-----The blog you are looking for is not here...

Sorry, but I decided to move my blog to a new location. You can find it here:

http://anewdinosaureveryweek.tumblr.com/

I will still be posting the same kind of content, dinosaurs, except now I intend to make the blog look a little more aesthetically pleasing and also include more posts depicting a special little dinosaur who thinks he's a turtle.

When Dinosaurs Roamed America - Documentary

Before I can go further in posting other dinosaur profiles I have to explain the importance of this film on a personal level from my perspective and how it affected my interest in dinosaurs which constitute a large portion of what you would call 'a childhood' for me. When Dinosaurs Roamed America is a documentary including other animals, not just dinosaurs split into 5 segments of late Triassic, early Jurassic, mid-Jurassic, mid-cretaceous, and late cretaceous. It is narrated by John Goodman, a good choice because his is the voice I here when thinking of dinos. My father would ask me, "what movie do you wanna see?" "The Dinosaur movie!" The following part of the post is actually based mostly on memory.
             
There are so many different animals in the film, some aren't even dinosaurs, that it would make this post too long to read without it getting boring. So, instead, the dinosaurs that left the biggest impression on me would be Coelophysis [see-lo-FISE-ess], Ceratosaurus [sih-RAT-uh-SAWR-us], Allosaurus [AL-uh-SAWR-us], Dilophosaurus, the Dromeosaurs [DROH-mee-uh-SAWR-us], T-rex, and Quetzalcoatlus [KWET-zal-koh-atlus]. I won't be examining specific species in detail here but I will in later posts.
           
It should be noted that most times I would get tired of sitting still on the couch and so I wouldn't see the last sections of the movie so maybe that's the reason why the Coelophysis is still so fresh in my mind, I had his part practically memorized. He was shown to be very indifferent to whatever was going on, just kept walking after being stopped for a second.
           
Possibly one the best scenes is when this darker colored, scarier Dilophosaurus screeches an insane ear-slashing screech, scaring away anything that dares be in the vicinity, fighting off his competition like no big deal and then proceeds to tear open an Anchisaurus, right in front of his family. That part always had me amazed (again) not only because he was so savage, but the movie managed to make me fear this 6-5 foot tall animal and think of it, and other dinosaurs, as a, well, a badass, well before I found Jurassic park. (A movie for another post). This and JP is what taught me, animals are not to be disrespected, instead, they should be looked at with wonder in the eyes and admired, but only from afar, don't get close, stay away.

CONTINUED.......

When Dinosaurs roamed America continued

After that, I would be waiting patiently for the part where the Ceratosaurus stalks these cute Dryosaurs and ambushes them as they drink water. While they run away one of them is snatched away by the Ceratosaurus, its tail sticking out of his mouth. I'd be so hung up on that part that I forgot that an Allosaurus stalks down and kills that same Ceratosaurus when he is minding his business, avenging the little Dryosaurs. I thought, "hurray!", but then the Allosaurus and family go ahead and kill another animal (a large herbivore) in a way that is brutal enough to censor. From this, I learned that even if an animal is a savage killing machine, there is always something worse out there.

Lastly, was the T-rex, the movie portrays him as an un-experienced dino trying to survive with little knowledge of how to act around other dinos. His scenes were the first time I saw a dinosaur being portrayed as young and dorky but that's just how a young animal would act today, even if it is supposed to grow up to be a savage beast. That's why after seeing this part, I knew these animals don't just strut around and look cool just because; they also actively try to learn and survive and put what they know to use, just like any animal of today.

Ceratosaurus - C. nasicornis

• Timeline: ~150 mya (Late Jurassic)
• Location: Utah, Tanzania, Portugal
• Size: Length: ~14-20 ft. Height: ~8 ft. Weight: ~1 ton

Ceratosaurus means 'horned lizard' in Greek and is named so because of the cool-looking rough crest it had at the tip of its nose and the similar looking horns above its eyes. Ceratosaurus had quite a larger head compared to its body than other theropods. It had a mouth with very sharp teeth, along with powerful legs and 4-clawed hands, exactly what you would expect from carnivorous dinosaur. In fact, this Dino is pretty much the first thing that comes to mind when I hear "theropod" partly because of When Dinosaurs Roamed America. That's not to say that its a generic dinosaur, for one it had a layer of bony armor running down its spine and scientists theorize it might of had semi-aquatic habits because of its longer than usual body and tail, sort of like Spinosaurus. Ceratosaurus is actually smaller than some the more famous theropods (roughly half the weight of Allosaurus and its cousin C. dentisulcatus) but yet, its size could be what helped it to actively hunt and kill one of the most famous Dinos, Stegosaurus, its size might mean it would have preferred to hunt in groups, making for a more successful kill. So, Ceratosaurus happens to be a dear friend of mine because it appeared in one of the first Dino films I have seen and has an intimidating face with an ornate of protrusions of bone, making up for its smaller size compared to its competitors.

Stegosaurus

• Timeline: 155-150 mya (millions of years ago)
• Location: Western U.S. and Portugal
• Size: Length: 25-30 ft  Height: 9 ft. tall at hips Weight: 6,000-7,000 lbs.

This week's dinosaur of the week is a favorite among children and sticks with adults. It is the...... Stegosaurus!  Stegosaurus was  quadripedal, it walked on all four feet, and probably traveled in herds, as nearly every herbivorous dinosaur did for protection. Likewise, every herbivore is known to be a herbivore because of its small head and flat teeth which are terrible for hunting and consuming meat. It had 3- foot long plates called 'scutes' running along its back, terminating in four sharp tail spikes at the end which can only be used for protection, right? Well were still not sure what these scutes are for, one theory says that they could be used for protection like the armor on an ankylosaurus. Another says that, like the spinosaurus, they could be used to absorb heat in the morning sun to get its blood warm, remember, dinosaurs belong to the class reptilia, so their body temperature would be regulated by their surroundings, or like this theory says, by the sun. Contrary to popular belief, Stegosaurus would never be seen fighting back against a T-Rex, they lived millions of years apart, a larger interval exists between its existence and a T-rex's than a T-rex's and our existence. This is the case with so many species of dinosaurs that are often depicted to have lived at the same time when in reality, they are separated by millions of years. It is noteworthy to point out that the stegosaurus once was thought to have had a second brain in a cavity in its tale which would be responsible for moving the back of the animal. Now there exists more evidence it is in fact not a second brain, although is one of the findings that supports the idea that a larger animal, especially a warm-blooded one, requires a more powerful brain in order to simply move. This can also be seen as evidence that dinosaurs could not have been warm-blooded, a lot of arguing has been made over whether or not dinosaurs are cold or warm blooded, this I will talk more of later.

Hello there! I'm Jesus and I think dinosaurs are really awesome! Some of these animals to me are some the most fascinating, most elegant, and frankly cool looking creatures I've ever learned about.So, I made a blog in which I could talk about dinosaurs we all know and love like the triceratops, stegosaurus, and of course the T-rex. But also to introduce other species of dinos you may have never heard of, some being very odd, as well as clear up a few facts about dinosaurs that everybody has taken for granted. Like the fact that an ichthyosaur [ik-thee-uh-sawr] is not a dinosaur. The goal is to introduce at least one dino every week but there may be more than one per week, I don't know yet.