What we are about:
Promote the learning about the real-life animals from our ancient past, most specifically animals that are 'native' to areas that we think of as being 'developed'. Learning should be a fun adventure and we hope that you will enjoy the constantly changing information on this site and learn from it.
Our initial focus is on the Dilophosaurus (dye-LOF-oh-SAWR-us), since it is native to what we now know as the State of Arizona. Here is some information about the Dilophosaurus:
CLASSIFICATION:
- Kingdom Animalia (animals)
- Phylum Chordata (having a hollow nerve chord ending in a brain)
- Class Archosauria (diapsids with socket-set teeth, etc.)
- Order Saurischia - lizard-hipped dinosaurs
- Suborder Theropoda - bipedal carnivores
- Family Ceratosauria (also called Coelophysoidea - the most primitive
theropod group, which includes Dilophosaurus and Segisaurus) - Genus Dilophosaurus
- Species Wetherilli (type species: Welles, 1954 - this species was originally
called Megalosaurus Wetherilli)
Dilophosaurus was the largest flesh-eater of the Early Jurassic. Dilophosaurus gets its name from the two thin crests of bone on the top of its head. These were probably used as a display for courtship purposes.
Dilophosaurus adults were as large as 20 feet long (nose to tail-tip) and 5 feet tall at the hips; their head was perhaps 8 feet above the ground. This animal weighed between 650 to 1,000 pounds and thought to be able to run over 30 mph.
The Dilophosaurus was primarily a meat-eating predator that likely traveled and hunted in groups and it ate smaller plant-eating dinosaurs and may have used team tactics to hunt much larger plant-eating animals. Given that these Dilophosaurus were fast-moving bipedal predators, they likely roamed far in their hunting activities, having large territories.
These animals lived for about 21 million years, as a species. To put this into perspective, Humans have been on this planet for only about 195,000 years. You can see that the Dilophosaurus was quite successful as a species. (for 201 to 180 million years ago)
Authors: Matt Martyniuk & Ville Sinkkonen
This is a graphic representation of what the U.S.A. looked This is what the U.S.A. looked when the Dilophosaurus
like when the Dilophosaurus began to walk in what is now was thought to be gone:
Arizona:
(http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~rcb7/namTr210.jpg) (http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~rcb7/namJ180.jpg)
Dilophosaurus was the 'Apex Predator of its time. These athletic animals were social and thought to hunt in teams for taking down much larger plant eating dinosaurs. These agile animals also traveled in family units, based on the tracks that have been found in various locations. This 2-minute video shows the Dilophosaurus as it may have moved and behaved.
DILOPHOSAURUS: A Triple Threat http://dsc.discovery.com/
This 1-minute video shows the dinosaur tracks and explains about tracks and how the theropod dinosaurs suddenly increased in size and the Dilophosaurus appeared on the scene.
MUDDY FOOTPRINTS http://dsc.discovery.com/
This 3:25 video shows what most likely happened to end the 'RULE' of dinosaurs on the planet. The meteor theory is the most accepted to show how this single event could cause such a significant result in the loss of plant and animal life on the planet.
THE END OF DINOSAURS http://dsc.discovery.com/