Dino Of The Week

Ok, so for the first installment of Dino Of The Week, we visit my second favorite dinosaur and possibly the most underrated one out there. Ceratosaurus!

Ceratosaurus was a major predator during the Mid-Late Jurassic. In fact, before the appearance of larger theropods like Allosaurus, it was probably the apex predator. Ceratosaurus averaged roughly 20 ft(6 meters) in length and 1 ton in weight. However, really large ones could reach nearly 26 ft(8 meters) and 2 tons or so. That rivals some of the smaller Allosaurus and Torvosaurus specimens. Ceratosaurus focused almost entirely on it's jaws in combat. With teeth nearly 7 inches long, it had some of the longest teeth of any theropod compared to body size. In fact, Ceratosaurus had two kinds of teeth. The ones on the lower jaw(roughly 2 inches long) were standard when it came to theropods. Somewhat thin, sharp, pretty devasting overall. They're the ancor. But it's upper teeth were immensley long and very blade-like. What Ceratosaurus would do is latch on with it's lower teeth and open it's jaws, and cut a chunk out of you with its giant fangs in it's upper jaw. It's secondary weapon was it's hand claws. These claws were up to 3 inches long. Since it was more primitive than other large theropods at its time, Ceratosaurus had 4 fingers(aka 4 claws). It also had long toe claws. It's been theorized that Ceratosaurus could use it's 4 fingered hands and flexible tail to swim well. This would help it catch aquatic prey and get across rivers/lakes easily. Ceratosaurus had a varied diet. It'd eat anything from fish, to small ornithopods, to stegosaurs, and even small sauropods. It may have hunted in pairs or trios to bring down big game as well. The horns of Ceratosaurus were likely for display, not combat. 

Overall- Ceratosaurus was a large and powerful predator. It was fast and it was deadly. Why is it so underrated? Because of Allosaurus. I'd like to see Ceratosaurus take the spotlight more, but who knows if that'll happen. But we big time dino-fans will always know that Ceratosaurus deserves that fame.

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