Dinosaur Biographies, Page 9

Supersaurus: Supersaurus is one of the longest land animals yet discovered. It was a long-necked, whip-tailed giant, measuring about 138 feet long and 54 feet tall, with a 39 foot long neck. It may have had very limited vertical neck mobility. It may have weighed up to 55 tons; it was not the heaviest dinosaur. Its front legs were shorter than its back legs, and all the legs had elephant-like, five-toed feet. One toe on each foot had a thumb claw, probably for protection. It may have used its whip-like tail for protection. Supersaurus probably traveled in herds and may have migrated when they depleted their local food supply. Supersaurus may have hatched from eggs, like other sauropods. Sauropod eggs have been found in a linear pattern and not in nests; presumably the eggs were laid as the animal was walking. It is thought that sauropods did not take care of their eggs. Sauropod life spans may have been on the order of 100 years. Supersaurus held its neck more or less horizontally (parallel to the ground). The long neck may have been used to poke into forests to get foliage that was otherwise unavailable to the huge, lumbering varieties of sauropods that could not venture into forests because of their size. Alternatively, the long neck may have enabled this sauropod to eat soft pteridophytes (horsetails, club mosses, and ferns). These soft-leaved plants live in wet areas, where sauropods couldn't venture, but perhaps the sauropod could stand on firm ground and browse in wetlands by sticking its long neck out to feed. Supersaurus was an herbivore. It must have eaten a tremendous amount of plant material each day to sustain itself. It swallowed leaves whole, without chewing them, and may have had gastroliths (stomach stones) in its stomach to help digest this tough plant material. It had blunt teeth, useful for stripping foliage. Its main food source was probably conifers. Secondary food sources may have included gingkos, seed ferns, cycads, bennettitaleans, ferns, club mosses, and horsetails. Given Supersaurus obvious need for an abundant source of plants to eat, it must have lived in relatively lush forest habitats. Herds of Supersaurus may have migrated to rich feeding grounds. Supersaurus moved slowly on four legs. It used to be thought that the sauropods (like Supersaurus, Brachiosaurus and Apatosaurus) and Stegosaurus had a second brain. Paleontologists now think that what they thought was a second brain was just an enlargement in the spinal cord in the hip area. This enlargement was larger than the animal's tiny brain. Supersaurus was a sauropod, whose intelligence (as measured by its relative brain to body weight, or EQ) was the among the lowest of the dinosaurs.

Torosaurus: Torosaurus had an enormously huge skull. The frill alone was 6½ feet high! As long as a Volkswagen Beetle, the skull of Torosaurus is the biggest skull of any known land animal, hence the meaning of its name, Bull Reptile. However, the frill was thin, with two humongous oval-shaped fenestrae taking up most of the region of the frill. Some specimens show extra openings along the side of the frill. A small, drawn-out beak for chopping food was topped by a nasal horn; a single pair of heavy brow horns protruded right above the eyes of Torosaurus.

Torvosaurus: Torvosaurus walked on two powerful legs. It had strong, short arms; the forearms were about half the length of the upper arms. It had huge thumb claws and large, sharp teeth. Torvosaurus was a powerful predator that walked on two powerful legs, had a strong, and S-shaped neck. It had a massive tail, a bulky body, and heavy bones. Its arms were short and it had sharp claws. Torvosaurus was 8 ft tall at the hips. It weighed about 3 tons. Torvosaurus and Allosaurus were similar, but there were quite a few differences between the two genera. For example, they had very different vertebrae, and the limbs (especially the arms) of Torvosaurus were more robust than those of Allosaurus. Torvosaurus was a huge carnivore, a meat eater equipped with sharp, pointed teeth in large, powerful jaws - it was the biggest meat-eater in its habitat. This theropod also had long, sharp-clawed hands, but its arms were a bit larger than those of Tyrannosaurus. Torvosaurus probably ate large, herbivorous animals. Torvosaurus may also have been a scavenger. Torvosaurus was a carnosaur, whose intelligence (as measured by its relative brain to body weight, or EQ) was high among the dinosaurs.

Troodon: Troödon was a human-sized, fast, long-legged bipedal meat eater with serrated teeth and long, slim jaws. It may have been the smartest dinosaur, having the largest brain in proportion to its body weight (as smart as a bird). It was about 3 tall at the hips; it may have weighed about 110 pounds. This lightweight dinosaur had long hind legs and a stiff tail. Troödon had large eyes and may have had a good sense of hearing. It had a large, sickle-shaped toe claw on its second toe, and smaller ones on the other. It had three long, clawed fingers that were ideal for grasping prey. Troödon was a carnivore, a meat eater. It probably ate just about anything it could slash and tear apart with its sharp teeth, long clawed fingers and toes. Troödon may have been the smartest dinosaur, having the largest brain in proportion to its body weight (as smart as a bird). Troödon walked on two slender, bird-like legs; it must have been a fast runner, considering its legs and light weight. When it ran, it rotated its huge middle-toe-claw upwards and ran on the other toes.

