leprosy. Being mammals, armadillos are more closely related to us than any member of the archosaur group. The cassowary is an exception; these blue birds have claws that make them the most dangerous bird in the world, capable of disemboweling an adult human. Emus are large and may give us an idea of how some dinosaurs walked and behaved. Source The Rhino Iguana All lizards look like dinosaurs to some degree, and iguanas are no exception. With their impressive size, claws, and spines, they were often used as actors for monsters in early movies. Rhino iguanas have a particularly prehistoric look with their dark skin and bumpy faces. The alligator snapping turtle. Source Source The Alligator Snapping Turtle These reptiles have a reputation that is every bit as vicious as their appearance. Their dramatic shell is adorned with Ankylosaurus-like plates and they even have a beak like that species, which is used to tear their prey to pieces although the ankylosaurus was herbivorous. Turtles are distantly related to dinosaurs, being related to the group called archosaurs that includes dinosaurs and crocodilians. Another prehistoric-looking turtle species that is sometimes kept as a pet is the mata mata turtle from South America, shown below. Source This strange looking aquatic turtle also has plates and rough features. As some of the largest reptiles in the world besides crocodilians and giant pythons, they look like real-life dinosaurs despite their distant relation to birds which are extant dinosaurs. These animals are carnivorous and active, with most of them requiring very demanding care. Some, like the croc monitor, present some danger to their owners. A better pet would be the small acanthurus or spiny-tailed monitor. These tame lizards are easy to handle and are available in different color morphs. Dinosaurs are not closely related to lizards or alligators because of their hip joint. Source The Caiman Modern-day crocodilians are not dinosaurs, but they are closely related to them. Together with modern birds and all of their ancestors, they form a group called the Archosaurs. In some states, you can own your very own crocodilian which include caiman, alligators, and in rare cases, crocodiles. They resemble the Phytosaurs of the late Triassic period. These animals have a striking resemblance to those ancient archosauriform reptiles; however they are not direct descendants. This is an example of convergent evolution, where unrelated species evolve a similar morphology and niche. Dwarf caimans are the smallest crocodilian one can own but they still require a lot of semi-aquatic space. They are small compared to crocodiles, but can still grow to 5 feet. Source The Hornbill Hornbills and their close relatives the toucans are relatively large birds with sizable beaks, making them ironically resemble the group of flying reptiles called pterosaurs even though those are actually not dinosaurs and modern birds are. In captivity, African species are more common, including the Red Billed and Von der Page 3
Decken hornbills. The flying ability of pterosaurs has no relation to birds, as it has evolved independently just like bat wings. Source The Jackson Chameleon Chameleons are fascinating pets and the most popular species are not terribly demanding pets. Owning these unique animals is still just like having your own tiny dinosaur. Sailfin Dragon Video Source The Sailfin Dragon These impressive-looking lizards are not common in the pet trade nor are they simple to care for, but getting one just might be worth it based on their astounding dinosaur-like appearance. The males have a fan-like sail on their tail, making them resemble the iconic dimetrodon which is actually more closely related to humans than dinosaurs or the Spinosaurus, star of Jurassic Park 3. Mature specimens have a well-developed crest that can make it resemble the parasaurolophus and lambeosaurus, in addition to the spinosaurus and dimetrodon. Source The Snake-Head Turtle There are many prehistoric turtle-like creatures that resemble modern turtles but this unusual animal also has a long neck giving it a long-necked dinosaur appearance. The sauropods are a group of massive dinosaurs such as the Brachiosaurus that all have long necks just like the snake-head turtle. These turtles may also resemble the aquatic reptiles known as plesiosaurs that look like the Loch Ness monster and are often mistaken to be dinosaurs. Source The Crocodile Skink These medium-sized lizards are rising in popularity for obvious reasons. Adorned with beautiful orange rings around their eyes, the crocodile skink resembles dragons or even plated dinosaurs like ankylosaurus and stegosaurus. Source The Caiman Lizard If you can manage to keep a steady supply of snails and provide a large, semi-aquatic tank, the caiman lizard can make an impressive display animal. They resemble many quadruped non-avian dinosaurs, including Prestosuchus and Postosuchus. It is not meant to substitute for diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, prescription, or formal and individualized advice from a veterinary medical professional. Animals exhibiting signs and symptoms of distress should be seen by a veterinarian immediately. Page 4
