Classmates
Dinosaurs could look different than we imagine them - such an idea was conveyed to us in his illustrations by the artist-paleontologist from Istanbul Mehmet Kozemen, one of the authors of the book "All Past Days" about prehistoric animals. With his illustrations, Kozemen challenges contemporary depictions of dinosaurs by suggesting alternatives that could be more accurate.When it comes to creatures that are known to us only from the preserved remains, it is quite clear that we cannot know everything about them. The surviving remains of dinosaurs do not convey their true appearance.
Paleontologist artist, one of the authors of the book "All Past Days" about prehistoric animals, Mehmet Kosemen, is sure that prehistoric reptiles could look different than we imagine them. What did dinosaurs really look like? In paleontology, there are many assumptions about this, and Mehmet Kosemen shared his own.
Deinonychus, who lived 121-98 million years ago
Pterosaurs. Moganopterus is one of the largest pterosaurs.
Darwinopterus is also a genus of pterosaurs.
Dimetrodon - a large predatory dinosaur
Another species of long-tailed pterosaur - Qinglongopterus, in comparison with the wren
Carnivorous dinosaur Majungasaurus
Albertosaurus, a smaller relative of Tyrannosaurus Rex
Nasutoceratops is a genus of ornithischian dinosaurs.
Pterodactyl
Balaur bondoc - a Romanian dinosaur, considered a relative of birds
Eurynosaurus - marine dinosaur, reaching a length of 6-7 meters
Austroraptor that lived in what is now Argentina 70 million years ago
Diplodocus
Plateosaurus - the largest known dinosaur of the Triassic period 6-12 meters in length
Herbivorous dinosaur of the lower Jurassic period, one of the most ancient dinosaurs - Massospondylus
sinosaurus
Species of fossil marine lizards - Acamptonectes
Giganotosaurus, a giant predator from Argentina that lived during the Cretaceous period 100-97 million years ago
Nanuksaurus - a new species of "polar" dinosaur that lived in Alaska
Pterosaur with bird-like feathers
Archosaurus attacks tanystropheus
Policotylus - marine dinosaur
The artist also tried to depict modern animals using their skeletons and paleontological methods. Below are swans.
This is an elephant, zebra and rhinoceros
Leviathan Melvilla is an extinct Miocene whale that lived 12-13 million years ago. One of his teeth was the size of a shoe.
Millions of years ago, these giants of the ancient world - dinosaurs reigned on the planet. Only in the 19th century did scientists begin to study their remains. There were many questions related to ancient lizards. One of them: "What does a dinosaur look like?" - has not yet been fully elucidated. Too big a gulf of time separates modern man and these amazing animals to speak with confidence about their appearance.
Ancient giants of the planet
Dinosaurs appeared (photos and descriptions of some of them can be seen in our article) about 230 million years ago. The time of occurrence of these creatures refers to the late Triassic period, their heyday fell on the Jurassic, and the disappearance occurred at the end of the Cretaceous period. For millions of years of existence, dinosaurs settled throughout the Earth. Their remains have even been found in Antarctica.
Types of dinosaurs
Today, scientists know more than a thousand species. They are divided into predators, herbivores, aquatic and flying dinosaurs. This diversity creates great difficulties, since usually only a few bones are at best in the hands of scientists to determine the type of this or that.
How do researchers recreate ancient lizards?
Descriptions can be found everywhere - in encyclopedias on the ancient world of our planet, scientific papers, books for children. A large number of films, documentaries and children's cartoons are dedicated to the giants of the past. If you ask any person, he will quite accurately describe the appearance of the ancient lizards. How do we know what dinosaurs look like? Of course, it is impossible to get photos and videos with them, because they existed millions of years ago. The answer lies in the remains of these reptiles. To date, more than a hundred thousand have been found. These include not only bones, but also dinosaur eggs, their excrement, fossilized paw and body prints.
According to fragments of the skeleton, scientists restore the appearance of lizards. What do dinosaur bones look like? Outwardly, they differ from the remains of modern animals in their size and degree of preservation. Unfortunately, finding a complete skeleton is an incredible rarity. Most often, scientists have to determine what a dinosaur looks like based on scattered remains.
Where are dinosaur bones found?
