Helicorprion also known as "the spiral saw" is said to have lived during the carboniferous period and one of the few creatures able to live through the Permian-Triassic extinction or so called "the great dying".Eventually Helicoprion extinct during the Triassic period.Though not many fossils were found. Archaeologist have found the tooth-whorl as well as jaw bones. With these, researchers have pieced together ideas of what the Helicoprion may have looked like. One thing we know for sure is that the creature has teeth that are very much like circular saw, which was connected on the lower jaw. It has many teeth because as new teeth grew, the older ones get pushed out and into the middle to create the spiral. Length-wise is said to be about 10-15 feet. What a bizarre creature.
The Helicoprion was said to be extremely shark-like, having cartilage,fins,and razor sharp teeth.In fact some believe that the creature was a shark itself,but there is not enough evidence to prove this.
Planet of prehistory
Where prehistory is easy
Friday, June 22, 2012
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Maiasaura
Maiasaura, a Hadrosaurid genus, famous as a "good mother lizard," lived in North America about 75 million years ago, probably the direct ancestor of the Hadrosaur Edmontosaurus. It was named by Jack Horner and Robert Makela in 1979. Astronaut Loren Acton took a bone fragment and eggshell piece of a Maiasaura on an 8-day Spacelab 2 mission in 1985—the first dinosaur in space!
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Quetzalcoatlus
Quetzalcoatlus was a huge pterosaur with a wingspan of up to 15 metres - the largest flying creature of all time. It is the last known pterosaur which survived to the very end of the Cretaceous period. Quetzalcoatlus was named after the Aztec's feathered-serpent god, Quetzalcoatl, by Douglas Lawson who first found the remains at Big Bend National Park in Texas.
Despite its huge size, the skeleton was lightly built and the whole animal probably weighed no more than 100 kilograms. Its neck was extremely long, its slender jaws were toothless and its head was topped by a long, bony crest. Unlike most other pterosaur fossils the Quetzalcoatlus remains have not been found in marine strata but in the sand and silt of a large river's flood plain and this has raised questions about how it lived.
It was a good soarer - certainly able to cover large distances. This, coupled with its long neck has prompted the idea that it lived rather like a vulture and fed on the corpses of dead dinosaurs. But some palaeontologists, noting the long slender jaws suggest that it probed soft ground and pools for molluscs and crustaceans. Others think that it flew low over the warm shallow seas plucking fish from the surface.
http://www.abc.net.au/dinosaurs/fact_files/volcanic/quetzalcoatlus.htm
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Carnotaurus
Carnotaurus was a large dinosaur predator that lived in South America during the Late Cretaceous Period. It is a relative of another theropod dinosaur from Madagascar called Majungasaurus(formerly Majungatholus). Characteristics of Carnotaurus include their very small hands as well as horns above their eyes, and a short snout. Females are usually smaller and have smaller horns. Males use their horns in fights with other males, as well as use their mating season camo, to impress females. When compared to their body size, the arms of the Carnotaurus were smaller even than those of the T. rex. One of the main prey for this dinosaur wasSaltasaurus, a medium-sized sauropod with armor. It had the most smallest arms out of all dinosaurs.
http://jurassicpark.wikia.com/wiki/Carnotaurus
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)