Webosaurs Blog

Cameroceras in all its glory. Still, the diorama doesn't do justice to how big this thing was

Q: What is a cameroceras? -ShadowFlyer

A: Ahhh, I hadn’t heard of this guy until you brought it up to me. WOW, what an awesome awesome creature. Cameroceras lived during the Ordovician time period (the one ModosaurOrdo is named after) which was in the Paleozoic era. The Paleozoic era was the one that occurred before the time of the dinosaurs, the Mesozoic.

Anyway, this ancient cephalopod grew to be over 30 ft (9 m) long!!! That is about the size of a school bus. We still have cephalopods in the ocean today but they are nowhere near as big. In fact, this guy was one of the largest sea creatures in the Paleozoic, if not the largest.

Scientists believe Cameroceras lived in deep waters and fed on passing animals like trilobites. Like it’s living relative Nautilus, it is believed to be mostly blind. Essentially just eating everything that comes along its path. It was an apex predator, meaning that it really had no predators of its own. Does this mean Cameroceras was the ultimate Paleozoic couch potato? Just hanging out and eating whatever is in front it?

-Rex

Yeah, I'm a carnivore, but what I REALLY want is a grilled peanut butter and banana sandwich.

How big was the crest on Cryolophosaurus’s head? – sherepta1

Cryolophosaurus (CRY-oh-LOAF-oh-SORE-us) was a theropod that lived in Antarctica in the Early Jurassic (190-185 million years ago). It was about 6 to 8 meters (20 to 26 feet) long. What sets it apart from other dinosaurs is the strange crest on its head that runs from side to side rather than front to back. I was not able to find out anything about the size of the crest, but the skull itself was 65 centimeters (25 inches) long.

After the skull was discovered, some scientist with a sense of humor decided that the crest looked like Elvis Presley’s pompadour hairstyle in the 50’s. That’s why the Cryolophosaurus is sometimes called (jokingly) Elvisarus! Thank ya, thank ya very much!

~ModCeno

NOT an actual image from prehistoric times. lololol

How did dinosaurs entertain themselves? – Hornstrkier

Well, we know they didn’t have books to read, TV to watch, or video games to play, and I’m pretty sure Hornstrkier wasn’t thinking along those lines when he asked his question. I’ll bet he was wondering if dinosaurs engaged in play. The quick, to-the-point answer is – we don’t know, and we will never know.

What we can do, however, is look at the modern-day relatives of dinosaurs to make some educated guesses. Play behavior has been observed in turtles, lizards, and crocodiles, as well as in birds. So we can deduce that at least some dinosaurs probably did play.

Of course, Webosaurs play ALL the time! Why don’t you challenge yourself and some friends to see how many different games you can play in Webosaurs today? Have fun!

~ModCeno

Each February the other dinos eagerly await the moment the little groundinohog emerges from his burrow - will he see his shadow?? (Just kidding lol)

Brrrrr! It’s been so cold lately that all I’ve wanted to do is burrow under some covers and keep warm. Apparently, some dinosaurs had the same idea, as I found out when researching the answer to today’s Daily Dino Fact

Did dinosaurs ever build burrows? – shadowflyer

I must admit, the idea of a dinosaur building a burrow never crossed my mind. It doesn’t seem like a very dino-like thing to do. But in 2005 the first known dinosaur burrow was discovered in Montana. It is 95 million years old and had the bones of a few small dinos called Oryctodromeus cubicularis. Then, just last year, scientists found fossilized burrows in southeastern Australia that date back 110 million years.

Why did dinosaurs burrow? Probably for the same reasons animals burrow today: protection from predators, a place to care for their young, and the main reason that’s on MY mind right now – a place to keep warm during the cold winter! Toss me another blanket, will ya?

~ModCeno

Looks like he needs to mow his tail!

Happy Monday, dinos! You know I like my ceratopsians, so here’s another question about them:

Did ceratopsians have tail feathers?  – Regisaurus

Surprisingly enough, the answer appears to be yes – sort of!  In 2002 paleontologists announced that they had discovered a specimen of Psittacosaurus with a series of hollow, tubular bristles arranged in a row down the top of its tail, in a plume formation. Psittacosaurus (Greek for “parrot lizard”) was a small ceratopsian from the Early Cretaceous Period, one of the earliest ceratopsians.

