FACT FILE: Euhelopus

Name origin: Greek euos (true), helos (swamp) and pous (foot)

Short Description: Huge sauropod herbivorous dinosaur

Height (adult): 12 metres

Length (adult): 15 metres

Weight (adult): 8000kg

Temporal range: 133-129 Mya

Distribution: China
Sexual maturity (in years): 12

Description: Euhelopus was the tallest animal that lived in the Yixian Formation. This height allowed it to harvest food that manifested in the canopy of the rich jungles of early cretaceous China.

FACT FILE: Smilosuchus

Name origin: Greek smilos (chisel) and suchus (crocodile)

Short Description: Large carnivorous phytosaur

Height (adult): 1.5 metres

Length (adult): 10 metres

Weight (adult): 3000kg

Temporal range: Late Triassic

Distribution: North America
Sexual maturity (in years): 8

Description: Smilosuchus was one of the apex predators of the Ghost Ranch Formation. A distant relative of crocodiles, Smilosuchus was a land-dwelling predator that hunted a wide variety of prey.

FACT FILE: Stegosaurus

Name origin: Greek stegos (roof) and sauros (lizard)

Short Description: Large stegosaurid herbivorous dinosaur

Height (adult): 5 metres

Length (adult): 9 metres

Weight (adult): 6000kg

Temporal range: 150-155 Mya

Distribution: North America
Sexual maturity (in years): 10

Description: Stegosaurus was a browsing herbivore from the Jurassic. It wandered the terrain, harvesting low-laying woody plants like cycads and ferns like a cow. They were solitary, but could defend themselves from medium-sized threats through a display of thermoregulatory bright plates and a dangerous spiked tail, capable of piercing flesh and breaking bones.

FACT FILE: Opthalmosaurus

Name origin: Greek ophthalo (eye) and sauros (lizard)

Short Description: Large ichthyosaur

Height (adult): 2 metres

Length (adult): 6 metres

Weight (adult): 300kg

Temporal range: 160-165 Mya

Distribution: Europe and North America
Sexual maturity (in years): 5

Description: Opthalmosaurus was a squid-eating marine reptile that lived all its life in the sea. Its body was extremely streamlined, making it more adapted to its aquatic environment. They gave birth to live young and were extremely fast - the gazelles of the Oxford Clays.

FACT FILE: Liopleurodon

Name origin: Greek leios (smooth), pleura (side) and donti (tooth)

Short Description: Large apex predatory plesiosaur

Height (adult): 1.5 metres

Length (adult): 7 metres

Weight (adult): 2000kg

Temporal range: 155-160 Mya

Distribution: Europe
Sexual maturity (in years): 8

Description: The top predator of the oceans of Jurassic England. Liopleurodon was a huge plesiosaur that preyed upon other, smaller marine reptiles. It gets its name from its scissor-like teeth that could grapple onto a streamlined body and hold it down, using its neck and jaw muscles to crush and cause death through loss of blood.

FACT FILE: Yutyrannus

Name origin: Chinese yu (feathered) and latin tyrannos (tyrant)

Short Description: Large theropod predatory dinosaur

Height (adult): 3 metres

Length (adult): 9 metres

Weight (adult): 2000kg

Temporal range: 125 Mya

Distribution: China
Sexual maturity (in years): 8 or 9

Description: Yutyrannus was the apex predator of the Yixian Formation. An ancestor of Tyrannosaurus and Tarbosaurus, Yutyrannus hunted in the jungles of its time, eating other like-feather cretaceous both great and small.

FACT FILE: Alectrosaurus

Name origin: Greek aetos (eagle) and sauros (lizard)

Short Description: Medium theropod predatory dinosaur

Height (adult): 2 metres

Length (adult): 5 metres

Weight (adult): 800kg

Temporal range: 74-83 Mya

Distribution: Central Asia
Sexual maturity (in years): 8-9

Description: Alectrosaurus was a solitary hunter that preyed on smaller dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs, like Protoceratops and Plesiohadros. A smaller Tyrannosaurid dinosaur, Alectrosaurus were fast and active hunters capable of tracking prey across vast deserts almost effortlessly.

FACT FILE: Gojirasaurus

Name origin: Gojira (aka Godzilla, after the Toho movie monster) and greek sauros (lizard)

Short Description: Medium theropod predatory dinosaur

Height (adult): 2.25 metres

Length (adult): 5.5 metres

Weight (adult): 500kg

Temporal range: 210 Mya

Distribution: North America
Sexual maturity (in years): 6 or 7

Description: Gojirasaurus was the largest predatory dinosaur of the Late Triassic Ghost Ranch. Related to similar species like Coelophysis, Gojirasaurus is a forerunner to all large theropod predators, including Tyrannosaurus and Allosaurus.

FACT FILE: Brachiosaurus

Name origin: Greek brachion (arm) and sauros (lizard)

Short Description: Massive herbivorous sauropod dinosaur

Height (adult): 16 metres

Length (adult): 23 metres

Weight (adult): 30 metric tons

Temporal range: 154-153 Mya

Distribution: North America
Sexual maturity (in years): 13

Description: Brachiosaurus, the giant of the dinosaurs, was a true colossus, able to freely graze from the highest plants and virtually invincible to all predators, for one kick or swing of its tail could break bone.