Chapter 4 : Top 11 Scariest Prehistoric Animals - theinnatdunvilla.com Dinosaur claws and crests. [Joanne Mattern] -- Readers will discover how prehistoric animals hunted and defended themselves with their claws and how some prehistoric creatures used crests to help them identify others of their kind and scare off. It was made famous in the movie "Jurassic Park", but real Dilophosaurus was much larger, and there is no evidence, it had neck frills or poison glands. This medium-sized theropod was the largest predator in its environment, a powerful meat-eating animal, that ate smaller plant-eating dinosaurs. It was probably a group animal, since three specimens were found together in Arizona, USA. Dilophosaurus was quick and probably moved around in small herds of family groups, covering a lot of territory. Dilophosaurus was a predator with a very unusual skull. It had a pair of semicircular bony crests, that rose vertically on either side of the skull. These crests were very thin in places and were given support by vertical struts of bone. The tip of each crest narrowed into a spike at the back of the skull. The significance of the crests is still unknown; they probably served dual purposes: This effective desert predator was a speedy, slender and bipedual walked on two muscular legs, leaving bird-like footprints on land. Body about the weight of a small horse with long, strong hind legs with four-toed feet, short forelimbs with three-fingered hands that were flexible, with an opposable thumb. Its hind legs, feet, were armed with very powerful claws, that were probably used as weapons as well as for locomotion. Dilophosaurus was probably a very rapid runner. It was carnivore, but it had loosely attached jaws which would have made killing animals with its teeth difficult. It must have killed with its clawed arms and legs. SIZE - Juvenile 20ft 6m long. This tough little creature only about 13 ft. Any meat-eating predator biting into this little shield lizard would be in for a tough chew. Scutellosaurus was one of the earliest known ornithischians, whose jaw was particularly well-adapted for cropping leafy plants. Back inside the cheeks were teeth for cutting and chewing its favorite vegetation, which was probably soft, fleshy and low-growing. It was descended from small bipedal ancestors, and could walk only on its hind legs, but because the heavy scutes of body armor made its body heavy at the front, it undoubtedly walked on all four limbs most of the time. Scutellosaurus possessed a small head compared to the size of its body, with a short skull and a very long tail twice the length of its body and head. Its thin hind legs were much longer than its arms, and the toes and fingers bore small, pointed claws. DIET - Various plants, seeds and fruits. SIZE - Averaged 4ft 1. All our images are protected under the United States and international copyright laws and treaties which provide substantial penalties for infringement. All of our images have been imperceptibly watermarked so they can be identified if used without permission. Page 5
Chapter 5 : Dilophosaurus, Scutellosaurus - Dinosaur Illustrations The mission of Dinosaur Corporation is to support education and heighten the awareness of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals. Dinosaur Corporation is a Federally Registered Trademark. All prehistoric world images and paintings are owned and copyrighted by Dinosaur Corporation. Share3 Shares 31K There are plenty of strange animals living today, but few people know how odd some of the creatures of the past were. Here is a list of fifteen such creatures, ranging from dinosaurs to various other reptiles and fish. All are unseen by modern man except in the form of fossils and all are bizarre. In no particular order. These odd tusks might have been used to dig up the soil to gain access to roots and vegetables. They also had a relatively short trunk compared to other Proboscideans. They ranged from feet high, making them one of the largest mammals to ever walk on the earth. However, unlike most other theropods, they were herbivores or at least primarily. Some of them may have had feathers. The genus that the family is named after, Therizinosaurus, is actually only known from a few fossils, but its claws were quite large, likely reaching a meter in length. These feathers were likely used in displays. Due to its age It lived in China around to million years ago, it provides evidence that feathers evolved several million years before flight did not surprisingly. It was also one of the smallest dinosaurs, reaching just 10 inches in height as an adult not counting its feathers. It is currently the earliest dinosaur known to have adapted for life in the trees, an important moment in the evolution of birds. More bizarrely, this dinosaur had an oddly long third finger, twice the length of the other ones. They may have been used to dig for insects. Instead, it likely glided from place to place, kind of like a flying squirrel. It is likely that this creature is one of the most recent common ancestors between birds and dinosaurs, its gliding ability eventually evolving into flight. Unfortunately for the genus, one fossil was used in a forgery, along with a fossil of a primitive bird, Yanornis, to create a fake fossil that was said to be the ultimate missing link between birds and dinosaurs: Although it could have been caught before the public noticed, it was published in National Geographic before it could be peer reviewed. When it was exposed for the