Cryolophosaurus

Cryolophosaurus was a theropod that lived in the Early Jurassic age, about 194-188 million years ago.  It was among the first of the larger meat eating dinosaurs, standing at about 2 meters tall and 6.5 meters long.  It was discovered in Antartica, along with the other dinosaurs in this painting known as Plateosaurus.  Antartica was in a completely different part of the world back then, and had a much more temperate atmosphere, closer to the temperatures in Eastern USA.  Cryolophosaurus is related to Dilophosaurus, both having a crest on their heads and a little notch in their snout known as a subnarial gap.  This is much more accentuated in dilophosaurs.

I was not aware of Cryolophosaurus until fairly recently, when I discovered it in a children’s book.  Dilophosaurus is one of my favorites, so the more I read about Cryolophosaurus, the more I have become a fan of it.  Before Cryolophosaurus, there weren’t many carnivorous dinosaurs, so when they lived, they were quite dominant, paving the way for many more carnivores to evolve into the more well known kings of the dinosaurs in the Cretaceous age.  This painting is done in oils on paper mounted to masonite.

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