FACT FILE: Gigantoraptor

Name origin: Greek gigantas (giant) and latin raptor (thief)

Short Description: Large oviraptorsaur predatory dinosaur

Height (adult): 5 metres

Length (adult): 8-9 metres

Weight (adult): 2.2 metric tons

Temporal range: 85-70 Mya

Distribution: Central Asia
Sexual maturity (in years): 8 or 10

Description: This massive creature fed on meat and plant alike and was unchallenged in its activities from most all. Gigantoraptor was the largest oviraptorsaur of all time and while mostly carnivorous, was an omnivore and could eat certain plants, making them highly adaptive to the environment.

FACT FILE: Triceratops and Torosaurus

Triceratops

Name origin: Greek tri (three), keras (horn) and ops (face)
Short Description: Medium herbivorous dinosaur
Height (adult): 3 metres

Length (adult): 9 metres
Weight (adult): 9 metric tons
Temporal range: 68-66 Mya

Distribution: North America
Sexual maturity (in years): 8 or 9

Description: Triceratops was a herd animal that grazed in open fields. If a predator attacked, they would gather together and use their horns to scare their foe away with a display.

Torosaurus

Name origin: Greek toreo (pierced) and sauros (lizard)
Short Description: Medium herbivorous dinosaur
Height (adult): 2.5-3 metres
Length (adult): 8 metres
Weight (adult): 6 metric tons
Temporal range: 68-66 Mya
Distribution: North America

Sexual maturity (in years): 7 or 8

Description: A brother species to the Triceratops. Probably lived and ate differently from Triceratops to serve a different ecological niche.

FACT FILE: Diplodocus

Name origin: Greek diplos (double) and dokos (beam)  [a reference to double-beam structure of the specimen’s chevron bones in the tail]

Short Description: Massive herbivorous sauropod dinosaur

Height (adult): 6 metres

Length (adult): 24-26 metres

Weight (adult):  32 metric tons

Temporal range: 154-152 Mya

Distribution: North America
Sexual maturity (in years): 12

Description: Diplodocus was a massive herd animal that cleared the forests of the Jurassic.  They were massive animals and at full-size, have no natural predators, not even the mighty Allosaurus, though the odds of a hatchling surviving that long are remote.

FACT FILE: Therizinosaurus

Name origin: Greek therizo (to cut) and sauros (lizard)

Short Description: Large theropod herbivorous dinosaur

Height (adult): 9 metres

Length (adult): 8-9 metres

Weight (adult): 8 metric tons

Temporal range: 70 Mya

Distribution: Central Asia

Sexual maturity (in years): 7-8

Description: These gentle and massive herbivores used their claws to trim large plants like conifers. However, in a pinch, they could be used for self-defence; with their massive size, only truly massive predators like Tarbosaurus could challenge them.

FACT FILE: Tyrannosaurus

Name origin: Greek tyrannos (tyrant), sauros (lizard) and latin rex (king)

Short Description: Large apex theropod predatory dinosaur

Height (adult): 7 to 8 metres

Length (adult): 13 metres

Weight (adult): 6-7 metric tons

Temporal range: 68-66 Mya

Distribution: North America

Sexual maturity (in years): 9

Description: The theropod king of the dinosaurs! Tyrannosaurus was a monstrous animal that with its vast size and power, seldom needed to hunt. Most of its brain was dedicated to analysing scents, so it probably hunted like a crocodile - bite first, see if it is food after. Truly was this the apex predator of the time.

FACT FILE: Torvosaurus

Name origin: Latin torvus (savage) and greek sauros (lizard)

Short Description: Large theropod predatory dinosaur

Height (adult): 3 to 4 metres

Length (adult): 7 to 10 metres

Weight (adult): 1.25-3 metric tons

Temporal range: 153-148 Mya

Distribution: North America and Europe

Sexual maturity (in years): 7 or 8

Description: Torvosaurus was the king of the shallow waters of the Jurassic. A large theropod, second only to Allosaurus, only more specialised ecologically. Though they could hunt anything, they preferred fish and aquatic animals due to their long snout and hooked teeth. They strayed clear of the bigger Allosaurus where possible, but they could fight for their food if pushed.

FACT FILE: Allosaurus

Name origin: Greek allos (different, other) and sauros (lizard)

Short Description: Large apex theropod predatory dinosaur

Height (adult): 3 to 6 metres

Length (adult): 7.5 to 12 metres

Weight (adult): 1.5-4 metric tons

Temporal range: 155-150 Mya

Distribution: North America and Europe
Sexual maturity (in years): 8 or 10

Description: Allosaurus was the top land predator of Jurassic Wyoming. Allosaurs hunted solitary for the most part, but smaller individuals may have worked together for mutual advantage.  They preferred to hunt in the dry plains, where they can hunt large prey.

Notes: Allosaurus was the first species programmed into DINODRIFTERS! The story of Big Al, a famous fossil specimen from the Morrison Formation, inspired the creation of DINODRIFTERS.