fraud it was quite embarrassing to the scientific community. There are two species of Microraptor. This implies that birds might have not evolved from theropods, but lizard-like reptiles instead. Of course, things are not always what they seem. Some scientists think they are just specially modified scales. Due to the large amount of feathered dinosaur fossils, it seems that these two possibilities are more accurate. This Triassic reptile was neither of these. This reptile was 20 feet long, yet had a 10 foot long neck! Evidence indicates that this was a fish-eating reptile, since fossils of it have been found in mainly partially aquatic fossil sites and fish scales and Cephalopod tentacles have been found in their stomachs. They might have stayed on the beach, using their long necks to help them devour fish from the sea. It is also thought to have been at least semi-aquatic. It might have used its wings while jumping from place to place on the ground. Some scientists think it was related to Pterosaurs, but its reversal of wings to its legs instead of arms questions this. Otherwise, most species looked quite average, similar to the famous Pterodonâ until a new, currently unnamed species was discovered in The species had a huge, antler-like crest, larger than any other pterosaurs crest. Some speculated that there was a flap of tissue in between these antlers, like some other pterosaurs, which could have been used like a sail to enhance its flight. However, research shows that a crest that large would actually impair its flight, so it likely just had an odd set of antlers. It almost certainly used these teeth to eat small, aquatic organisms, similar to the way a flamingo eats brine shrimp. Since flamingos get their pinkish hue from their diet, Pterodaustro might have been pinkish too. It used a beak-like mouth instead of teeth to devourer its prey. It was one of the largest of the Placoderms, a group of armored fish that are now extinct. Although they have remained relatively unchanged throughout the fossil record, there are definitely some odd balls. This particular shark had an anvil-shaped dorsal fin, with small spikes on it, as well as having a very bizarre growth on its head. The fin could have been used for courtship or for defense. Unfortunately, due to a lack of a body cartilage does not fossilize as well as bone, so a guessing game began. Thankfully, a skull of a related shark, Page 6
Ornithoprion, was found to have a tooth-whirl on its lower jaw. This does not solve the problem yet, however! The tooth whirl was then placed on the tip of the lower jaw but it turns out that that would actually slow down the shark! Perhaps the most accurate representation is one where the tooth whirl existed deep in its mouth instead. These arms look like they belonged to an ornithomimid but they were 8 feet long. This means that either Deinocheirus towered over the rest of the ornithomimids and most theropods, since, regarding proportions, it would have been 40 feet long! The use of its arms is debated: Some have even said that Deinocheirus used its huge arms to climb trees, although this hypothesis is widely disregarded. Once again, the lack of a body leaves many questions unanswered. Cope discovered many prehistoric fossils, but this one is, by far, the oddest. The only fossil that exists of it was a single vertebra fragment. It was 5 feet high, estimated to be 8. Compare that to your vertebrae. Estimates vary, but they range from to feet in length, making it, by far, the longest creature ever, competing with the blue whale for being the heaviest creature ever along with another, very elusive sauropd, Bruhathkayosaurus. But, as luck would have it, the fossil just disappeared. It vanished without a trace. Was it a hoax? Or was it really the largest animal to ever walk the earth? Sadly, we will probably never know. Page 7
Chapter 6 : Spinosaurus (Swimmer and Walker by CollectA) â Dinosaur Toy Blog These Pteranodons are all similar in size to males of the prehistoric animals. They are grey, with most individuals having red wings and crests. They are grey, with most individuals having red wings and crests. The other groups mentioned are, like dinosaurs and pterosaurs, members of Sauropsida the reptile and bird clade, with the exception of Dimetrodon which is a synapsid. Definition Triceratops skeleton, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Under phylogenetic nomenclature, dinosaurs are usually defined as the group consisting of the most recent common ancestor MRCA of Triceratops and Neornithes, and all its descendants. In traditional taxonomy, birds were considered a separate class that had evolved from dinosaurs, a distinct superorder. However, a majority of contemporary paleontologists concerned with dinosaurs reject the traditional style of classification in favor of phylogenetic taxonomy; this approach requires that, for a group to be natural, all descendants of members of the group must be included in the group as well. Birds are thus considered to be dinosaurs and dinosaurs are, therefore, not extinct. Norman, and Paul M. Barrett in suggested a radical revision of dinosaurian systematics. Phylogenetic analysis by Baron et al. They resurrected the clade Ornithoscelida to refer to the group containing Ornithischia and Theropoda. Dinosauria itself was re-defined as the last common ancestor of