Carnotaurus sastrei (Bonaparte, 1985)
Sauropsida
Diapsida
Archosauria
Dinosauria
Saurischia
Theropoda
Ceratosauria
Abelisauroidea
Abelisauridae
Late Cretaceous
South America
Length: 8 – 9 m
The “flesh eating bull” in Latin, she has evolved a large caudofemoralis (muscle at the base of her tail), enabling her to run at surprisingly fast speeds for an animal of her size. Unfortunately, this came at the cost of smaller muscles for tail stability. To compensate, her proximal caudal vertebrae (tail vertebrae closest to her pelvis) interlocked with one another and her pelvis. This severely limited her ability to make tight turns, which likely led to many a pratfall. Luckily, her vestigial arms (proportionately the smallest in any known dinosaur, save for some flightless birds) meant there was not much to break in the event of a fall.
On the off chance anyone reads this, I’m taking a poll:
Who would win in a slap fight: this gal or a toddler?
“I hate Carnotaurus.”
- Stephen Lang
Credit goes to http://robertfabiani.deviantart.com/ for the inspiration for the horn design.
Tuesday, March 29th, 2016
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