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Today I am posting two new drawings of different versions
of Proceratosaurus, another Unicorn dinosaur.
Proceratosaurus without feathers
First of all, Proceratosaurus is badly named. When it was first found around 100 years ago it was thought to be an ancestor of Ceratosaurus. The name actually means "pre-Ceratosaurus" or "before horned lizard." Ceratosaurus lived later in the Jurassic while Proceratosaurus lived around 168-166 million years ago. The Ceratosaurus had three horns including one on the nose. So it was thought that Proceratosaurus was an ancestor to Ceratosaurus. But new research indicates that Proceratousaurus should probably be named 'Protyrannosaurus" because the now incorrectly named Proceratosaurs was an ancestor to T. rex and all the later Tyrannosaurs like Daspeteosaurus, Albertosaurus, Yutyrannus, etc.
Proceratosaurus lived in what is now England in the mid-Jurassic. There are other early Tyrannosaurs but Proceratosaurus is the earlier known Tyrannosaur. Proceratosaurus was 9,8 feet long... that is 3 meters. It weighed 88 lbs or 40 kg. It stood at about 5 feet or 1.5 meters tall. It also had a nasal horn on its snout. The horn is why I refer to it as another Unicorn Dinosaur.
Some paleontologists insist that all the Tyrannosaurs had feathers. Indeed, Yutyrannus clearly had feathers or at least protofeathers. Lythronax was a Tyrannosaur that also had feathers. There is even some thought that ALL dinosaurs may have had feathers - but the more popular idea is that all Theropods definitely had feathers. Theropods are carnivorous dinosaurs... or at least most of them were meat-eaters. In any case, this controversy is why I drew this earliest of the known Tyrannosaurs as both with and without feathers. There is even some thought that the very earliest Theropod dinosaurs (from the Triassic Period) were featherless and feathered evolved later on in the Jurassic Period.
There is also an argument that huge Theropods like T. rex might of had feathers a juvenile... to keep warm, but as an adult, the idea is being able to get rid of heat so they lost all or most of their feathers as an adult.
The Pterosaur you see in the air is a type of Rhamphorynchus flying reptile. Pterosaurs were not dinosaurs but they lived at the same time in the same places. Before the meteorite killed all the big dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous the dinos that had evolved into birds were already starting to drive the Pterosaurs into extinction. Remember that birds are living dinosaurs. Some biologists refer to birds as Avian Dinosaurs.
NOTE: These two new drawings, in printable form, are found by clicking on the Paleontology button and scrolling down to the bottom of the Mesozoic section. Below are some older drawings of some of the dinosaurs I mentioned in this post.
Ceratosaurus by a river.
This is the dinosaur that Preceratosaurus was originally thought to be an ancestor of.
Ceratosaurus near the Forest
Ceratosaurus is thought to have been driven to extinction by Allosaurus.
Ceratosaurus walking in a Riverbed
Ceratosaurus
Ceratosaurus was NOT an ancestor to T. rex or any other Tyrannosaur.
Yutyrannus
Yutyrannus was a feathered Tyrannosaur that lived in China.
Lythronax King of Gore
The name means King of Gore. It was found in my home state of Utah... in Southern Utah.
It may not have been totally covered in feathers, but it definitely had some feathers. . .
or at least it had protofeathers.
Lythronax with Protofeathers
T. rex baby in nest.
Notice that it has fuzzy feathers to keep warm.
Tyrannosaurus rex with Blood Python Pattern
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