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Are you a fan of horned dinosaurs? Can you not choose your favorite? Now you don’t have to with a nice group shot of 3 phenomenal members of this exquisite prehistoric family.

Last year a study was published answering some questions about what T.rex’s exterior soft tissue looked like. Traditional reconstructions have shown the Tyrant Lizard with scaly skin, the new study suggests that this is most likely the case based on numerous small examples of what appear to be scale impressions on different places on the body of a fully grown specimen. The research shows evidence of scales on the chest, stomach, neck, tail, and pelvis.

During the Late Triassic period (214 to 204 million years ago), in what would eventually become Heroldsberg, Germany, a group of long-necked giants worked their way across an ancient floodplain; due to their great weight, up to 4.4 tons, they began to sink into the mud, their panicked struggles to free themselves from this predicament only serving to pull them further down until exhaustion eventually set in and they passed away, trapped by their own massive bulk.

A new final illustration for my prehistoric series which I may now be calling “Ancient Life.” This here is Dilophosaurus wetherilli, the twin-crested lizard made famous by the first Jurassic Park movie. Unlike it’s movie counterpart, the actual animal was not not quire the small fry that relied on a big frilly threat display and venomous spit to take down it’s prey. Dilophosaurus was about 23 feet long and weighed in at about 880 lbs, which wasn’t huge compared to the carnivorous cousins that would come after it, it was still pretty big and had a long skinny frame that was built for speed. It’s most distinctive feature, it’s dual crest, was most likely used for species identification and attracting mates.

Sinosauropteryx was a small theropod dinosaur that lived in what is now Northeast China during the Early Cretaceous (124.6 to 122 million years ago). At only 3.5 ft in length and 1.2 lb in weight, it wasn't the most imposing of predators, being roughly the same size and weight as a modern pheasant. It mostly fed on small mammals and reptiles, with one fossil showing the nearly complete remains of a lizard swallowed whole some time before the little dinosaur died, being buried quickly in a layer of volcanic ash and silt. S. prima was the first dinosaur to have fossil pigment cells examined with new techniques, scientists have determined the color and pattern of it's feathers, including a banded ring tail, shown in this reconstruction.

Roughly 216 to 196 million years ago in Triassic New Mexico, close to a thousand dinosaurs died, their remains preserved as fossils that would later be discovered in 1947 by Edwin H. Colbert and his assistant George Whitaker on a site appropriately known as the Ghost Ranch. It’s extremely rare in paleontology that scientists are handed such a find, a buffet of death that allows them to piece together the biology of a specific species in such a complete manner.

n what would eventually become the Gobi Desert in Southwestern Mongolia, a creature with claws 3 times the length of the average human forearm. These massive scythe-like appendages were attached to a very odd looking member of the dinosaur family, a large theropod with an unusual gait, long neck, and a large potbelly built. This animal was most likely an herbivore, despite the vicious looking nature of it’s forelimbs, but being a big animal with short legs it’s likely that it developed big claws partly as a means to defend itself against big predators like Tarbosaurus bataar, a relative of T.rex that stalked Mongolia during the Late Cretaceous (70 million years ago).

Roughly 76 to 75 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous period, large herds of an animal now known as Lambeosaurus congregated around the shallow rivers that ran through what is now Alberta, Canada. These beasts could be up to 31 feet long, and weigh up to 3 and a quarter tons, they would mostly walk on all fours, switching to two when speed was required, their huge tails stiffly hanging in the air behind them, making up nearly half of their length. On their heads, they sported large, flamboyant crests, the males likely sporting ones larger and more complex than those of the females.

Possibly one of the most recognizable dinosaurs, Stegosaurus was named in 1877 by Othniel Charles Marsh during the “Bone Wars,” becoming the flagship genus of the entire Stegosaur group. The name Stegosaurus means “roofed” or “covered lizard,” as Marsh initially thought the back plates formed a roof-like shell over the animal’s back. There are 3 species currently described: S. ungulatus, S. sulcatus, and S. stenops (stenops being the longest species yet discovered at 29.5 feet).

While being a member of the overall group that dinosaurs like Ankylosaurus was a part of, Sauropelta edwardsorum was a member of a different branch known as Nodosaurs. Unlike Ankylosaurs, Nodosaurs did not possess tail weapons, though they often displayed large shoulder spikes and still possesses a body covered in armor. Sauropelta could grow up to 17 feet in length and weighed around 2.2 tons, they lived during the Early Cretaceous period, around 108 million years ago.

Yutyrannus huali lived in what is now China during the Early Cretaceous (124.6 million years ago). An early relative to the famed T.rex, it is known from three nearly complete fossil skeletons that were found together and show a surprising amount of detail, including the presence of a feathered covering over most of their bodies. At adulthood Y. huali measured at around 29.5 feet in length and weighed in at about 1.2 tons, making it the largest dinosaur yet discovered with direct evidence of feathers.

Named for the enormous neural spines running along it’s back to form what most have theorized to be a large sail or possibly a hump-like structure, Spinosaurus was first uncovered by German paleontologist Ernst Stromer in 1912 while he was in Western Egypt in the Bahariya Formation. The fragmented remains looked to be from a very large and unusual theropod, possibly one bigger than the famous Tyrannosaurus Rex, which had been discovered less than 10 years prior. Unfortunately the museum holding those remains was destroyed in a bombing run during World War II, but detailed drawings of the fragments did survive along with photos of the display.

Deinonychus remains were first discovered by Barnum Brown in 1931 near Billings, Montana; however, because it’s remains were encased in Lime and thus difficult to prepare Brown payed more attention to the remains of a large plant eater that was found nearby. It wasn’t until many decades later that John Ostrom recognized that the remains Brown had discovered belonged to an animal he had described in 1969 as Deinonychus antirrhopus. Deinonychus was a member of a group called Dromaeosaurids, who were defined by being swift moving predators with stiff tails, sharp sickle-like claws on their feet, they came in many sizes, from as small as a 2 feet in length to animals like Utahraptor reaching lengths of up to 36 feet.

