There are only 3 dinosaurs (Megalosaurus, Iguanodon, Hylaeosaurus) but this must be the first
Jurassic Park "To The Victorians, The Crystal Palace in London was the marvel of a gilded age. The showpiece of the 1851 Great Exhibition, it housed exhibits showcasing the skill and ingenuity of the British Empire, the biggest the world had ever seen". 🍃
~ Crystal Palace Dinosaurs ~🍃
"The grounds around the building became known as Crystal Palace Park and were extensively renovated. As part of this renovation, sculptor Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins was hired to build life-size models of extinct animals. However, upon receiving advice from famed paleontologist Sir Richard Owen, he decided to build dinosaurs as well. In total, Hawkins made thirty three models of over fifteen different species of which the most famous were Iguanodon, Megalosaurus, and, despite not being a dinosaur at all, Ichthyosaurus. Hawkins celebrated the launch of the models on New Year Eve 1853 by holding a banquet for twenty people".~ Atlas Obscura ▶
Abstract dinosaur models in LondonIchthyosaurs Size. Ichthyosaurs averaged about 2–4 m (6.6–13.1 ft) in length.
Ichthyosaurs ◀Greek for 'fish lizard'▶were giant marine reptiles that resembled fish and dolphins. Ichthyosaurs thrived during much of the Mesozoic era; based on fossil evidence, they first appeared approximately 245 million years ago and disappeared about 90 million years ago, about 25 million years before the dinosaurs became extinct. During the Middle Triassic Period, ichthyosaurs evolved from as-yet unidentified land reptiles that moved back into the water, in a development parallel to that of modern-day dolphins and whales.
Hylaeosaurus Length: 3 – 7.6 m (Estimated)
Mass: 300 – 1,000 kg
Hylaeosaurus ◀Greek: hylaios/ὑλαῖος "belonging to the forest" and sauros/σαυρος "lizard"▶ is a herbivorous ankylosaurian dinosaur that lived about 136 million years ago, in the late Valanginian stage of the early Cretaceous period of England.
Hylaeosaurus was one of the first dinosaurs to be discovered, in 1832 by Gideon Mantell. In 1842 its was one of the three dinosaurs Richard Owen based the Dinosauria on.
Plesiosaur Size: 15 metres (about 50 feet)
Weight: 45 tonnes
Plesiosaurs were carnivorous aquatic (mostly marine) reptiles. The common name 'plesiosaur' is applied both to the 'true' plesiosaurs ◀Suborder Plesiosauroidea▶ which includes both long-necked (elasmosaurs) and short-necked (polycotylid) forms and to the larger taxonomic rank of Plesiosauria, which includes the pliosaurs. The pliosaurs were the short-necked, large-headed plesiosaurians that were the apex predators for much of the Mesozoic. There were many species of plesiosaurs, while most of them were not as large as Elasmosaurus.
Mosasaurus Length: 10 – 18 m
Mass: 14,000 kg
Mosasaurs ◀from Latin 'Mosa' meaning the 'Meuse river' in the Netherlands, and Greek sauros meaning 'lizard'▶ are an extinct group of serpentine marine reptiles that thrived worldwide in the earth's oceans during the Cretaceous Period. The first fossilized remains were discovered in a limestone quarry at Maastricht on the Meuse in 1778, and the first genus of mosasaur, Mosasaurus, was named. These ferocious marine predators are now considered to be the closest relatives of snakes, due to cladistic analysis of symptomatic similarities in jaw and skull anatomies.
Megalosaurus Length: 9 m
Mass: 1,000 – 3,000 kg
Megalosaurus ◀meaning "Great Lizard"▶ is a genus of large theropod dinosaurs of the Middle Jurassic period (Bathonian stage, 166 million years ago) of Europe (Southern England, France, Portugal). It is significant as the first genus of dinosaur (outside of birds) to be described and named.
Living in what is now Europe, during the Jurassic Period (181 to 169 million years ago), Megalosaurus may have hunted stegosaurs and sauropods. Repeated descriptions of Megalosaurus hunting Iguanodon (another of the earliest dinosaurs named) through the forests that then covered the continent are probably inaccurate, because Iguanodon skeletons are found in much younger Early Cretaceous formations. No fossils assignable to Megalosaurus have been discovered in Africa, contrary to some outdated dinosaur books.
