NOTE: This article was originally posted on April 8, 2020. It was substantially updated on December 14, 2022. This is Dryosaurus, a 10 foot long plant-eating ornithopod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation of western North America, and possibly… Read More ›
Ceratosaurus is an iconic dinosaur due to numerous physical attributes that distinguish it from other theropod species: the horn on the end of its nose, the massive teeth, the tiny hands with the four fingers, the wide tail, etc. However,… Read More ›
Introduction The sauropods are the definitive image of the dinosaur. Almost always, whenever one hears the word “dinosaur”, the image of the long-necked long-tailed four-legged behemoth is what immediately springs to mind. The sauropods were the dominant land herbivores during… Read More ›
Othnielia rex was a small ornithopod dinosaur found in the Morrison Formation, a famous geological formation spanning a large chunk of the western United States which is dated to the late Jurassic Period, 155-145 million years ago. It is here… Read More ›
Note: This article was originally published on August 31, 2019. It has since been substantially updated and re-published on September 19, 2024. The Morrison Formation of the western United States is one of the most famous deposits of late Jurassic… Read More ›
Harpactognathus was a rhamphorhynchid pterosaur which lived in the Morrison Formation of western North America during the late Jurassic Period. It was one of the largest pterosaurs that lived in North America during that time. Although it is only known… Read More ›
This is a little-known theropod from the Morrison Formation named Coelurus. You don’t see Coelurus very often in Jurassic paleo-art, but I think it’s an interesting creature. It had a much thinner build than its Morrison coelurosaurid counterpart, Ornitholestes, and… Read More ›
Back in 2013, I posted a picture of the 25 foot long pliosaur known as Megalneusaurus, which swam in a shallow sea that once covered the central part of North America during the middle and late Jurassic Period. The illustration… Read More ›
The image of Nature “red in tooth and claw” is a compelling vision which appeals to the popular imagination. Time and again, paleo-art illustrations depict dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals actively engaged in fighting, hunting, and killing. It’s a well-known… Read More ›
Greetings all. Every child with a rough grasp of what life was like in Late Jurassic North America probably knows the Morrison Formation’s main characters. If such a child were to be asked to name the meat-eaters from that formation,… Read More ›
DINOSAURS AND BARBARIANS 