Triceratops horridus, Passer domesticus, Diplodocus carnegii, and all of its descendants, to ensure that sauropods and kin remain included as dinosaurs. Using one of the above definitions, dinosaurs can be generally described as archosaurs with hind limbs held erect beneath the body. Other groups of animals were restricted in size and niches; mammals, for example, rarely exceeded the size of a domestic cat, and were generally rodent-sized carnivores of small prey. While dinosaurs were ancestrally bipedal as are all modern birds, some prehistoric species were quadrupeds, and others, such as Anchisaurus and Iguanodon, could walk just as easily on two or four legs. Cranial modifications like horns and crests are common dinosaurian traits, and some extinct species had bony armor. Although known for large size, many Mesozoic dinosaurs were human-sized or smaller, and modern birds are generally small in size. Dinosaurs today inhabit every continent, and fossils show that they had achieved global distribution by at least the early Jurassic period. Although some later groups of dinosaurs featured further modified versions of these traits, they are considered typical for Dinosauria; the earliest dinosaurs had them and passed them on to their descendants. Such modifications, originating in the most recent common ancestor of a certain taxonomic group, are called the synapomorphies of such a group. Some of these are also present in silesaurids, which Nesbitt recovered as a sister group to Dinosauria, including a large anterior trochanter, metatarsals II and IV of subequal length, reduced contact between ischium and pubis, the presence of a cnemial crest on the tibia and of an ascending process on the astragalus, and many others. However, because they are either common to other groups of archosaurs or were not present in all early dinosaurs, these features are not considered to be synapomorphies. For example, as diapsids, dinosaurs ancestrally had two pairs of temporal fenestrae openings in the skull behind the eyes, and as members of the diapsid group Archosauria, had additional openings in the snout and lower jaw. These include an elongated scapula, or shoulder blade; a sacrum composed of three or more fused vertebrae three are found in some other archosaurs, but only two are found in Herrerasaurus ; [19] and a perforate acetabulum, or hip socket, with a hole at the center of its inside surface closed in Saturnalia, for example. Dinosaurs may have appeared as early as million years ago, as evidenced by remains of the genus Nyasasaurus from that period, though known fossils of these animals are too fragmentary to tell if they are dinosaurs or very close dinosaurian relatives. The terrestrial habitats were occupied by various types of archosauromorphs and therapsids, like cynodonts and rhynchosaurs. Their main competitors were the pseudosuchia, such as aetosaurs, ornithosuchids and rauisuchians, which were more successful than the dinosaurs. Rhynchosaurs and dicynodonts survived at least in some areas at least as late as early-mid Norian and early Rhaetian, respectively, [50] [51] and the exact date of their extinction is uncertain. These losses left behind a land fauna of crocodylomorphs, dinosaurs, mammals, pterosaurians, and turtles. In the late Triassic Page 8
and early Jurassic, the continents were connected as the single landmass Pangaea, and there was a worldwide dinosaur fauna mostly composed of coelophysoid carnivores and early sauropodomorph herbivores. Early sauropodomorphs did not have sophisticated mechanisms for processing food in the mouth, and so must have employed other means of breaking down food farther along the digestive tract. Dinosaurs in China show some differences, with specialized sinraptorid theropods and unusual, long-necked sauropods like Mamenchisaurus. Conifers and pteridophytes were the most common plants. Sauropods, like the earlier prosauropods, were not oral processors, but ornithischians were evolving various means of dealing with food in the mouth, including potential cheek -like organs to keep food in the mouth, and jaw motions to grind food. The earliest part of this time saw the spread of ankylosaurians, iguanodontians, and brachiosaurids through Europe, North America, and northern Africa. These were later supplemented or replaced in Africa by large spinosaurid and carcharodontosaurid theropods, and rebbachisaurid and titanosaurian sauropods, also found in South America. In Asia, maniraptoran coelurosaurians like dromaeosaurids, troodontids, and oviraptorosaurians became the common theropods, and ankylosaurids and early ceratopsians like Psittacosaurus became important herbivores. Meanwhile, Australia was home to a fauna of basal ankylosaurians, hypsilophodonts, and iguanodontians. A major change in the early Cretaceous, which would be amplified in the late Cretaceous, was the evolution of flowering plants. At the same time, several groups of dinosaurian herbivores evolved more sophisticated ways to orally process food. Ceratopsians developed a method of slicing with teeth stacked on each other in batteries, and iguanodontians refined a method of grinding with tooth batteries, taken to its extreme in hadrosaurids. In the northern continents of North America and Asia, the major theropods were tyrannosaurids and various types of smaller maniraptoran theropods, with a