Tuojiangosaurus: To those of centuries ago, Tuojiangosaurus was considered a dragon. Records from AD265 detail the fact that villagers would sell dragon bones, for use in traditional medicines. These bones that were sold belonged to Tuojiangosaurus. Evolutionists say that they sold fossils, but the difficulty in handling the fossil without it breaking, the hardships of finding the fossil and uncovering it, and the fact that dinosaur fossils arent common all seem to taint this theory. The records say that the sellers picked up the bones, not dug them up, becausesimplythe bones were probably lying bleached in a field somewhere. Possibly, Tuojiangosaurus was still around that area around AD265 (see Monsters in the Seas chapter), and peoplenot knowing what dinosaurs wereconsidered them to be dragons. When one diedor one was killedthey could make lots of money off the bones. Tuojiangosaurus resembles a Stegosaurus in many ways, but there are subtle differences. Two rows of plates ran along the back of the dinosaur, and spikes adorned the tail. The plates were relatively small compared to other dinosaurs of its kind, like Stegosaurus and Kentrosaurus. These seventeen pairs of plates34 in allmight have been used for sexual display, or possibly to warm their bodies (although this idea of warming the bodies isnt widely accepted any more). The largest of the plates extended straight over the hips, and the plates got smaller towards the neck, also growing more rounder, not as spiky as the plates above the hips. The rows of plates became extinct halfway along the tail. The tail was tipped with two pairs of stiletto-like spikes. Smaller stegosaursChialingosaurus and Chungkingosaurushave been found in China among Tuojiangosaurus remains. Each being a different size, these three kinds of stegosaurs at one time co-existed, probably feeding on different kinds of foliage depending on where they spent most of their lives and on their height off the ground. The smaller stegosaurs probably inhabited the forests, the larger stegosaurslike Stegosaurus and Tuojiangosaurusremaining out in the fields, the prairies, the valleys, in the open.

Utahraptor: Utahraptor was the largest of a group of lightly built carnivores, called the dromaeosaurs or "swift lizards". It had large eyes, long grasping hands and powerfully clawed feet. Clearly it was carnivorous, but was distinctive in relying on a wickedly hooked, slashing claw on each foot rather than the jaws and teeth of a typical predator. Its toe joints were specially enlarged so that its massive claw could be raised upward and backward to avoid damage while running. But when used in attack, its claw flexed forward as the animal kicked out. To help it balance on one foot while kicking, its tail acted like an acrobat's balancing pole, being stiffened by a sheath of fine bony rods. Swinging in a wide arc its huge 20 cm slashing claw would produce terrible wounds enabling a Utahraptor to cripple and kill animals much larger than itself. The discovery of a number of skeletons of the dromaeosaur, Deinonychus, around the skeleton of a large plant eater suggests that dromaeosaurs may well have hunted in packs.

Velociraptor: Velociraptor was a small theropod with the harrowing sickle-shaped claw on the second toe of each foot. This claw was probably used for taking down prey, but before the Fall of Mankind and the expulsion from Eden, it could very well have been a tool for hacking away at foliage to move around, scavenging for roots or tearing apart trees to get to the juicy insides. The long, narrow snout was different from other Dromaeosauridae, in that it was long and narrow. Deinonychus head was rather boxy and buff, much like that of the Velociraptor in Jurassic Park. One would find that in reality, the head of Deinonychus was slapped onto the enlarged body of Velociraptor! The jaws of this dinosaur were lined with serrated teeth for ripping flesh. It probably swallowed its food in gulps without chewing, like most theropods, instead of chewing it up before swallowing. It had a muscular chest with very strong arms, each armed with deathly claws to inflict wounds on any attacker orin the case of a nasty prowlany prey. In the tail, long pieces of bones ran along the vertebrae, helping to keep its balance and speed while attacking by stiffening the tail, which acted as an anchor for the Velociraptor. The fossil remains of Velociraptor are amazing in themselves! One such discovery was that of a Velociraptor and Protoceratops engaged in battle, killed in the stance in which they fought; this was discovered in 1971. A less drastic but equally important bundle of remains was found in 1923, presiding now in the American Museum of Natural History. In this find, a Velociraptor skeleton was found alongside a Protoceratops skull. Because of the absence of remains of other Velociraptors within the proximity of the attack, some believe it is a mere myth that Velociraptor did not hunt in packs, as its associated dinosaur Deinonychus did. However, it is still held in furious opinion by scholars that Velociraptorlike all dromaeosaurshunted in packs.