January: Diplodocus

Diplodocus, (genus Diplodocus), are thiccc dinosaurs 🦕 found in North America as fossils from the Late Jurassic Period (161 million to 146 million years ago). Diplodocus is perhaps the most commonly displayed dinosaur 🦕 (basic bitches of the dinosaurs 🦕). It, along with sauropods such as Apatosaurus (formerly Brontosaurus), belong to a related subgroup of dinosaurs called diplodocids, members of which were some of the longest land animals that ever lived.

The skull of Diplodocus was unusually small and rather light. Elongate like that of a horse, it sat atop a very long neck; the brain was extremely small (for a dinosaur 🦕, it’s still much larger than the average dramatard’s). The body was comparatively light and was well supported by limb girdles and pillarlike legs. While most of these dinosaurs weighed slightly more than 30 tons, some members of the genus may have weighed as much as 80 tons.

The tail was very long and probably extremely flexible. It most likely provided an anchoring site for the powerful hind leg muscles. The tail may also have functioned as a defensive weapon that could smack the shit out of predators with great force. At some distance down the tail, certain arched structures beneath the tail vertebrae change in shape from spoonlike to canoelike. This flattening of the arches occurs at approximately the same height as where the base of the tail is located above the ground, which suggests that the tail could have been used as a prop for the hindlimbs. This arrangement may have enabled the animal to rear up on its back legs to feed on high vegetation (of it could be used to perform the ultimate curb stomp on its enemies). picture of the beauty

February: Dilophosaurus

Dilophosaurus is a very distinctive dinosaur that is instantly recognisable by the two crests that are on top of its neck.‭ ‬It must be remembered however that Dilophosaurus never had a neck frill or spat venom, as was depicted in the 1993 film Jurassic Park.‭ ‬Those were the creations of artistic licence,‭ ‬not paleontological fact.‭

   The crests themselves are most likely there for display,‭ ‬and could have been brightly coloured,‭ ‬particularly in the males.‭ ‬The crests are usually found disarticulated from the skull,‭ ‬but careful reconstruction has shown that they most likely sat on top of the skull.‭ ‬This arrangement is also considered more accurate than some earlier artistic reconstructions that have the crests running from the back of the skull and onto the neck.‭ ‬Such a reconstruction would have restricted the movement of the neck vertebra,‭ ‬a flawed configuration for a predator,‭ ‬hence the acceptance of the crests on top of the skull.

   The skull also features a large notch in the upper jaw between the teeth of the pre-maxilla and maxilla.‭ ‬This notch is actually an inherent weakness in the skull and suggests that Dilophosaurus probably did not have a high bite force as other similarly sized dinosaurs that lacked the notch.‭ ‬One theory is that the notch would have enabled Dilophosaurus to dig out small prey items out of things like rock crevices,‭ ‬although bearing in mind that it was six meters long,‭ ‬it would not really be an efficient method of feeding for such a large dinosaur.‭ ‬Another theory is that Dilophosaurus lived the life of a scavenger.‭ ‬In this scenario Dilophosaurus would only need a bite force large enough to tear meat from a carcass,‭ ‬and could have used its size to intimidate and drive off smaller carnivores from their kill.‭ 

   The notch may yet prove to be a bit of a red herring in describing its feeding behaviour.‭ ‬There were other dinosaurs present that were well within the predatory scope of Dilophosaurus and it may have also employed the use of its claws in making kills.‭ ‬The notch may have even been of use in picking flesh off the bones off kills as a weaker bite force would mean that Dilophosaurus may have had difficulty in crunching bones.‭ ‬All that can be said is that carnivores in general will kill an animal for food when able,‭ ‬but will also scavenge carrion when the opportunity presents itself (honestly didn’t need to add anything these things are cool as hell). 

picture of this awesome scavenger