Cambrian Creatures

In my previous post I explored various aspects of the Cambrian period, and briefly covered Anomalocaris. However, there are several other weird and wonderful species that are characteristic of the Cambrian. Size Comparison Matt Martyniuk (Dinoguy2), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsNB Anomalocaris is shown here to be larger than now thought (Lerosey-Aubril & Pates,Continue

The Cambrian Period

Point in Geologic Time The Cambrian was the first period in the Palaeozoic Era, which was the beginning of the Phanerozoic Eon. It was thought to mark the first appearance of fossils in the fossil record, but this is no longer applicable as fossils have been found in older rock strata. United States Geological Survey,Continue

Saltasaurus

When: Late Cretaceous (approx. 80 million years ago – 66 million years ago) Where: Salta Province, Argentina What: Armoured sauropod Size: 10 – 12m (≈ 33 – 39ft) Meaning of name: Lizard from Salta Diet: Herbivore “File:Saltasaurus size.png” by PaleoNeolitic is marked withCC0 1.0. “Saltasaurus” by Ignacio A. Cerda and Jaime E. Powell is licensed under CC BY 2.0.Continue

Prehistoric Geography

Physical Geography The Geography of the Earth in prehistoric times seems alien to us nowadays. The continents we know today were merged together in one supercontinent, Pangaea or Pangea. Through continental drift, the landmass slowly broke apart into Laurasia and Gondwana/Gondwanaland. As they drifted further apart, the seven continents we know today were formed. “ContinentalContinue

Quetzalcoatlus

When: Late Cretaceous Where: North America (Texas and Montana) What: One of the largest flying pterosaurs Size: 10-11m wingspan Meaning of name: named after Quetzalcoatl, an Aztec god in the form of (or whose symbol was) a feathered serpent Diet: Carnivore “Life restoration of a group of giant azhdarchids, Quetzalcoatlus northropi, foraging on a CretaceousContinue

Oviraptor

When: 89.8 million years ago – 70.6 million years ago (Late Cretaceous) Where: Asia, mainly Mongolia What: Bird-like feathered dinosaur often found protecting nests Size: 1.5 to 2m long Meaning of Name: egg-seizer Diet: Omnivore “Oviraptor (Skeleton, Skelett)” by Georg Sander is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0 Above, you can see an image of an Oviraptor skeleton, and youContinue

Elasmosaurus

Quick stats: When: Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous Where: North America What: Long-necked plesiosaur from the Late Cretaceous Size: 10.3 (34ft) Meaning of name: Flat-Tailed Thin-Plate Lizard Diet: Piscivore “File:Elasmosaurus skeletal.png” by Wedel & Taylor is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 “File:Elasmosaurus2.jpg” by No machine-readable author provided. ArthurWeasley~commonswiki assumed (based on copyright claims).is licensed under CC BY 2.5 Elasmosaurus had theContinue

Istiodactylus

This is one of the lesser known pterosaurs, (or at least I hadn’t heard of it before!) with some of the more famous ones including Pteranodon and Quetzalcoatlus. Quick stats: When: Aptian Stage of the Early Cretaceous Where: Isle of Wight in the UK, and China What: moderately large Pterosaur Meaning of name: sail fingerContinue

Therizinosaurus

This is a fairly well-known dinosaur, probably because of it’s whopping 71cm (7ft) long claws! When: Campanian part of the late Cretaceous Where: Asia, Far East – Kazakhstan, Mongolia, etc. What: Large dinosaur with seemingly out of proportion claws Meaning of name: Scythe Lizard Size: 9 – 10m (roughly 30 – 33ft) Diet: debated “File:TherizinosaurusContinue

Dunkleosteus

Quick Stats: When: Late Devonian period Where: Morocco, Europe, North America (Cleveland shale in Ohio is home to the most famous specimens) What: Armoured Prehistoric Fish Size: 10m (33ft) Meaning of name: Dunkle’s Bone Diet: Carnivorous (meat eater) “Dunkleosteus” by BWJones is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 “Dunkleosteus terrelli (fossil fish) (Cleveland Shale Member, Ohio Shale, Upper Devonian; RockyContinue