The science and art of paleontology
A blog on dinosaur anatomy and reconstructing the appearance of prehistoric animals.
A few years back I wrote a couple of essays about Spinosaurus, on what could be said about the proportions and habitat of Spinosaurus. Ultimately I decided I would have to work from the ground up to create a new skeletal. Today I want to start laying out my thoughts on this challenging topic. Starting phylogenetically broadly and working towards El Spino, here is a quick look at the proportions of megalosaur skulls…
Read MoreIn my previous post on the proportions of the new Spinosaurus material I argued that the pelvis and legs are not nearly as reduced in size as the composite skeletal in Ibrahim, et al., (2014) implies. Theropod-worker-extraordinaire and all-around swell guy Thomas Holtz mentioned a photo (seen at left) that could serve as a sort of independent visual line of evidence that the pelvis and legs of the new Spinosaurus specimen are shorter than other theropods, and potentially shorter than I calculated from the supplementary data. I think it's worth taking a closer look...
Read MorePaleontologist and paleoartist Scott Hartman provides a wealth of anatomical data and skeletal drawings of dinosaurs, and information on how prehistoric animals looked in life.
