Dilophosaurus: Stunning Reconstruction in the Flesh
Forget the frills and venom. This stunning life reconstruction of Dilophosaurus in the flesh reveals what this early Jurassic predator may have looked like.
As a dinosaur fan born and raised in Arizona, #Dilophosaurus is a source of pride. The quintessential #Jurassic apex predator, around ~190 mya this 25’ long, 1,000 lb “two-crested lizard” reigned supreme. It is now known from a number of partial skulls and skeletons from a few localities in Arizona.
Found in the early 1940s, Welles thought it was a new species of #Megalosaurus and named it as such in 1954. He continued to find more material, but it wasn’t until the mid-60s that he realized it had an unknown feature: two crests! Thus the 1970 naming.
Despite publications and lots of skeletal material (that I recently was able to finally touch, it was a spiritual moment...) the animal remained poorly known and the published papers didn’t always make clear what was restoration, which bone came from which specimen, and other interesting quirks. Thankfully, Adam Marsh and Tim Rowe’s awesome 2020 publication remedied this.
Brian Engh lent his considerable talented artistry to revivifying an animal that, thanks to a certain movie series, was cutesie-fied in #JurassicPark. This sculpture is at the Las Vegas Natural History Museum which is a wonderful place to spend a few hours. They have some pretty neat displays, both dino and otherwise. Their new taxidermy gallery gives a tasteful and educational second life to the stuffed.
Questions I find myself answering at family gatherings:
No, Dilophosaurus wasn’t tiny, other than when they were young.
No, they didn’t spit venom.
No, colorful frill.
They were big, awesome, and brooked no challengers in the Arizona Jurassic. And, if you like Engh’s interpretation, they had tiny protofeathers (aka fuzz).
The JP franchise made this #theropod #dinosaur a household name, and it continues to be loved by folk around the world in the Camp Cretaceous series and toys.
The academic and native Arizona lad in me long ago embraced this animal as a change agent because it is a wonderful animal to introduce the concept that you can’t always believe what is on a glowing rectangle. Hollywood is there for entertainment, first, accuracy, second. Now go look at bones :-)!
#FossilCrates #dinofacts #dinosaurfacts #paleontology #paleontologistexplains
#JurassicPredators #RealvsHollywood #dinosaur reconstruction