They ruled the Earth… but did they fart themselves to death? Find out now!

Dreadnoughtus

In Depth        Titanosaurs like most sauropod dinosaurs are usually only known from partial remains such as one or two legs,‭ ‬a sequence of vertebrae or the occasional isolated skull.‭ ‬This is because their inherent large size makes it unlikely that the whole body will be buried and preserved before scavengers and environmental effects scatter the … Read more

Brachytrachelopan

In Depth        Dicraeosaurid sauropods‭ (‬as typified by Dicraeosaurus‭) ‬are noted for having proportionately shorter necks,‭ ‬but even out of all these Brachytrachelopan has the shortest.‭ ‬This is in stark contrast to other sauropod types in other parts of the world such as Mamenchisaurus and Sauroposiedon which all show a progression towards a longer neck specialisation.‭ … Read more

Sciurumimus

In Depth        What would otherwise be an unassuming little fossil dinosaur,‭ ‬it is near impossible to talk about Sciurumimus without bringing up the subject of feathered dinosaurs.‭ ‬Exquisitely well preserved upon a slab,‭ ‬examination of the holotype specimen of a juvenile Sciurumimus under ultraviolet light revealed the presence of primitive protofeathers that would have covered … Read more

Lanzhousaurus

In Depth        Reconstructions of Lanzhousaurus are sketchy at best,‭ ‬but with a jaw length of one meter,‭ ‬it is near certain that in life Lanzhousaurus would have been a very large ornithopod dinosaur.‭ ‬Following this trend,‭ ‬the teeth that have been preserved in the lower jaw are also unusually large,‭ ‬and at fourteen centimetres in … Read more

Qantassaurus

In Depth        Like so many other Australian dinosaurs Qantassaurus is known only from frustratingly incomplete remains.‭ ‬At the time of writing the only parts of this dinosaur that are known are partial jaws,‭ ‬but they are still distinct enough to recognise as a new type of dinosaur.‭ ‬Qantassaurus has been classified as a hypsilophodontid dinosaur,‭ … Read more

Shanag

In Depth        When Shanag was first described the genus was described as a member of the Dromaeosauridae,‭ ‬but later studies have refined this further to suggest that Shanag was closer to dromaeosaurid genera such as Microraptor.‭ ‬So far Shanag is only known from partial jaw‭ ‬material,‭ ‬but analysis and comparisons to other related genera suggests … Read more

Brohisaurus

In Depth        Brohisaurus was a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived in Pakistan during the late Jurassic. Further Reading – First Jurassic dinosaur fossils found from Kirthar Range, Khuzdar District, Balochistan, Pakistan. – Geological Bulletin, University of Peshawar 36:73-83. – M. S. Malkani – 2003.

Mandschurosaurus

In Depth        Mandschurosaurus is registered as a genus of hadrosaur that lived in what is now China during the late Cretaceous.‭ ‬Unfortunately the first individual ever found for this genus is so poorly preserved that most palaeontologists today regard the genus as a nomen dubium due to the difficulty of assigning further remains to the … Read more

Kritosaurus

In Depth        Kritosaurus was first described in‭ ‬1910‭ ‬upon a description of a partial skull that was not only incomplete but partially eroded.‭ ‬To fill in the gaps,‭ ‬Brown used a second skull that would later be referred to Anatotitan to complete the reconstruction.‭ ‬Not all the fragments were used,‭ ‬and the final reconstruction was … Read more

Suchomimus

In Depth        The discovery of Suchomimus helped towards the more accurate reconstruction of its potentially much larger relative Spinosaurus.‭ ‬Combined with knowledge from the discovery of Baryonyx and new‭ ‬partial skull material attributed to Spinosaurus remains resulted in Spinosaurus finally being given a crocodile-like skull instead that of the more typical theropod skull style.‭ ‬These … Read more