There are many places on Earth where you can find the remains of ancient giants. More than a thousand such valuable finds have been found in the Canadian province of Alberta. These were the remains of centrosaurus lizards. In Argentina, in the province of Chubut, the bones of seven titanosaurs were found. In Mexico, in 2014, the bones of 14 lizards were found on the territory of one of the deserts. A large number of dinosaur remains continue to be found in the Chinese province of Shandong. Bones of large theropods were found here - predatory ancient lizards of tyrannosaurus rex and ankylosaurus.
How is the process of restoring the appearance of ancient lizards?
Dinosaurs lived millions of years ago. During this time, soft tissues turned to dust, and bones turned to stone. Since the 19th century, we have learned a lot more about what a dinosaur looks like, but even now there is no certainty whether scientists are restoring their appearance correctly.
This work is painstaking and laborious. First you need to assemble a skeleton from the found fragments. If any parts are missing, they have to be restored. Then the artists get to work. According to the skull and skeleton, they recreate the body and skin of the lizard. For this, a technique is used that is used in forensic science. What dinosaur skin looks like has been figured out thanks to fossils that clearly show its texture and pattern. It was waterproof, dry and flaky. On the found prints, hard areas and elastic folds of the skin are clearly visible. Some types of ancient reptiles were protected by a shell. Ankylosaurs are among them.
One of the problems with determining what a dinosaur looks like is figuring out the color of the skin. So far, paleontologists cannot reliably answer this question. Therefore, modern animals and birds are taken as the basis for the reconstruction of the appearance of the lizard. So, the artist Tyler Killor, who, on the instructions of scientists, restored the appearance of the rugops dinosaur, took the color of the plumage of the shoebill bird as a model.
But even the most carefully recreated dinosaur appearance can undergo changes. Modern technologies and recent discoveries in paleontology provide new data on ancient giants.
What does a dinosaur look like: a general description
Ancient lizards were divided into two large groups: lizard and bird-pelvis. The latter were sauropods (herbivores). Lizard dinosaurs were divided into two groups: theropods (predators) and sauropods. These are representatives of large lizards with massive bodies and long necks: Apatosaurus, Diplodocus, Brachiosaurus). Each of the groups of dinosaurs is represented by both bipedal lizards and those who moved on four limbs.
In most cases, they moved on two legs.
There is an opinion that all dinosaurs were of huge growth. This is not true. Among them were both real giants (seismosaurus, spinosaurus) and small lizards (compsognath, heterodontosaurus).
Dinosaurs are one of the most amazing representatives of the animal world of our planet in the past. They combined the features of several currently isolated groups of modern animals: crocodiles, lizards, birds and mammals.
With crocodiles, they are brought together by the skin and the location of the teeth. Their skull is the same as that of lizards, and the structure of tubular bones makes dinosaurs related to mammals. The structure of the pelvis and hind limbs brings ancient reptiles closer to birds.
Most of the dinosaurs moved on their hind limbs, located vertically, leaning on their fingers when walking. This way of moving made them more active.
Disagreements still arise among scientists about the structure of internal organs. It is impossible to determine what they were now, so the anatomy of birds and lizards is taken as the basis. Little more is known about the brains of ancient reptiles. Found whole skulls allow with a high degree of probability to assume that in structure it resembled the brain of modern lizards.
There are also difficulties in determining the color of the skin. Perhaps some of the dinosaurs had khaki skin. Some may have been brightly colored, following the example of modern lizards.
According to recent research, a number of ancient lizards had feathers.
This is not only the widely known Archeopteryx, but also Microraptor, Caudipteryx and others.
Amazing appearance: the most famous and unusual dinosaurs
Among the ancient lizards there are very interesting individuals, the appearance of which is unusual. Zuhomim - a huge predator - with a narrow mouth looked like a crocodile, and the claw of the first finger on its front limbs reached a length of more than 30 centimeters.
Carnotaurus had horns. They most likely played the role of identification marks in this predator.
Gryposaurus had a beak and approximately 800 teeth. Whether he was a herbivore or a predator is still unknown.
Tyrannosaurus Rex is a dinosaur whose description always evokes big interest. This is one of the largest predators of the past, the appearance and size of which look intimidating.
It was bipedal, with a massive head balanced by a large tail. The peculiarity of the tyrannosaurus is that, with powerful hind limbs, it had very small front paws with two fingers. Due to the fact that among the 30 found skeletons of this predator, several were completely preserved, scientists were able to carefully study its structure, biology and biomechanics.
