Webosaurs Blog

Utahraptor - still the king of the Dromaeosaurs

Q: What was the biggest raptor? -Repticore5 (I believe it was Sinraptor - Shadowflyer)

A: Heyyy… very good call Shadowflyer. Standing nearly 10 feet tall (3 meters) and roughly 25 feet (7.6 meters) in length, it would appear that Sinraptor is actually bigger than the other raptors. After all, Utahraptor is only 23 feet (7 m) long. Could this be the new biggest raptor of them all?

Sorry Charlie

Turns out that Sinraptor isn’t actually a raptor. Sure, it’s called a raptor (which means “thief” in latin) and it kind of looks like a raptor. However, it isn’t a member of the Dromaeosaurids. If you remember, Dromaeosaurs are what we usually refer to as “raptors.” Sinraptor was just your regular ol’ theropod, but we bet he was still pretty scary to cross.

So there you go… Utahraptor with his giant claw and menacing reputation still remains the king of the raptors!

-Rex

Noah's Raven

Q: Where were the first dinosaur trackways found? -Doulas1

A: Great question Doulas1. In all actuality, dinosaur tracks have probably been found by humans for centuries - they just didn’t know what they were. If you remember, the Chinese had found dinosaur bones way before anyone else did, but they thought they were dragon bones. In the United States, Native American drawings have been found next to tracks calling them “bird tracks.”

The first authenticated dinosaur tracks were found by the hilariously named Pliny Moody, a farmboy in South Hadley, Massachusetts. He dug them up in 1802 while ploughing up slabs of reddish rock. The newly found tracks were displayed at the Moody family farmhouse. The local doctor decided they were the tracks of Noah’s Raven, and the set of tracks were henceforth known by that name. It wasn’t until later that they were determined to be the tracks of a small ornithischian dinosaur.

-Rex

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

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

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!

Unicornosaur?

Q: Which dinosaur most closely resembled a unicorn? -Unicornosaur

A: LOL, what a great question! Honestly, I didn’t think I was going to be able to answer this one (though I certainly wanted to). Turns out there is actually a dinosaur whose nickname is “The Unicorn Dinosaur.” The dinos name is Tsintaosaurus, a hadrosaur found in China.

Tsintosaurus was one of the strangest dinosaurs ever found. Unlike other hadrosaurs that had a long crest protruding backward, Tsintosaurus had a long, blunt horn sticking straight out of the forehead. No one knows what it was used for and the theories about it vary widely. What we do know is that it had very powerful jaws and teeth and could have eaten from the toughest of trees.

Unfortunately, Tsintaosaurus lived during the Late Cretaceous. Liopleurodons lived during the Middle Jurassic which means you couldn’t name a Tsintaosaurus “Charlie” and have it meet a “Magical Liopleurodon.”

High five to anyone who gets that reference.

-Rex