predominantly ornithischian herbivore assemblage of hadrosaurids, ceratopsians, ankylosaurids, and pachycephalosaurians. In the southern continents that had made up the now-splitting Gondwana, abelisaurids were the common theropods, and titanosaurian sauropods the common herbivores. Finally, in Europe, dromaeosaurids, rhabdodontid iguanodontians, nodosaurid ankylosaurians, and titanosaurian sauropods were prevalent. Theropods were also radiating as herbivores or omnivores, with therizinosaurians and ornithomimosaurians becoming common. Some other diapsid groups, such as crocodilians, sebecosuchians, turtles, lizards, snakes, sphenodontians, and choristoderans, also survived the event. It is often cited that mammals out-competed the neornithines for dominance of most terrestrial niches but many of these groups co-existed with rich mammalian faunas for most of the Cenozoic. Dinosaur classification Dinosaurs belong to a group known as archosaurs, which also includes modern crocodilians. Within the archosaur group, dinosaurs are differentiated most noticeably by their gait. Dinosaur legs extend directly beneath the body, whereas the legs of lizards and crocodilians sprawl out to either side. Saurischia includes those taxa sharing a more recent common ancestor with birds than with Ornithischia, while Ornithischia includes all taxa sharing a more recent common ancestor with Triceratops than with Saurischia. Anatomically, these two groups can be distinguished most noticeably by their pelvic structure. Saurischia includes the theropods exclusively bipedal and with a wide variety of diets and sauropodomorphs long-necked herbivores which include advanced, quadrupedal groups. Unlike birds, the ornithischian pubis also usually had an additional forward-pointing process. Ornithischia includes a variety of species which were primarily herbivores. Page 9
Chapter 7 : Are These Extinct Prehistoric Animals Still Alive Today? Exemplore Baryonyx is a dinosaur which lived approximately million years ago during the early Cretaceous Period. This carnivore was first discovered in by an amateur paleontologist named William Walker in the United Kingdom. August 13, Suspsy CollectA, theropod Genus: Although she cannot see in the murky water, her narrow snout contains pressure sensors that detect the slightest movement. A quick jerk of her neck, a snap of her jaws, and a fat coelacanth is caught. The angler immediately begins swimming back to shore with her prize. Her dutiful mate and recently hatched chicks are waiting eagerly. Perhaps no other dinosaur has undergone as many reinterpretations as Spinosaurus. For decades, it was depicted as a fairly standard large carnosaur, albeit with a sail on its back. And in the fall of, Nizar Ibrahim and Paul Sereno unveiled a truly radical reinterpretation of the spined lizard with a long, narrow ribcage, reduced hind limbs, and a quadrupedal stance. Needless to say, not everyone is convinced of this latest reconstruction, which is based on accumulated bones from multiple individuals. It is quite possible that future findings will render it inaccurate. Or perhaps the opposite. No one can say for sure. In the mean time, the always-ambitious CollectA has produced not one, but three toys based on the new reconstruction. This review will tackle the two Standard class versions. These two great piscivores are coloured dull yellow with beige underbellies, faint patches of airbrushed green, brown on the sails, and black for the claws and the many spots. The heads feature tiny yellow crests, red patches around the eyes, and green at the end of the snouts. The eyes are black, the teeth are white, and the inside of the mouths are pink. The heads have thin, gharial-like snouts with bulbous tips and rows of straight teeth. Not any good for attacking large dinosaurs, but very handy for snagging slippery fish. The large forearms end in sharp, curved claws and the sails are no longer rounded, but vaguely trapezoidal in shape. The bodies are long and narrow. And then there are the hind legs. Gone are the long, massive stems of old. Replacing them are very short but still muscular limbs terminating in webbed feet. The result is a quadrupedal stance that would have meant slow going on land, but speed and maneuverability in water. The hides are covered in a variety of textures: And in a touch of creative license, the tails are virtually identical to those of crocodilians, with three rows of triangular osteoderms coming together into a single row. There is no fossil evidence of such elaborate skin texture, of course, but it would have worked well for a semiaquatic dinosaur. The walking Spinosaurus measures 23 cm long and stands around 7. Its head is turned sharply to the right with the mouth open in a hiss while its powerful tail is swinging to the left. Its front paws are bent at the wrists and splayed out to the sides. This is a major point of controversy, as no fossil arms of Spinosaurus exist and no other theropod is known to have possessed such pronation. Even if Spinosaurus was indeed quadrupedal, it may not have walked like this. Perhaps it shuffled along on its forearms like a sloth. Or perhaps it moved like a gigantic pangolin with its front limbs just barely touching the ground, as suggested by paleontologist Darren Naish. The swimming Spinosaurus measures 24 cm long. Its head is turned slightly to the