Iguanodon Length: 10 m (Adult)
Mass: 4,000 – 5,000 kg
Iguanodon ◀meaning "Iguana tooth"▶ is a genus of ornithopod dinosaur that lived roughly halfway between the first of the swift bipedal hypsilophodontids and the ornithopods' culmination in the duck-billed dinosaurs. Many species of Iguanodon have been named, dating from the Kimmeridgian age of the Late Jurassic Period to the Cenomanian age of the Late Cretaceous Period from Asia, Europe, and North America.
Dicynodon Size: 1.2 metres
Dicynodon ◀"Two Dog-teeth"▶ is a type of dicynodont therapsid that flourished during the Late Permian period. Like all dicynodonts, it was herbivorous. This animal was toothless, except for prominent tusks, hence the name. It probably cropped vegetation with a horny beak, much like a tortoise, while the tusks may have been used for digging up roots and tubers.
Mastodonsaurus Size: about 4 to 6 metres (13 to 20 ft)
Mastodonsaurus was a large-headed temnospondyl that belonged to a group of advanced, mostly Triassic amphibians called capitosaurs. It was a giant among the stegocephalians and the largest animal of its time ◀Late Triassic, 200 MYA▶. It looked like a huge frog, but instead of being semicircular, as in frogs, its head was triangular and reached 1.25 m. in length.
Teleosaurus Size: 3 metres (10 ft)
Teleosaurus was an extinct genus of teleosaurid crocodyliform that lived during the Middle Jurassic. Teleosaurus had highly elongate jaws, similar to those of a modern gharial. It had a long, slender, body, with a sinuous tail that would have helped propel it through the water.
Pterodactylus Wingspan: about 1.04 meters (3 ft 5 in)
Pterodactylus is a genus of pterosaur (the first to be named and identified as a flying reptile) that lived during the late Jurassic Period. It was a carnivore and probably preyed upon fish and other small animals. Like all pterosaurs, the wings of Pterodactylus were formed by a skin and muscle membrane stretching from its elongated fourth finger to its hind limbs. It was supported internally by collagen fibers and externally by keratinous ridges. Fossils have been discovered in Europe and Africa.
Anoplotherium Size: 2-3 metres tall
Anoplotherium is an extinct genus of herbivorous artiodactyl mammal, possibly belonging to or a close relative of the suborder Tylopoda, which lived in Europe from the Late Eocene to the earliest Oligocene. Fossils of Anoplotherium were first discovered in the gypsum quarries of Paris in 1804 and were subsequently described by French naturalist Georges Cuvier. One of the first Paleogene mammals to be described, 19th Century reconstructions of Anoplotherium can be seen at Crystal Palace Park.
Palaeotherium Size: around 75cm
Palaeotherium ◀'old beast'▶ is an extinct genus of primitive perissodactyl ungulate. George Cuvier originally described them as being a kind of tapir, and as such, Palaeotherium is popularly reconstructed as a tapir-like animal. Recent reexaminations of the skulls show that the nasal cavity was not designed to support a small trunk, thus starting a recent trend to reconstruct them as looking more horse-like. Recent anatomical studies also suggest that Palaeotherium, along with other palaeothere genera such as Hyracotherium, were closely related to horses.
Megatherium Size: 20 ft
Megatherium ◀meaning "Great Beast"▶ was a genus of rhino-sized ground sloths endemic to North America that lived from the Pleistocene existing for approximately 5.3 million years. Its size was exceeded by only a few other land mammals, including mammals like Moeritherium and the Entelodon.
Megaloceros giganteus Size: 7 ft at the shoulder (2.1 meters), with antlers spanning up to 12 ft (3.65 meters)
Megaloceros ◀from Greek: megalos + keras, literally "Great Horn"; see also Lister (1987)▶ is an extinct genus of deer whose members lived throughout Eurasia from the late Pliocene to the Late Pleistocene and were important herbivores during the Ice Ages. The largest species, Megaloceros giganteus, vernacularly known as the "Irish Elk" or "Giant elk", is also the best known.
Most members of the genus were extremely large animals that favoured meadows or open woodlands, with most species averaging slightly below 2 metres at the withers.
Quote from: Phobos on Dec 04, 2020, 08:00:26 AM
Megalania
"Megalania was a large monitor lizard that lived in Australia during the Pleistocene Epoch, about 2.5 million years ago. The massive reptile was about 23 feet (7 meters) long, the size of a Saltwater Crocodile, the largest reptile alive today, making it the largest lizard that ever lived. It also had a venomous bite just like its relative, the Komodo Dragon."
Wow!
Imagine what this chase would be like