Conclusion
The history of the amazing giants that inhabited the Earth millions of years ago has not yet been fully studied. New findings and more accurate research methods can reveal many secrets of the way of life, appearance and physiology of dinosaurs.
As it turned out, almost all dinosaurs known to science, even such popular ones as Velociraptor or Tyrannosaurus, actually could look different than they are usually represented.
Until the middle of the 20th century, these ancient reptiles were shown as lethargic and clumsy animals. But then the researchers found that dinosaurs led a very active lifestyle. This radically changed the idea of them, and released on the screens in 1993, "Jurassic Park" helped to approve this opinion.
Over the past 20 years, thanks to new discoveries in China and the use modern technologies the idea of what dinosaurs looked like no longer seems so reliable even for the most studied reptiles. As it turned out, many of them had plumage, and all over the body.
Velociraptor
Even at the end of the last century, paleontologists suggested that dinosaurs from the Velociraptor family were feathered. Researchers increasingly came across the remains of an early representative of this species - a dromaeosaurid with full wings.
2007 brought a big sensation. American researchers found on the forearm bones of the remains of a velociraptor plumage landing sites. This discovery was another convincing proof that the reptile was winged.
Indeed, the depiction of the Velociraptor in Jurassic Park was heavily altered. In fact, the dinosaur, enlarged in the film to the size of an adult, was no larger than an ordinary turkey.
Archeopteryx
History shows this animal as a transitional link between reptiles and birds. But new discoveries have shown that Archeopteryx may actually be the forerunner of Velociraptor. Disputes between the followers of the two theories have been going on for several decades.
Archeopteryx is considered one of the earliest types of dinosaurs, but this is rather arbitrary. According to the English paleontologist Steve Brucett, it is impossible to accurately create an evolutionary tree that includes birds and reptiles.
Triceratops
This huge dinosaur is one of the most popular among lovers of ancient reptiles. But even they, as it turned out, are not so well studied.
In 2009, researchers John Scannella and John Horner published an article that made a sensational assumption. In their opinion, Triceratops was a small version of the less studied Torosaurus. Since then, there has been a heated debate about which of the dinosaurs was larger.
Brontosaurus
This dinosaur is shown in "Jurassic Park" as a huge clumsy beast with a very long neck. But for a whole century, all scientists thought that in fact it never existed.
The first time the remains of a brontosaurus were presented to the public, it was just a fake. In fact, it was an artificial composition consisting of an Apatosaurus skeleton and a Camarasaurus head.
But in 2015, new studies were conducted. They showed a significant difference between Apatosaurus and Brontosaurus fossils. This indicated that this reptile could indeed exist. The difference between these two species is mainly in size.
tyrannosaurus rex
The bloodthirsty image of this most terrible predator of the Jurassic period is also under threat. As the feathered revolution in paleontology progressed, some researchers wondered if Tyrannosaurus had feathers. Until recently, more than 50 fossilized T-Rex skeletons were carefully examined, and nothing of the kind was found on any of them.
But in 2004, a primitive tyrannosauroid was found in China, covered in feathers. In 2012, another sensational discovery was made - the discovery of Yutyrannus. This predator, being a relative of the tyrannosaurus rex, was covered with long feathers. So it's worth thinking about the real appearance of the most terrible predator of all time.
Stegosaurus
Around this dinosaur at one time there were many different speculations. According to one of the opinions, the stegosaurus had an additional brain in the small pelvis, since the main thinking organ, located in the tiny head, could not cope alone. In fact, this cavity in the reptile could contain glycogen, which is necessary for the regulation of energy.
There were also different opinions around the alleged plates on the back of the stegosaurus. According to the most common, these were a kind of "solar panels" for regulating the body temperature of a cold-blooded reptile. But there is no evidence for this version. It is also believed that the spikes and plates helped the stegosaurus to identify fellow tribesmen and identify opponents.
Pachycephalosaurus
Although this dinosaur is not one of the most popular reptiles of the Jurassic period, it is well known for its head, which it used as a battering ram.
Usually representatives of this species are described as constantly fighting with the help of hard foreheads of predators.
In fact, paleontologists strongly doubt this use of the hard pachycephalosaurus skull. After studying the structure of the tissues of the skull, the researchers came to the conclusion that such a shield on the head would not have coped with a really strong blow. Most likely, it was intended to attract the attention of individuals of the opposite sex during mating games.
