Abelisaur on a Flood Plain

 This is my free coloring pages blog.

Today I have drawn a coloring page of an Abelisaur. 

Abelisaur on a Flood Plain

Abelisaurs are a group of Theropod predatory dinosaurs. They lived 80-70 million years ago in the Cretaceous Period. Many of them lived in what is now South America. They ranged in size, but footprints at a Bolivia fossil footprint site show that perhaps there were some REALLY big Abelisaurs. There are footprints that are over a meter long... 1.2 meters to be exact. They are probably Abelisaur footprints. That would indicate that there were Abelisaurs that were up to 40 feet long! That is about as long as Tyrannosaurus rex. 

Abelisaurs had vestigial arms that were small. Their hands had 4 fingers, but only two of the fingers had phalanges or finger bones. The fossil site in Bolivia called Torotoro has evidence of Theropods going swimming. Their claws left claw marks in the sand as the Theropod dinosaur pushed off to go swimming.  So, this drawing shows an Abelisaur about to go for a swim. By the way, as the drawing title says, Abelisaurs lived and hunted on wide open flood plains. That is interesting when you consider that the dinosaur tracks at Torotoroare located between 8000 feet and 9350 feet.

Some Abelisaurs had eye bumps or almost eye horns above each eye. I guess you could call them eye crests. Those crests were probably for sexual display and species recognition. 

Newer findings show that grass and flowering plants WERE around in the late Cretaceous. So that is why you see them here in this drawing. There is a cycad and some ginkgo trees, plus some conifers as well. 

NOTE: This drawing is available in printable form by clicking on the button labeled "Paleontology." Then scroll to the bottom of the Mesozoic Life section. Have fun coloring!