Paleoart Tapestries

A T Rex

Struthiomimus, one of the ostrich-like dinosaurs from the Cretaceous period.

... as they viciously attack insects and intimidate small children Ah, the chicken, the tyrannosaurus rex's closest living relative. If only they knew what they'd become.

Sometimes I just butt heads with people - it's in my nature!!

Terror Birds, live up to their namesake in many ways as they took the place as top predators not long after their non-avian dinosaur cousins died out during the KT mass extinction around 62 million years ago and their reign lasted until around 1.8 million years ago, with some fossil findings having possibly been dated at as recent as 18,000 years. With such a long lineage, it's no surprise that the group included many different species with different predatory niches, ranging in size from 3 to 10 feet in height.

T.rex was a massive animal, measuring around 40 feet in length and roughly 12 feet in height, weighing in at around 6 to 9 tons. It had teeth as big or bigger than most bananas with a bite force equal to around 8,000 lbs of force. When it bit into it’s prey it would often crush bone. Though it had relatively small arms for it’s stature, scientists have estimated that each arm was capable of 3.5 times the strength of a human arm of the same length, they were heavily muscled and had a limited range of movement, which some think may have aided the animal in holding on to prey or during mating.

With a skull 10 inches thick surrounded by rounded spikes it’s thought that Pachycephalosaurs used its bulbous dome as a weapon against predators and rivals, much like modern bighorn sheep. There is evidence for and against this, damage to a fossil skull fragment suggests trauma was inflicted directly at the top of the skull, but structural analysis seems to rule out skull to skull bash-fests as it looks like solid bone didn’t cushion against damage as well as you might think. Bighorn sheep can headbutt each other like they do because their horns are actually hollow providing an air cushion for it’s brain, helping to prevent concussions.

Styracosaurus (or “spiked lizard”) was a member of the ceretopsian family of dinosaurs. Though somewhat smaller than it’s much more famous relative Triceratops, it made up for it’s lack of size in the number of horns it had covering it’s face with one long central horn jutting from it’s nose and at least 4 or more long frill spines protruding from the crest on the back of it’s skull. The spines most likely had a variety of purposes, from defense, to attracting a mate, to species recognition. Styracosaurus was a hervivore and lived during the Late Cretaceous period, roughly 75.5 to 75 million years ago, in what would eventually become North America ranging from Alberta, Canada to what would eventually be Montana in the United States.

Dilophosaurus wetherelli was well known thanks to it’s notable appearance in a certain blockbuster movie, but was not as well known to science until very recently. A new study has been published that revealed that the animal, once thought to possess a bite not suitable for holding onto large prey, not only reached sizes larger than previously thought, but it also possessed a very strong might with it’s jaw being revealed to be much more robust than previous studies had concluded. It also has been shown to have a much larger crest and that it’s crest and skeletal system had honeycombed airsacs that helped it regulate weight as well as air flow.

Final for Carnotaurus sastrei. A farely large predatory dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous (72 – 69.9 million years ago), it is mostly defined by it’s short bulldog like skull sporting 2 large horns mounted on it’s brow just above the eyes. The bull-like placement of the horns were not lost on the scientist who discovered it, José Bonaparte, deriving it’s name from the Latin words meaning “meat-eating bull.”

Around 66 million years ago, in Late Cretaceous South Dakota, an odd bird-like creature darted it’s way through the thick overgrowth of a humid, swampy, coastal plain near the coast of an inland sea that only only exists now in the form of trace elements of chemical signatures, rock strata, and the fossil remains of the animals that lived and died on its shores and below its waves.

I present Amargasaurus cazaui, (meaning “La Amarga lizard”) a sauropod that roamed in what is now Argentina during the Early Cretaceous period, about 129.4 to 122.46 million years ago. Though it was not the larges sauropod in environment, or it’s genera within the overall family (Dicraeosauridae), it was definitely one of the weirdest dinosaurs ever discovered. Amargasaurus distinguished itself from other Sauropods by sporting 2 rows of bony spines that ran along it’s neck, scientists have speculated as to the purpose of this adaptation by proposing everything from them supporting body heat regulating sails, being percussive instruments, a means of defense, and a way to attract mates and recognize their species.

an archaeopteryx is also an urvogel! theyre pretty cool bird dinosaurs

Megalosaurus lived 166 million years ago during the Middle Jurassic period, its remains were first described by science in 1699 but it were misattributed as being those of a fish, it would later become the first animal to be placed under the group, Dinosauria. It was about 30 feet in length and weighed between 2,200 and 6,600 lbs.

Fish leaving water I'm outta here

A cozy little Thalassodromeus companion for your day to day ventures!

A cozy little Anurognathus companion for your day to day ventures!

Triceratops horridus was a Late Cretaceous (68 – 66 million years ago) herbivore, the first of the horned ceratopsian dinosaurs to be discovered. It’s remains were originally found by Othniel Charles Marsh, in the spring of 1887. though he thought that the fossil cores that fit the animal’s brow belonged to a species of extinct Pliocene Bison. It wasn’t until 1889 that he realized his error and named the species Triceratops, meaning “Three Horned Face.” A fully grown Triceratops measured around 30 feet in length, weighing in at roughly 5.5 tons, It’s head made up around 5 feet of it’s total length with 3 feet of horns attached above each eye.

Roughly 153 to 148 million years ago a vicious predator stalked the sun bleached grasslands and loosely populated conifer forests of Late Jurassic Colorado. As a mid-sized predator, measuring in at around 23 feet in length, with a weight estimated between 1500 and 2100 pounds, it would have been formidable hunter, most likely preying on whatever herbivorous fauna that it could sink its teeth into.

Yi qi (pronounced yee chee, and meaning essentially “Strange Wing”). This pint-sized dinosaur was only about 380 grams in weight and was about the size of your average pigeon. Of course you would definitely notice a pigeon with wings like this little fella had. What makes Yi so interesting is what those wings were made of. Most dinosaurian wings were made of feathers just like you see today, Yi qi had wings that were made of leather-like skin membranes spread between it’s second and third fingers, with an extra bony strut protruding from the back of it’s wrist. While this configuration looks like that of a bat, the animals are not related except in the most distant way possible.

A blue amargasaurus

Velociraptor is a genus of small dromaeosaurid dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous epoch, about 75 million to 71 million years ago

Eodromaeus was a basal theropod that lived during the Late Triassic period (231.4 to 299 million years ago). It was discovered in 1996 in the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin in northwestern Argentina.

My favorite animal is Velociraptor!

A smaller member of the ceratopsian family (Triceratops, etc) from the Early Cretaceous period.

The best dino podcast on the interwebs!

Late in the Devonian, some 382 to 358 million years ago, around the same time when the first vertebrates were crawling their way onto land, a massive predator called the ocean it’s home. The size of a modern day Orca, Dunkleosteus was a fish unlike any alive today. It belonged to a group of fish called placoderms, all of which possessed heavily armored bodies, to combat this Dunkleosteus had a brutal adaptation, instead of teeth, the plate like parts of it’s armored skull extended down into cleaver like blades that self-sharpened every time it shut it’s mouth.

Einiosaurus

Diadectes was a Permian stem-amniote... possibly an early amniote with little affiliation with mammals, amphibians or reptiles, but related to all. Some species were large. This herbivorous land-tetrapod was a prey item for Dimetrodon.

Traditional pencil head-shot of a velociraptor mongoliensis. Enjoy!

big ol weenie carnotaurus like a t rex! but not a t rex.

A red carnotaurus

Velociraptor in the forest

Big claws. You know what that means.

crocodile headed dino

A fishing suchomimus