Ankylosaurus
This dinosaur looks like a medieval heavy knight thanks to its thick armored plates all over its body. Even the deadliest fangs of a Tyrannosaurus rex could not overcome this defense.
As it turned out, it's not about the thickness. Thanks to the research of the German paleontologist Thorsten Scheier, it turned out that the armor of the ankylosaurus is quite light and thin. Its strength lies in a special complex combination of collagen and bones, reminiscent of materials such as Kevlar or fiberglass.
According to Scheyer, this shell structure allowed him to be extremely durable in all directions. So the ankylosaurus is more reminiscent of a modern soldier in body armor than a knight in armor.
Spinosaurus
This dinosaur played a key role in "Jurassic Park" - it was his writers who chose it for a deadly fight with a tyrannosaurus rex. The choice was clear - with a length of more than 15 meters, the Spinosaurus is almost three meters longer than the T-Rex. At the same time, the reptile has a long jaw strewn with sharp teeth, and there is a bizarre crest on its back.
The structure of the Spinosaurus remained a mystery until recently, since skeletal fragments found in the desert regions of North Africa testified to its existence. In 2014, the American paleontologist Nizar Ibrahim discovered new remains of this reptile. They made it possible to state definitively: Spinosaurus is the only known aquatic dinosaur. It had small hind limbs suitable for swimming and a crocodile nose, and in body structure it resembled early amphibians.
Pterosaur
In fact, these birds of prey are not dinosaurs at all, but this fact is often forgotten. Pterosaurs, or pterodactyls as they are most often called, are one of the groups of flying reptiles. And their sizes were quite different.
The largest pterosaurs were azdarchids - winged giants, equal in height to giraffes. Their wingspan is truly impressive - up to 10 meters. They can safely be called the largest birds of all time.
At the same time, there were very tiny pterosaurs. So, the wingspan of a non-mycolopter was only 10 centimeters.
Famous monsters like tyrannosaurs and velociraptors most likely did not look like the monsters of our imagination and certainly behaved differently. Many of us as children, and I speak for myself in all sincerity, had a difficult period of love for dinosaurs. And now it turns out that much of what I knew was not true. It turns out that modern scientific view the popular image of dinosaurs is one step away from these things.
Until the "dinosaur renaissance" of the late 60s, dinosaurs were always portrayed as sluggish and ruminant. But experts realized that dinosaurs led an active lifestyle and gradually brought this to the general public - including with the help of the 1993 Jurassic Park.
Over the past two decades, we have witnessed another major revolution in our understanding of dinosaurs, thanks to new fossils from China and advances in technology. But most of these findings did nothing to change the conventional wisdom about dinosaurs. And now I understand how strongly the images of the legendary dinosaurs have ingrained themselves in my memory - since childhood. It's like considering Pluto to be a planet in the solar system.
But now you may not recognize these dinosaurs.
Let's start with an idea that many have heard of but few accepted: Some dinosaurs had feathers. Not just a couple of feathers here and there, but a body completely covered with feathers.
Already in the 1980s, some paleontologists began to suspect that dinosaurs were feathered, it turns out, creatures. Increasingly, fossils of primitive dromaeosaurids - the family to which Velociraptor belongs - with fully feathered wings, have been found. Nevertheless, the depictions of this iconic predator remained fairly traditional.
That all changed in 2007, when American scientists discovered feather tubercles on the forearm bone of a fossilized Velociraptor. These tubercles are found where the feather attaches and provide strong evidence for feathered and bird-like velociraptors.
Those human-sized dinosaurs shown in Jurassic Park had nothing to do with their real ancestors.
"If animals like Velociraptor were alive today, we would immediately think they look like unusual birds," says Mark Norell of the American Museum of Natural History. And this is reflected not only in feathers: real Velociraptors were the size of turkeys.
Michael Crichton, author of the original Jurassic Park novel, designed his raptors in the image of the larger Deinonychus. And, apparently, he deliberately named them incorrectly, because he thought that "velociraptor" sounded more dramatic.
Archeopteryx is widely considered to be the "missing link" between dinosaurs and birds. This mysterious status attracted a lot of attention to them, and not only positive.
Accusations of forgery have plagued Archeopteryx fossils for many years, usually from people who don't like such clear proof of evolution.
