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A highly sceptical Saltriovenator zanellai wonders if it’s really worth taking a swim to a nearby island to look for food in Italy during the Early Jurassic 🇮🇹🦖

Historically accurate photograph of the first woman to hunt dinosaurs.

Coincidentally, she was also the first woman eaten by a dinosaur.

#Unknown Island #Carol Lane #Virginia Grey #ceratosaur #dinosaur #practical effects #suitmation

Spec-Dinovember Day 27: No Hands! a theropod loses its little arms

Returning to the Kerguelen Plateau for a final time, the top predator of the island is unsurprisingly an abelisaur. Melesaurus abrachius is a Majungasaurine, and shares their peculiar long torso and short legs. It is the smallest member of its clade weighing only around 200lbs, a clear instance of island dwarfism. It's preferred prey are the island's mammal species, many of which create burrows to shelter from the elements. Their small stature and long narrow bodies allow them to reach deep within the burrows to catch their cornered prey. This has led to the almost total loss of their arms, which are nothing more than a singular spur hidden amongst their shaggy down. While mammals make up the bulk of their diet, they aren't averse to trying new things, as many dinosaurs, lizards, and even a few pterosaurs will make use of abandoned mammal burrows. Occasionally Melesaurus will hunt out in the open, using their low stature and camouflaged coat to hide in the tussocks of grass before ambushing with the explosive bursts of speed abelisaurs are known for. They are the only predators on the island that can attempt to hunt the plateless stegosaur and are the reason they still carry a thagomizer. Attempted hunts are rare and successful ones rarer, but they are a significant cause of 1st year mortality for the young.

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This was a fun locale to play around with. I covered a bit of the geology in the Day 19 prompt, and this chunk may never have actually broke the waterline, but it was neat to work with. Feels a little excessive to do back-to-back prompts in the same area but this one was always intended to pair with Ahoplophorus. Yesterday's mud sifter was one I didn't have a good grasp on until it was almost done, and it got put here because A) it would flesh out a location that was already going to be revisited and B) it would be another ceratosaur to contrast with; Numeniasaurus being the really odd shaped one and Melesaurus being the more typical looking one.