left, its arms are spread apart, its legs are kicking, and its tail is undulating. This individual is on the hunt, seeking out giant coelacanths, lungfish, and sawfish, all of which were plentiful in the rivers and lakes of Early Cretaceous Africa. Of the two toys, I prefer this one, as it effectively side-steps the ongoing terrestrial locomotion controversy. And the swimming pose looks great. I just wish I had a stand to display this animal properly. Mind you, it balances rather well on the tips of its claws. But paleontology has always been that way, and dinosaur toys are a measure of that constant change. These two Spinosaurus are beautifully sculpted and wonderfully weird, a welcome bit of variety among the rest of my theropod collection. Available in due course from Amazon. This has been my 50th review for the Dinosaur Toy Blog. Special thanks go out to CollectA for the advance samples and to Adam S. Smith, AKA Plesiosauria, for giving me this wonderful opportunity in the first place. Page 10
Chapter 8 : 5 Ridiculous Alternate Versions of Prehistoric Animals theinnatdunvilla.com In Hollywood movies, dinosaur fights have clear winners and losers, carefully demarcated arenas (say, an open patch of scrubland or the cafeteria in Jurassic Park), and usually a bunch of scared-out-of-their-wits human spectators. Comments What makes something scary, creepy, terrifying, or just so strange that it haunts our dreams? For some, all it takes is a spider or a snake; for others it needs to be an eldritch horror straight from H. Now it can only haunt you in your dreams. These bones grew continuously and as they did, the edges rubbed together with those of the opposing jaw, acting like self sharpening shears. This four ton monster fish patrolled inshore waters and could snatch prey up by opening and closing its jaws within milliseconds. The only remains of this creature, up until, were from a fossilized whorl of teeth. With the later discovery of some portions of a jaw, the location of its buzzsaw-like teeth were finally determined to fill the lower jaw. Strangely, there were no upper teeth; so this creature could disgustingly gum and bite you at the same time. The jaw would close, rotating the teeth backwards, much like a circular saw blade. It probably fed on the soft bodies of squid and other cephalopods. The whorl of teeth was formed as they continuously grew outwards, creating a spiral as it aged; the teeth at the beginning of the whorl being small and gradually increasing in size toward the end. Another fish with an equally odd and terrifying face, Edestus, had offset scissor like jaws that protrude out of its face. Fossil trackways have been discovered showing that Arthropleura could move and maneuver quickly, undulating hundreds of legs in rhythm to nauseate and disturb anyone watching. These are the largest know land invertebrates of all time and it is unlikely the they had any predators, but it could probably rear up into a defensive posture and look you straight in the eyes. It was around the size of modern lions and tigers, but with massive upper body strength that it used to wrestle its prey to the ground. It would then use its serrated, 11" long fangs to give a killing bite to the throat or a stabbing wound to the lungs of its victim. Either way, if it ran you down, those long teeth would puncture your skin and sink down into your flesh. While its bite may have been weaker than that of modern big cats, it still makes for a terrifying creature. This is an amazing namesake to live up to. It was feet long and had a 10 foot long skull that housed forty These are the longest teeth used for feeding known from any animal, extinct or alive. They fed on large prey at the surface of the water including other whales. This whale likely became so large because it was competing directly with megalodon for food. It had an elongated skull much like a crocodile and a snout filled with approximately 64 straight, conical teeth. Evidence suggests that is was semi-aquatic, so there was nowhere to escape from this fish and dinosaur devouring monster. Spinosaurus is currently the largest of all known carnivorous dinosaurs, even larger than T. While the exact size is debated, recent finds and studies suggest that Spinosaurus may have reached feet in length and weighed in excess of 20 tons. It had elongated neural spines that ran along its back creating a sail-like structure that made it look even larger and more terrifying. Any predator that can move between land and water is even harder to escape when it wants to eat you. It had a 6 foot long skull that contained teeth. What truly sets this creature on the top 10 list is that Sarcosuchus was larger than almost all of the dinosaurs that lived in the same environment, and evidence points to a diet that included large terrestrial prey; this monster ate dinosaurs. It would strike from the water and wrap itself around its prey, delivering a crushing death. It lived in the rain forests of South America where temperatures were warmer than the tropics of today. This allowed the cold-blooded reptiles to grow larger that modern reptiles can. This snake would have Indiana Jones trembling in his fedora. It had a 5. Giganotosaurus is from the Cretaceous period and lived in what is now Argentina. Evidence suggests the possibility that Giganotosaurus was a pack hunter and that they hunted large sauropods. This would make it the only theropod that actively hunted sauropods. Another interesting feature is that the lower jaw was broadened slightly, allowing it to also handle smaller prey. Megalodon This 59 foot long shark lived and hunted in the same waters as Livyatan melvillei. It had massive 7 foot wide jaws containing 5 rows of around compressed, blade-like teeth that were made for cutting and grasping powerful prey. The body shape of a megalodon is likely similar to a larger and more robust great Page 11