In fact, new research suggests that Archeopteryx may not be the missing link, but clearly not for reasons promoted by opponents of evolution. After the discovery of a dinosaur very similar to Archeopteryx in China, scientists have speculated that the famous avian ancestor may actually have preceded small carnivorous dinosaurs like velociraptors. Since then, this version has been disputed.
Even if we consider Archeopteryx to be the first bird, this label is not true. "It's fundamentally impossible to draw a line on the evolutionary tree between dinosaurs and birds," says Steve Brusatte of the University of Edinburgh in the UK, co-author of a 2014 study on the evolution of early birds.
Everything indicates that there was no missing link between birds and dinosaurs, but only a gradual transition involving many birds. intermediate species.
This T-Rex's eternal adversary and favorite model for plastic figures - who doesn't love a Triceratops?
So when John Scannella and John Horner published a paper in 2009 suggesting that Triceratops was just a juvenile version of a larger but less well-known torosaurus (Torosaurus), waves of hatred hit them, followed by disappointment. The hashtag #TriceraFAIL was invented. People decided that their favorite dinosaur was just made up.
But it wasn't like that. Very soon, commentators began to point out that Triceratops had been found earlier, so if anyone should be removed, it is torosaurs. But the lesson was very important. Our knowledge of dinosaurs is often based on scarce fossils, so even known species undergo changes.
Brontosaurus
Brontosaurus gets its name from the archetypal sauropods: huge, lumbering herbivores with long necks. But for hundreds of years, scientists were sure that this dinosaur never existed.
The skeleton that was first introduced as a brontosaurus was left over from an apatosaurus with a camarosaurus skull.
However, in 2015, a team of scientists presented an analysis demonstrating significant differences between the original Brontosaurus and the fossil Apatosaurus, suggesting that the brontosaur genus should be resurrected.
The key differentiating factor, the team says, is size. In the family of giant reptiles, Apatosaurus was huge.
Tyrannosaurus rex
Some scientists have definitely defended the tyrannosaurus rex. After decades of excuses that it was a humble grass-eater and not the ferocious predator of popular imagination, this lizard is now facing another identity crisis.
As the feathered revolution swept paleontology, experts began to think about the genus Tyrannosaurus as well. Of course, how could the most charismatic predator of all time be feathered?
Not an ounce of plumage has been found in over 50 T. rex remains throughout North America. But along with excavations in China, very, very interesting hints were drawn.
In 2004, they found a primitive tyrannosauroid with feather coverings similar to those found on other small carnivorous dinosaurs. This was followed by the discovery of Yutyrannus in 2012 - meaning "feathered tyrant". This giant predator was closely related to T. rex, and not only in terms of size. It was covered with long feathers.
These data suggest that the most famous predator of all time needs to be looked at differently. The question is, was the feathered Tyrannosaurus rex not as scary as the roaring, lawyer-eating monster we all love so much?
Experts are famous for their ability to come up with wacky explanations for the strange features of dinosaurs; explanations that creep confidently into popular opinion and stay there.
For example, it's a widely held "fact" that Stegosaurus had an extra brain in its pelvic area to compensate for the tiny brain (cerebellum?) in its small head.
But no, the stegosaurus may not have been the smartest of its friends, but it didn't need an extra brain. This extra cavity, which gave rise to the myth, most likely housed the "glycogen body": a structure found in many birds that is involved in energy storage.
He also has plates on his back.
For some time the most popular theory was that the most distinguishing feature Stegosaurus is ... "solar panels" that help it regulate its body temperature. But this has always been the subject of heated scientific battles. If this is indeed the case, why are other stegosaurus decorations more like spikes than panels?
The variety of Stegosaurus spines played a role in another train of thought. Like the bright and colorful plumage of tropical birds, these plates may have helped dinosaurs distinguish each other and attract mates.
Sex may have been a key factor in the development of many of the extravagant traits seen in dinosaurs. In recent years, everything from the long necks of sauropods to the frilled frills of ceratopsians has come under sexual selection.
And although this dinosaur is not included in the first class of legendary lizards, Pachycephalosaurus is well known among dinosaur fans for its armored head.
These dinosaurs were almost exclusively depicted as engaging in head-to-head battles. Pachycephalosaurs had domed heads with a powerful reinforced skull. It was believed that the males used these built-in battering rams to fight each other, much like the rams of today.