On a related note, you may remember from Pterry’s True Science last month that we now have evidence of dino color from the recent discovery of a dinosaur called Sinosauropteryx that was found in China. They found a reddish-orange color in tail feathers of one of the specimens.

Thanks for that interesting question, Regisaurus! I learned something new! Keep ‘em coming!

~ModCeno

You have my heart.....wait, wait, give that back, I need it!!!

Since today is Valentine’s Day in some parts of the world, I thought it would be a perfect time to find out about dinosaur hearts!

Well, guess what? We don’t know much for certain about dinosaur hearts. Since hearts are soft tissue, they don’t generally preserve as fossils. However, in the year 2000, scientists in North Carolina discovered a fossilized heart in the remains of a 60 million year old Thescelosaurus neglectus nicknamed “Willo”. They used a computer tomography (CT) scanner to look inside a grape-fruit sized, reddish brown clump in the dinosaur’s chest. What they discovered was a four-chambered heart, more like a human or bird than a lizard.

So, what does that tell us? The scientists claim that it supports the thinking that many dinosaurs were warm-blooded, active animals. The CT scans have revealed other shadow and shapes that may turn out to be other fossilized organs as well. It seems like there is always something new to find out about dinosaurs! Science rocks!!

~ModCeno

Frill or Party Hat? It's all in how you look at it!

Iron_Head wants to know, “Did dinos besides cerapods have horns?”

As far as I’ve been able to tell from my research, all horned dinos fall into the cerapoda suborder. Of those, my favorites are the ceratopsians. Their horns and frills look so cool, and there is such a variety – almost like fancy hats on their heads!

The heavy frill of ceratopsians like Triceratops may have been for protection, but other ceratopsians had smaller frills, and even large openings in their frills, which wouldn’t have been much use against a predator. Some scientists think the frills may have worked as heat radiators, signaling devices, or to attract mates.

See, what did I tell you? Hats do the same thing (well, maybe not the heat radiating so much – lol!)

~ModCeno

Coprolite (Yes, it is what you think it is - look it up!!)

You dinos have my brain in overdrive with your great questions! Today’s question comes from Shadowflyer:

Were there ever any omnivorous dinosaurs?

There probably were omnivorous dinos (they ate both meat and plants), but there isn’t any conclusive proof. We can get an idea of what dinos ate from their teeth, fossilized stomach remains, and fossilized poop (coprolite). Carnivores generally have teeth made for biting and ripping, herbivores have teeth designed for grinding and chewing. When we see dinos with a combination of types of teeth, it could indicate that they were omnivores.

Some examples of omnivores are Ornithomimus and Oviraptor, which ate plants, eggs, insects, etc. Also, most herbivores are “accidental omnivores” because when they eat plants, they accidentally ingest many insects and other small animals.

Never stop learning!
ModCeno

Git along little dogies...umm...dinos

Hi there dino pals! ModCeno here again today, with an answer to another of your DINOmite questions!

Nara wants to know “Which species of dinosaurs had the highest population?”

Well, looking at the amount of fossils found, it would appear that the HADROSAURS were responsible for the biggest crowds during the late Cretaceous period, beating out tyrannosaurs, ceratopsians, and raptors. Herds of hundreds or thousands of hadrosaurs could be found roaming the woodlands of North America, Europe, and Asia, nibbling on low-lying plants. You could almost think of these duck-billed dinosaurs as prehistoric cattle! (Just don’t try to milk one!!)

Thanks for the question, Nara! Everyone, keep those dinosaur questions coming!

You'd be slow, too, if you had to haul this around behind you!

Hey dinos! Rex is out of town so ModosaurCeno is here, taking a stab at a Daily Dino Fact!

Q: Wait a minute! Wasn’t the ankylosaur one of the slowest dinosaurs to ever live? No wonder they are so slow! They have so much armor! :p -Hornstrkier

A: Our friend Hornstrkier was right when he remembered that the ankylosaur was one of the slowest dinos that ever lived.  Sauropods were pretty slow, too, but given the ankylosaurs’ short legs, we’re going to give the Slowpoke Prize to them! Besides, who needs speed when you are practically an armored tank!