white shark. If megalodon exhibited ambush hunting behavior like great white sharks, it would have taken prey by surprise from below and made precision strikes to immobilize its prey with an amazingly strong bite. Sharks are also known for shaking their prey side to side to increase bite forces. Fossils evidence of teeth marks found on whale vertebrae suggests that megalodon was an active predator of large whales. Their teeth were built with a structure that would rarely crack, even if they hit bone. Jaekelopterus Three words, Giant Sea Scorpion. Frankly, all of the eurypterids are scary as hell and this entire post could be exclusively about how terrifying these things look. Many of them look eerily similar to the face huggers from the Alien movie franchise; they are nightmare fuel. They had spring loaded claws to snatch up fish as they passed by, with the largest having an 18 inch spiked claw. Smaller sea scorpions are known to have crawled ashore to mate and even shed their outer skin. Imagine finding the molt of one of these monsters on the shore just before going swimming. Already with a sense of dread and paranoia, you distance yourself from the shoreâ and then you see a shadow in the murky waters. What are your picks for the Scariest Prehistoric Beasts? There are many, many more extinct critters that could make this list and it was hard to limit it to just ten. Most of these creatures are scary simply because of their monstrous proportions compared to modern animals, and especially compared to humans. The unknown can be terrifying in and of itself. Page 12
Chapter 9 : Pteranodon Dinosaur Protection Group Wiki FANDOM powered by Wikia Listing 10,+ pictures of dinosaurs, facts about them and other prehistoric animals, bringing them closer to kids, their parents and teachers. With interests in science, nature, and the paranormal, cryptid explores fringe topics from a unique and sometimes controversial perspective. But is this really possible today, considering all we know about the natural world? As much as we like to think we have every corner of our planet mapped and catalogued, there are still dark places where few people go. The deep sea, forbidding jungles and dense forests remain difficult places to explore. In the field of cryptozoology, researchers study rare animals that are not yet proven to exist by modern science. But there is another part of this research that includes animals we know once roamed our planet, but we now believe to be extinct. When considering a report of a strange creature, cryptozoologists must weigh the evidence and decide if it is a new animal, or perhaps a relic from the past that has still managed to survive. The coelacanth is the best example of a living prehistoric creature we once thought extinct. This six-foot fish was known from the fossil record, but thought to die out 65 million years ago. One species of coelacanth was rediscovered by western researchers in, and another species in This is called the Lazarus Taxon, when a species is considered extinct because it has vanished from the fossil record, but then appears again much later. There are other examples, from birds to lizards to different types of flora. But might there be some really interesting beasts out there, still hanging around after all these years? Here are a few possibilities: Megatherium The Giant Ground Sloth Source The giant ground sloth called Megatherium was a huge and frightening beast, one of the largest terrestrial mammals ever to live on this planet. At twenty feet in length, it could stand up on its hind legs when necessary, and was no doubt an imposing sight. Megatherium was a slow-moving herbivore, so humans likely had little to fear, but putting yourself within reach if its massive claws would have surely been a bad idea. Early humans in South America hunted this massive creature to extinction ten thousand years ago, so why are we still talking about it? In the deep jungles of South America there are stories of a terrifying creature called the Mapinguari. This monster is said to stand ten feet tall or better, have enormous backward-facing claws, and a mouth on its belly. It may sound ridiculous, but these are qualities that may actually match up with the giant ground sloth, Megatherium. Megatherium would have easily stood ten feet or more on its hind legs, so the size is about right. The Megalodon Shark Megalodon Shark Jaws Source Megalodon was the biggest shark ever to swim the oceans of the world, reaching lengths of sixty feet or more. It preyed on whales and other large marine mammals, and would have been the apex predator of the ocean in its day. Megalodon went extinct a million and a half years ago, probably due to changing global climate conditions, increased competition for a dwindling food supply, or a combination of both. So what makes us think