However, some scientists doubted that pachycephalosaurs were fighters.
"Our research showed that pachycephalosaurs could only hit their heads once and the subsequent injury could have killed them," says John Horner of the University of Montana in the US, who has studied the microstructure of dinosaur cranial tissue. He suggests that the domes were another way to attract partners (sexual, of course, and not in business).
Ankylosaurus
Covered in thick armor plates from head to tail, the ankylosaurus was such a medieval knight of the Cretaceous period.
Modern paleontologists use the latest technology to squeeze more and more information out of the fossils. In 2004 Thorsten Scheier at the University of Bonn in Germany used polarizing microscopy to reveal remarkable new levels of complexity in the ankylosaur shell.
It turned out that the bulky-looking armor has a complex microstructure of bones and collagen, similar to the structure of fiberglass or Kevlar.
“This shell was very strong in all places,” Scheier says. And surprisingly easy. “Modern composite materials that are used to create wind farm blades or bulletproof vests are based on the same principle.”
It looks like the ankylosaurus looked more like a modern-day super-soldier than a medieval knight.
Another dinosaur that became famous thanks to the movie Jurassic Park is the Spinosaurus: in the film, he fought with the Tyrannosaurus Rex.
It's easy to see why the filmmakers' choice fell on Spinosaurus. At 15.2 meters long, it is 2.7 meters longer than a Tyrannosaurus rex. It also had a long and fearsome jaw and a bizarre "sail" protruding from its back.
Spinosaurus has always been a mysterious dinosaur known only from skeletal fragments found in the deserts of North Africa. But in 2014, a group of archaeologists led by Nizar Ibrahim of the University of Chicago in Illinois announced the discovery of new remains. These fossils seem to confirm what has long been suspected: Spinosaurus is the only aquatic dinosaur.
Ibrahim's analysis revealed a creature with small hind limbs, more suitable for swimming than land hunting. It also had a long crocodile-like snout and a bony microstructure similar to that of the bones of other aquatic vertebrates.
“Working on this animal was like studying an alien from space,” says Ibrahim. "This dinosaur is unlike any other."
Bonus: pterosaurs
This point doesn't really count since pterosaurs weren't dinosaurs, a fact that is periodically overlooked.
Many of us are familiar with the name "pterodactyl". But that name hides many groups of flying reptiles that are collectively referred to as "pterosaurs." And this group was just huge.
At one end of the spectrum we find Nemycolopterus, a tiny pterosaur with a wingspan of 25 centimeters (10 inches). There are also bigger creatures: azhdarchids. When they spread their wings, their wingspan was a whopping 10 meters. If so judged, they were the largest flying animals of all time.
According to the BBC
Eodromaeus
Every year, scientists discover more and more new types of dinosaurs. Among them, for example, Sauroniops, named after the dark magician from The Lord of the Rings, the nosy Pinocchio Rex, the terrible Siats Meekerorum, which terrorized tyrannosaurs, and many others.
If you ask for the name of a dinosaur, most likely long-known species will come to mind, such as a tyrannosaurus rex or a triceratops. However, hundreds of species of ancient lizards are already known to science, and every year paleontologists discover more and more fossilized remains.
Discovered in 2012, a predatory lizard the size of a tyrannosaurus rex was named by scientists in honor of the dark magician from Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and Peter Jackson's film trilogy based on it.
What can be in common between a dinosaur hunting in North Africa and a book villain?
The fact is that the only surviving bone of a prehistoric beast was its eye socket. It alone was enough to identify the dinosaur as a completely new species. Naturally, the giant eye of Sauron from the fantasy trilogy, gloomily glowing in the dark, from the fantasy trilogy came to mind, which ultimately gave the name to the new species.
Sauroniops Pachytholus dine on a young Spinosaurus. Two other spinosaurs flee
Eodromaeus
In addition to giant dinosaurs, exceeding the length and height of modern land mammals, the Earth at one time was home to many small species, no larger than cats or dogs.
These include, for example, eodromaeus, whose body length is approximately 1.2 meters, and weight - no more than five kilograms. This carnivorous animal lived 230 million years ago in Argentina and was probably the ancestor of larger predators such as the tyrannosaurus rex.
Eodromaeus
Anzu Wyliei
Another mythological name was given to a funny lizard that lived in the northeastern United States. Anzu Wyliei is the name of a feathered demon from Mesopotamian mythology.
