Theropods-Meat Eater Dinos

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Theropod dinosaurs are not extinct.  Most paleontologists feel that there are "Avian Theroods" and "Non-avian Theropods."  Therefore the Theropod dinosaurs are not extinct.  There are still Avian Theropods, . . that we also call birds!  A very popular series of movies had Velociraptor with no feathers during the first movies and just a few proto-feathers in the next movies.  Based on several species of feathered dinosaurs found in China, it is thought that by the Cretaceous Period most if not all smaller Theropods had feathers.  These feathers may have been for display to look fierce or bigger to opponents or in competition for mates.  (Looking good for the ladies!)  There is even evidence of a couple of larger Theropods, around 30 feet long, that also had feathers..  Yutyrannus was one of these larger feathered predatory dinosaurs.  (Yutyrannus drawing coming on a later post)   Utahraptor and Velociraptor are also thought to be feathered as well.  With Yutyrannus the feathers actually fossilized and so there is no doubt.  Among the small feathered dinosaurs was the 2-3 foot long Microraptor.  It even had flying feathers on its legs, as well as its arms.  By chemical analysis of the fossilized feathers  of  Microraptor we know the dinosaur was black with an iridescent nature. ..kind of like Iridescent surfaces tend to appear change color as your angle of view changes.  Often you see colors of the rainbow, like in motor oil spilled in a puddle.  That would make your coloring of the below Microraptor losts of fun!  Some other small flying dinosaurs of the same time, during the late Cretaceous, had feathers that were tans, reddish browns, browns and black.

    This above color drawing of mine is Copyright 2012 by Robin Lyman. 

This drawing has an optical illusion.  

The T.-rex in the foreground looks like she is looking at the closer Triceratops, and then she looks like she moves her head and is looking at the other Triceratops.

It was done primarily with pastel chalk.

It is easy to blend colors with pastel chalk, but you can also blend colors with crayons.  

Try blending with crayons:  color lightly with two colors and overlap where the colors touch.  

The below coloring pages are all drawings of  Theropods.  Remember that modern lizards, mammals,  and birds come in many different colors and patterns.  Please don't be boring and assume that all dinosaurs were gray.  Of course, some large animals are gray, such as elephants and rhinos,amphibians, I will admit that some large reptiles like crocodiles are a dark green color.  However, some modern animals are multicolored and/or patterned.  When we look at modern animals we can make an inference as to what dinosaurs may have looked like.  So, a spotted T.-rex, is possible.  A striped Theropod is possible.  Multicolored feathers on a Velociraptor is possible.  Of course, those animals are in the past, and we don't have a time machine, so we may never know the coloring of some extinct animals.   Then again, as technology improved we learned the color of  Microraptor!

Microraptor Flying Through The Forest   Remember that this dinosaur had black iridescent feathers...so have fun using lots of colors along with the black!

Velociraptors lived in the desert of Mongolia in the Late Cretaceous Period. Most Paleontologists would agree that Velocirpator looked more like a larger roadrunner rather than a two footed lizard.  Velociraptor was only 6 feet long and 4 or so feet high, but it still was probably a vicious and deadly pack hunter!

Modern crocodiles carry their offspring in their mouth, so we could infer that T.-rex did the same.

This mother T.rex is not eating her baby.  In fact, it is thought that T.-rex were good parents!  FYI the note on the picture is because this picture was originally drawn for Mother's Day.

Spinosaurus was a Theropod that may have lived more like a modern crocodile.  So Spinosaurs could swim and lived near and in fresh water lakes and rivers.  Along with fish bones, Spinosaurus rib cages have been found with bones of other dinosaurs inside where the stomach would have been.  So Spinosaurus may have eaten mostly fish, but ate land animals when the fishing was bad.  Spinosaurus lived in North Africa of the late Cretaceous... (more on different Spinosaurs on a later blog entry)

One more note of interest:  Fossilized footprints, found in Southern Utah, of a small Theropod going from a beach into the water of a lake indicate that Theropod dinosaurs could swim.  The tracks even show scratch marks where the small Theropod pushed off from the beach and started to swim!

So, we can infer that all Theropod dinosaurs could swim.

Allosaurus was a North American dinosaur of the Jurassic Period.  Allosaurus was one of the top predators of the Jurassic Period.  T.-rex had yet to appear during the Jurassic Period.  Notice that 

Allosaurus had 3 fingers on each hand, not two fingers like T-rex.  Allosaurus was a little shorter than T.-rex  and a little lighter.  However, Allosaurus arms were bigger than T.-rex arms.

As I said before, T.-rex could have had stripes OR spots!

By the way, the young T.-rex is called a "chick" ...just like a baby bird...since T.-rex were non-avian Theropods and birds are avian Theropods.  Remember that birds are a type of Theropod dinosuars, So....
 DINOSAURS ARE NOT EXTINCT!!!!!