Episode 45 is all about Ceratosaurus, a carnivore with a nasal horn.
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On this episode, we focus on:
- The dinosaur of the day: Ceratosaurus, whose identify means “horned lizard”
- Lived within the Late Jurassic
- Present in North America and Portugal and Tanzania
- Charles Marsh described the kind species in 1884, and Gilmore redescribed the species in 1920
- Sort species is Ceratosaurus nasicornis
- Different species embrace C. magnicornis (named in 2000) and C. dentisculcatus (additionally 2000)
- C. magnicornis has a rounder horn, however is similar to C. nasicornis
- C. dentisulcatus is bigger (greater than 7 m) with an unknown horn form
- C. dentisculatus could have been twice as huge as C. nasicornis
- Fossils present in Portugal have been attributed to C. dentisulcatus
- Paleontologists debate over the validity of each species, saying the variations could also be simply people or variations that include age
- Sort specimen was 18 ft (5.5 m) lengthy, although could not have been totally grown; max size could have been 20 ft (6.1m) lengthy, based mostly on a specimen discovered within the mid Nineteen Sixties based mostly on proportions of the holotype
- Sort specimen had two left metatarsals fused collectively, which can imply it had a healed fracture
- Ceratosaurus was very hen like
- 15-20 ft (4.5 to 6m) lengthy and weighed about 0.5 to 1 ton (500 kg to 1 ton)
- Weighed as much as 2,160 lb (980 kg)
- Had giant jaws, blade like enamel, a blade like horn on its snout and hornlets over its eyes (like Allosaurus)
- Had a row of osteoderms on the center of its again
- Undecided why it had osteoderms on its again (may very well be protection in opposition to bigger predators or in opposition to rivals)
- Brief, highly effective forelimbs
- Brief arms with four-fingered fingers and sharp claws
- Had a big cranium in proportion to physique
- Bipedal, s-shaped neck, giant tail, heavy bones
- Good eyesight
- Ceratosaurus‘ nasal horn is an extension of the nasal bones on its snout, a fusion of two growths from separate bones (juveniles have beginnings of horn from two bones not fused, so the fusion could point out reproductive maturity)
- Marsh thought Ceratosaurus‘ nasal horn was a robust weapon (so did Gilmore), however these days scientists suppose the horn was used for fight amongst male ceratosaurs (as a substitute of an offensive and defensive weapon) for breeding rights, although different scientists suppose it was used only for show and should have been brightly coloured
- Lived alongside Allosaurus, Torvosaurus, Apatosaurus, Diplodocus, Stegosaurus and Camarasaurus
- Smaller than Allosaurus and Torvosaurus, and possibly ate completely different meals from them, completely different area of interest
- Had longer, versatile physique, with a tail formed like a crocodile’s (most likely a greater swimmer than Allosaurus)
- Marsh theorized Ceratosaurus was an excellent swimmer, based mostly on its lengthy, skinny tail
- Robert Bakker instructed Ceratosaurus went after aquatic prey (fish and crocodiles), although could have additionally eaten giant dinosaurs (scavenged); additionally present in his research that adults and juveniles typically ate collectively
- Could have hunted in teams, could have competed with Allosaurus for stegosaurs, sauropods, iguanodonts
- Had lengthy enamel (when mouth was closed, the enamel might prolong under the decrease jaw)
- Had a jaw that might slice (as a substitute of crush bone)
- Much less frequent fossils than Allosaurus, although doesn’t essentially imply it was extra uncommon
- Ceratosaurus fossils had been uncommon (in a single quarry there are bones belonging to no less than 44 people, however just one belonged to a Ceratosaurus)
- Ceratosaurus has been in just a few movies (D.W. Griffith’s Brute Pressure from 1914, the primary reside motion movie that includes dinosaurs), the Ceremony of Spring section of Fantasia, 1940, The Animal World 1956, the place a Ceratosaurus fights and kills a Stegosaurus, however then one other Ceratosaurus assaults to steal the meal, and each find yourself falling off a cliff
- Additionally within the remake One Million Years B.C., a Ceratosaurus fights a Triceratops
- Additionally seen in The Land that Time Forgot, 1975, and the sequel The Folks that Time Forgot, 1977
- Additionally in Jurassic Park III, the TV documentary When Dinosaurs Roamed America and in episodes of Jurassic Combat Membership (as a rival to Allosaurus)
- Can see Ceratosaurus on the Pure Historical past Museum of Utah, the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry and Dinosaur Nationwide Monument
- Ceratosaurus is said to abelisaur (like Carnotaurus), and beforehand Ceratosaurus and abelisaurs and primitive coelophysoids had been grouped collectively as Ceratosauria (theropods nearer to Ceratosaurus than to Aves), however newer proof exhibits giant distinctions between later ceratosaurs and earlier kinds
- Ceratosaurus is the kind genus of the household Ceratosauridae
- Ceratosaurids lived within the Jurassic and Cretaceous
- Marsh named the household Ceratosauridae in 1884
- Ceratosaurs competed with different, bigger predators
- Two varieties of Ceratosaurus enamel: one with longitudinal ridges and one with easy enamel
- One other ceratosaur is Genyodectes serus (not a lot recognized about this dinosaur although–no cranium discovered, so unclear if it had a nasal horn)
- Enjoyable Reality: There are 10 varieties of dinosaurs which were found in Dinosaur Nationwide Monument: Ceratosaurus, Torvosaurus, Allosaurus, Apatosaurus, Barosaurus, Camarasaurus, Diplodocus, Haplocanthosaurus, Stegosaurus, Uteodon (yewt-o-don), Dryosaurus