This three-meter dinosaur from the genus Oviraptor weighed approximately 225 kg and was omnivorous. The basis of his diet was plants and small animals.
The paleontologist who discovered the well-preserved skeleton of Anzu Wyliei initially dubbed it the “hell chicken.” Indeed, this creature resembles a hybrid of, say, an emu with a tyrannosaurus rex. But despite its comical appearance, the lizard was a dangerous opponent due to its powerful jaws.
Anzu Wyliei as an artist
Qianzhousaurus sinensis
Another very comical view, discovered a few weeks ago at excavations in China. Due to the elongated shape of the skull, he received the nickname "Pinocchio" in honor of the long-nosed fellow Pinocchio.
The muzzle of the Pinocchio rex was long and narrow, and the nose was 35% longer than the noses of any known dinosaur of similar size.
Qianzhousaurus Sinensis is a close relative of the most famous carnivorous dinosaur, Tyrannosaurus rex. Paleontologists believe that the shape of the body allowed the tyrannosaurus Pinocchio to run faster than its cousin, and therefore it was a more dangerous predator.
Artist's rendering of Qianzhousaurus sinensis
Torvosaurus Gurneyi
Torvosaurus, recently discovered in Portugal, was one of the largest animals ever to live in Europe. Its length reached 10 meters, and it weighed about 4-5 tons.
Initially, scientists mistook it for another known North American Torvosaurus species, Torvosaurus tanneri. However, after careful study, it turned out that this species has fewer than 11 teeth in the upper jaw, but the existing ones are 10 cm longer than those of the American relative.
Torvosaurus gurneyi as depicted by an artist
Yongjinglong Datangi
Of course, among the herbivorous dinosaurs, new species are constantly being discovered. These include the recently discovered Yongjinglong Datangi, which is difficult to pronounce in northwestern China.
The new pangolin belongs to the genus of titanosaurs, the largest land animals that have ever existed on our planet. The bones found most likely belong to a young individual, but, nevertheless, we are talking about a titanosaur 15-18 meters in size.
This species of titanosaur is considered to be one of the most evolutionarily advanced specimens found in Asia so far. By the way, if earlier it was considered that most of all various kinds dinosaurs were found in the United States, then starting in 2007, China also blocked this record.
Yongjinglong datangi
Europelta Carbonensis
Not one, but two skeletons of a new species of nodosaurs were found last year in one of the Spanish mines. The new dinosaur has received the strange name Europelta Carbonensis - "Europe's coal shield".
Nodosaurs lived almost everywhere on Earth during the late Jurassic era. ancient view, found in Spain, is more similar to its European counterparts than to its American relatives. And this means that, perhaps, Europe and North America became separate continents already 110 million, and not 80 million years ago, as previously thought.
Europelta Carbonensis as seen by an artist
Leinkupal Laticauda
This is the first diplodocus dinosaur found in South America. Leinkupal in the language of the Mapuche who inhabited Patagonia means "disappeared family", laticauda in Latin - a wide tail. Although it is smaller than its African relatives, it is still a solid 9 meters long.
Diplodocus, belonging to the group of four-legged sauropods, were distinguished by elongated necks and tails, which were used in defense against predatory relatives. The found remains of Leinkupal Laticauda belong to the early Cretaceous period, which makes them unique, because until now it was believed that all diplodocus became extinct in the late Jurassic.
Leinkupal laticauda as imagined by an artist
Siats Meekerorum
Another carnivorous dinosaur that probably terrorized the tyrannosaurs for a while. Siats Meekerorum is the name of a man-eating monster from the legends of the North American Indians in Utah, where his remains were discovered.
This monster lived in the United States 98 million years ago - at that time tyrannosaurs were much smaller. It was 10 meters long and weighed up to 4 tons. Thanks to the found remains of Siats Meekerorum, paleontologists were able to establish the name of “the king of beasts in North America at that time.
Siats Meekerorum as imagined by an artist
Cryptodragon Progenitor
Discovered in northwestern China, the pterosaur is believed to be the oldest known flying reptile. Judging by the remains found, he lived 160 million years ago.
Although its descendants reached the size of small aircraft, the wingspan of this cryptodragon was only 1.4 m. The ancient pterosaur did not live in coastal areas, like other pterodactyls, but on land.
Artist's view of Kryptodrakon Progenitor