It's Nature » Dinosaurs
Eastmanosteus
The Eastmanosteus is an ancient creatuer from the dinichthyid placoderms genus. It is closely related to the Dunkleosteus which was a giant fish, but with distinctive characteristics. These include having a more zig-zagging structure on the roof of the skull, a tuberculated bone ornament, and a nuchal plate that was much differently...
The Dunkleosteus is a prehistoric fish that lived about 380-360 million years ago in the Late Devonian era. It was one of the largest arthrodire placoderms that ever lived, as it measured up to 10 meters (33ft) long and weighed a whopping 3.6 tonnes (4.0 short tons). It was a carnivorous creature but was a slow swimmer. The Dukleosteus...
Pteranodon with its Latin name Pteranodons is one of the best known extinct reptile species. Although it looked like a terrifying dragon Pteranodon was a peaceful animal that fed only off fish. A sketch of the famoues Pteranodon When the first Pteranodon fossils were found many people were convinced that it was really a work of devil....
Indricotherium was the largest known land mammal, even though it was much smaller than its reptile contemporaries. It lived 20-35 million years ago in Central Asia – territories ranging from what is now Caucasia to Mongolia and China. The first Indricotherium fossils were discovered in 1913 by the famous Russian palanteologist...
The Diplocaulus was a peculiar reptile, whose head was boomerang-shaped. This helped the creature to maneuver through water, especially to quickly rise to the surface to catch a swimming prey. The shape of its head is so strange that some scientists, upon discovering fossils of the Diplocaulus, raised a theory that the creature had...
The fossils of Archaeopteryx were discovered in 1861 and this amazing discovery shocked the world of science at that time. Sometimes referred to by its German name – Urvogel (“The first bird”) it was the first creature that possibly creates a link in evolution between reptiles and birds. The Archaeopteryx's body...
Brontosaurus (or Apatosaurus as implied by scientists) was one of the largest animals that ever existed. It was about 23 m (75 ft) long and had a long, giraffe-like neck as well as a whip-like tail. These huge dinosaurs weighed at least 25 tons and the ground thundered under their weight (ergo their name – Brontosaurus, meaning...
The Deinotherium or ‘terrible beast’ was a large prehistoric mammal similar to modern day elephants. Although similar to today’s elephants, there are a handful of differences such as a shorted trunk and downward curving tusks. The Deinotherium was also much bigger than today’s elephants and is currently thought...
Survivors of the last glacial period, the Woolly rhinoceros once roamed most of Northern Europe. Spanning from Siberia to the arid deserts that now make up Southern England the Woolly rhinoceros is thought to have become extinct around 8000 B.C. The Woolly rhinoceros roamed the lands around the same periods as the better known ...
Glyptodon was a massive armored mammal roughly the size of a Volkswagen Beetle, these large mammals were native to South America but eventually migrated through Central and North America. The Glyptodon physically resembled a variety of creatures with similar characteristics to turtles, ankylosaurs and armadillos, the latter of which...
The Macrauchenia was a mammal with long limbs and a long neck that gets is name from the Greek for ‘big neck’. This extinct mammal was native to South America, specifically Argentina where, to-date the only fossil specimens have been found. The first Macrauchenia specimen was found by Charles Darwin on the voyage of Beagle...
The Parksosaurus was a type of ornithopod that roamed the land of what is now Canada. This small, bipedal herbivore was believed to live during the later Cretaceous period and its physical look is based off of fossils that depict a partial skull and a partial skeleton. Although a full estimation of the size of the Parksosaurus is...
The Protoceratops was a small sheep-sized dinosaur that traveled the land in the upper Cretaceous Period of what is now known as Mongolia. These small herbivores belonged to the Protoceratopsidae family which was part of the larger order of Ceratopsia. The Protoceratops is a relatively primative species of horned dinosaur and doesn’t...
The Tarchia is a type of ankylosaurid that roamed the sand dunes of Mongolia in the Late Cretaceous period. The ankylosaurid order is made up of dinosaurs of this type from North America and Asia with the Tarchia currently being the youngest known of Asian ankylosaurids. Like other ankylosaurid’s the Tarchia was massive and...
The Tianyulong is known from one partial fossil that was found in Jianchang Country, China. The name Tianyulong comes from the Shandong Tianyu Museum of Nature where the partial fossil is currently on show. The partial fossil of the Tianyulong shows most of the skull and some of the spine and limbs and is believed to date back to...



























