Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Let's Read _Prehistoric World: Ceratosaurus_!

This is going to be a weird one.

Then again, Ceratosauria is a weird Infraorder of dinosaurs if you think about it. So let's start reading 2006's Ceratosaurus and Other Horned Dinosaurs.

_Prehistoric World_ Series - Ceratosaurus

By Bakker's beard, introducing Ceratosaurus as a "horned dinosaur" will never not be disconcerting as hell. It isn't *untrue*, technically, and that's essentially the translation of "Ceratosaurus" after all. But I'm conditioned to think "Horned Dinosaur" = Ceratopsians, so it's unshakably weird.

Anyway, did anyone in here order a shameless Greg Paul rip-off?

_Prehistoric World_ Series - Ceratosaurus

Oof. But at least this isn't as bad as this next picture, which, from the little thumbnail on my desktop, I would have sworn was from the Pachycephalosaurus book.

It's... not a pachycephalosaurus...

_Prehistoric World_ Series - Ceratosaurus

Hoo boy. Okay, so this is a rather fanciful restoration of "Majungatholus", who is now known as Majungasaurus. Giving the beast a full-on pachycephalosaurus-style dome is... an interesting choice. And we all know how big a "pumper truck" is, right?

_Prehistoric World_ Series - Ceratosaurus

Elaphrosaurus, who was considered a strange-looking ornithomimid in at least one other book, is here correctly included in Team Ceratosauria.

_Prehistoric World_ Series - Ceratosaurus

And finally, good old Syntarsus, this time with a fleshy or bony snout-Mohawk. In a book about ceratosaurids, even though he's a coelophysoid (E: Thanks to Albertonychus for the likely reasoning in the comments below.) And still being referred to as Syntarsus, even though this was apparently corrected to Megapnosaurus five years before this book was published. Yeah.

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Sketch of the Day! My go-to response to the "T. rex Trying" meme.

3.23.13 - A response to T. rex Trying"