Megalodon could still be alive today? Every now and then there is a report of a monster shark, bigger than one we currently know of. We know a typical great white shark is around sixteen feet in length, with the record being around twenty-one feet. So how then do we explain reports of foot great whites and bigger? These tales have been told as long as men have gone to sea. In recent times, anglers have reported possible Megalodon encounters in the Sea of Cortez and other areas where the ocean is deep and hard to explore. One piece of tangible evidence we know of is a Megalodon tooth dredged up from the Mariana Trench in When carbon dated they seemed to be as young as 10, years, far short of the million-plus years ago when we originally thought the last Megalodon lived. Does this mean there is still a relic population of Megalodon somewhere in the deepest parts of the ocean? Source Thousands of years ago, in Asia, there lived a massive ape called Gigantopithecus Blacki. It stood teen feet tall, and weighed a thousand pounds or more. Researchers think it was something like a large orangutan, and would have lived on bamboo and other vegetation. The only evidence that exists of this monster is fossilized teeth and jaw fragments, so there is great deal of guessing as to its real size and anatomical specfics. Some researchers think it was bipedal, while others say it must have moved on all fours like a gorilla. Gigantopithecus Blacki died off a hundred thousand years Page 13
ago, and while it would have encountered some of our relatives it did not live in Asia around the time modern humans moved in. There are those who believe Gigantopithecus evolved into a mythical creature we have long been familiar with: When sea levels were lower during the last ice age there was a great exchange of fauna between North America and Asia, across a land we now call Beringia. Beringia was the wide expanse of land which now makes up the sea floor under the present-day Bering Sea, and is also known as the Bering Land Bridge. Humans are believed to have made this trip and populated the Americas. Did ancestors of Gigatopithecus come across too, and do they live on in the forests of North America as the Sasquatch? Plesiosaurs Do lake monster sightings around the world mean plesiosaurs are still alive today? Source Plesiosaurs were marine reptiles that lived during the time of the dinosaurs. There were many different types, in all shapes and sizes. The ones we are most familiar with are the long-necked, big-bodied animals with the flippers. Plesiosaurs mostly ate fish, but some of the bigger ones would have dined on larger aquatic animals, and may have even plucked a dinosaur from the shore now and then. It is widely accepted that the same mass-extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs did in the large marine reptiles as well, about 65 million years ago. But there are those who think some plesiosaurs are still with us, and they have plenty of reasons to say so. Aquatic monsters matching the description of some of these reptiles have come from lakes all over the word, as well as the open ocean. This is one theory that allegedly explains the Loch Ness Monster. Because Loch Ness is connected to the ocean, the story goes that a population of plesiosaurs somehow escaped from the sea and into the confines of the lake. This theory has issues on many levels, but the sheer rash of lake monster sightings from around the planet leads many cryptozoologists to keep the plesiosaur explanation on the table. Dinosaurs Some say there are dinosaurs in the depths of the African Congo. They point to stories of strange beasts in the African Congo region as evidence. Going by the tales relayed by local tribes, there seems to be several different types of dinosaurs still around in Africa. One, called Mokele Mbeme, is said to have a large body like an elephant but a long neck and small head. It lives in the river, eats plants, and becomes very aggressive if approached. This sounds a lot like a sauropod dinosaur. Other descriptions match up with stegosaurs, horned rhino-like ceretopsians and other dinosaurs believed to be extinct. If something like a dinosaur still lives somewhere in the world, remote parts of Africa would be a good place for them to stay hidden. These regions are seldom traveled by outsiders, and the geography, animals and local politics makes them dangerous places. Still, it seems insane to think a few species of dinosaur may have escaped extinction, and somehow survived the event that killed off their kind as well as anything else larger than a badger. But the most amazing part is, when local African tribes are shown pictures of animalsâ some they know, some they could have never seen before, and some extinct dinosaursâ they point to the dinosaurs as the beasts they saw in the forest. What Else Is Out There? We sometimes forget how big our world is, and how much there still is left to explore. But any one of the beasts in this article would be the discovery of the century, and possible of all time. The deepest oceans and densest jungles still have secrets, and there is still much to learn about the places humans fear to tread. Some may be new creatures, and others may be prehistoric animals we thought had gone extinct long ago. Which extinct prehistoric animal has the best chance of still being alive today? Page 14