Called the Ashdown maniraptoran, this is the smallest european dinosaur. It is about 33-40cm long and looks like a bird. It hasn’t got a proper name yet, but when more of it is found, it will gain its own name.
Picture by Matthew Martyniuk: http://dinogoss.blogspot.co.uk/
120 million years ago an icthyosaur named Platypterygius fought with another marine reptile. It survived, but was scared on its snout. The question is, what made these wounds?
Kronosaurus vs Platypterygius
Kronosaurus was the top predator at that time. It’s jaws were huge. At ten metres long it dwarfed 6-7 metre Platypterygius. When Kronosaurus attacked, it ATTACKED! Platypterygius didn’t stand a chance. The attacker must have been smaller.
Pliosaur vs Platypterygius
How about a smaller pliosaur? It had a smaller head and was about the same size. But Pliosaurs want to kill! If it wants to have Platypterygius for dinner it has to kill it first! Compared to some of the things big Al went through this is nothing.
Platypterygius vs Platypterygius
The most likely explanation is that the Platypterygius was injured by another Platypterygius in a dispute about teritory or a mate. The injured Platypterygius swam away before any terrible damage was done.
This is a ballad about big Al which I wrote on the bus.
It was the late Jurassic,
When big Al had his birth.
He lived in Laurasia,
The northern part of the earth.
He was very tiny,
When he was a chick.
He hatched from his mother’s nest,
Made of mud and sticks.
But boy, he grew quickly!
He soon left his home.
Let out in to the wild,
Where he went to roam.
He could bring down Othnielia,
He could bring down a Dryosaur.
He could bite them with his mouth,
Or slash them with his claw.
At the age of 5 he joined a pack,
To bring down a Sauropod.
Diplodocus, who made a deafening sound,
Every time they trod.
The allosaurus were smarter,
They picked off the old and weak.
They surrounded him and snarled at him,
They knew they were in for a treat.
They bit him and slashed him and mauled him,
They turned him into a wreck.
But in his last few seconds,
He hit Al with his neck!
But Al soon recovered,
And now he wanted a mate.
But the female he met rejected him,
And said he had to wait.
Big Al wasn’t patient,
He strode forward with pride.
But the female mangled his hand,
And tore at his hide.
Al limped away from the scene,
Filled with hunger and thirst.
He put mating to the back of his mind,
And put nutrition first.
He chased a herd of Dryosaur,
But he was to slow.
He triped up on a log,
And completely shatered his toe.
He died on the river bank,
Released of life’s great toil.
And when the rains came again,
He was buried under soil.
But this is not the end of his tale,
You can see him today.
His skeleton is now erected,
On a permanent display.
A large plateosaurus searches for food. As does a liliensternus. The liliensternus spots the plateosaurus but does not attack. It knows a pack is needed to bring down this beast.
As a female edaphosaurus drinks, a dimetrodon looks at her hungrily. He leaps out of his cover. But this edaphosaurus is ready for anything. She swings her tail and hits the dimetrodon in the face. He falls back and his tail dangles in the water. An ophiacodon mistakes this to be a fish and grabs the dimetrodon’s tail. The dimetrodon roars as the edaphosaurus swipes again…
Here is my first YouTube video on the site. It is all about a recently discovered dinosaur named brontomerus (thunder thighs), which got this name for its spectacular habit of kicking its enemies as it had flexible thighs. In the video I show it using its head, tail and legs against three deinonychus and a utahraptor.
Enjoy!
A 60cm tall, insect eating dinosaur has been discovered called Linhenykus monodactylus. It had a claw on each hand which would be very useful for digging into wood and termite mounds. It was related to similar dinos like Mononykus and Shuvuuia. Although they were insect eaters it is likely that they would not turn their nose up at a juicy fruit!
Oh, Joy! I have been looking out for a new animal that we know the colour of. This one is a bird called Confuciusornis. Coincidentally it lived in the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary that Sinosauropteryx lived in. It was 0.7 metres long and weighed half a kilogram. It had two long tail feathers and was grey, black and redish-brown.