Yutyrannus huali was a basal member of the Tyrannosauroid clade, specifically part of the Proceratosauridae family group with other small bodied crested dinosaurs like Guanlong and Sinotyrannus. Yutyrannus was large for it’s group but still much smaller than later, more advanced members of it’s clade, like Tyrannosaurus Rex. Despite this, at roughly 30 feet it is still currently the largest dinosaur yet found with direct evidence of feathers. It’s name is in fact derived from the Mandarin word for feather, yǔ (羽), and the Greek word for tyrant. The species name huali is taken from Mandarin for beautiful, making it’s overall name mean something close to “beautiful feathered tyrant.”

Akylosaurus, it’s name means the “fused lizard.” This big guy was the largest known member of a group of the most heavily armored dinosaurs ever to have lived, most of it’s body was covered in large osteoderms (bony hard scales, or plates), this armor was so impenetrable that some scientists think that they might have had armored eye lids. Ankylosaurus lived during the Late Cretaceous at around 68 to 66 million years ago. The largest specimens found to date probably weight in at a maximum of 4.4 – 7.9 tons, and sported a large tail weapon (or club) that could be up to around 2 feet wide and could easily shatter bone, easily able to shatter the leg bones of big predators like Tyrannosaurus Rex.

B. excelsus was first described by O.C. Marsh in 1879, for a century its name stood among the likes of Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops horridus as a quintessential example of what the world thinks of when they hear the word “Dinosaur.” Although there has been some confusion among the public as new studies come out and names have been changed and now changed back, and possibly changed again, the silhouette of Brontosaurus is still what people think of when they conjure up images of long necked giants knocking down trees in a prehistoric forest looking for plants to eat like some sort of giant reptilian cow. B. excelsus lived some 156.3 to 146.8 MYA during the Late Jurassic. It was roughly 72 feet in length and weighed around 17 tons.

Oviraptor was a small predatory dinosaur that lived in the Gobi Desert during the Late Cretaceous (around 75 million years ago). It was about 3 feet tall and 5 feet in length, and very lightly built, probably only weighing around 55 to 79 pounds, much like it’s modern bird relatives. Studies of earlier relatives suggest that they not only had feathers but had large display feathers on their tails that were likely used to woo potential mates. The discovery of Oviraptor embryos has allowed scientists to get a better idea of the biology of these animals and of dinosaur egg laying behavior, as well as their development.

Incisivosaurus was a small dinosaur that lived during the Early Cretaceous, 126 million years ago. It was discovered in Northern China in 2002. The nearly complete remains were found with feather preservation. Their most unique feature is a pair of pronounced front teeth that scientists think they used to break open hard nuts or fruit as it's likely they were primarily herbivores. They measured only 3.3 feet in length.

Psittacosaurus was an early Ceratopsian, a member of the same group as Triceratops, and Styracosaurus. While they lacked the crests of their larger relatives they possessed tall skulls and powerful beaks, Ptittacosaurus (meaning “parrot lizard”) gets it’s name from it’s parrot-like beak structure. Fossils also have been found with preserved bristle-like filaments on the fail section, most likely used for display. Though it was small, only about 6.5 feet in length and weighing in at around 44 pounds, we know a lot about them. Psittacosaurus has the largest number of described species at around 9 or 10, many of those species possess specialized beak structures that possibly aided them in different ecological niches.

Cute Turkeydinosaur in retro vintage style with funny Thanksgiving message Gobble Gobble Gobble. Great design for Turkey Day this autumn!

happpy halloween cute dinosaur

"Genuine dinosaur fossil: Immerse yourself in the mysteries of the past with this remarkable specimen."

The ever charismatic king of dinosaurs, T. rex, from the DinoZoo series on genetically engineered dinosaur-like creatures roaming a fictional theme park in the near future.

A cartoon skeleton from a Spinosaurus

A cartoon skeleton from a Oviraptor

A cartoon skeleton from a Therizinosaurus

This is a black and white illustration of a very popular dino, The Raptor

This is a black and white illustration of a very popular dino, The Raptor

In 1922, Roy Chapman Andrews led an expedition to explore the inner reaches of the Gobi Desert in Mongolia. The expedition was taken on behalf of the American Museum of Natural History in the hopes of finding fossil evidence of the early origins of humans, while no early human remains were found on the trip they did find numerous new species of extinct mammals and many new species of dinosaur. Included in these specimens was a small relative of Triceratops (the famous horned dinosaur discovered in North America in 1887), it was only about the size of a small sheep, measuring around 5.9 feet in length and was only an estimated 182 pounds in weight.

A cartoon skeleton from a Kronosaurus

A cartoon skeleton from a Carnotaurus

A cartoon skeleton from a Stygimoloch

A cartoon skeleton from a Mosasaurus

Creature mash-up, from the DinoZoo series on genetically engineered dinosaur-like creatures roaming a fictional theme park in the near future.

A wholly feathered dromaeosaurid (raptor) dinosaur, as they should be.

First described in 1877 at the height of the “Bone Wars” by Othneil Charles Marsh, Allosaurus was one of the most successful and wide spread predators of the Late Jurassic Period (approximately 155-150 million years ago) with most of it’s remains being found the Morrison Formation in Western North America and related specimens having been found as far away as Portugal, and possibly as far off as Tanzania. Allosaurus was named from the Greek for “different lizard” because of a trait found in the central parts of it’s vertebrae which had a concave cup-like shape on the back end of it’s surface.