STL Science Center

STL Science Center

09 July 2011

Giganotosaurs Images

Table of Taxonomies
Giganotosaurus is a unique Late Cretaceous theropod in that it has more than two digits on its hand. There's more Allosaur than Tyrannosaur in the Evolution of these animals; of course we already knew that because Tyrannosaurs are Coelurosaurids and Giganotosaurus is an Allosaurid Carcharadontosaur. The animal kingdom does, admittedly, get ridiculously confusing sometimes, but if we were to break down Giganotosaurus into its Kingdom etc. and place it alongside T. Rex's Kingdom etc. we can see the differences (a word of note: current categorizing has gone far beyond Linnaeus' system of taxonomy so this image is going to be bigger than you expect).
©Todd Marshall

I have tried many many times to get a note through to Todd Marshall to let him know that I am going to use his illustrations on days when I use them, but I still haven't gotten anything through to him that has had a reply, so if he reads this, I'm using an image today! Marshall has highlighted here the theorized pack behavior of Giganotosaurus and done a fantastic job in showing why the pack would be needed. While they were enormous animals this Argentinosaurus is clearly even more massive than the full grown Giganotosaurs running alongside

©Todd Marshall
trying to make it a meal. The detail is amazing, as you can see from far away, but the up close detail of the Giganotosaurus shows exquisite attention to the skin, the coloring, and the muscles underneath the skin. The hands are splayed out as if readying to grasp or rake at the Argentinosaurus and the power in those quaking legs is clearly evident as the Giganotosaur steams alongside its prey. A masterful piece and a wonderfully detailed piece to look at today.

©Bruno Hernandez
The piece by Bruno Hernandez is wonderful as well. It's the antithesis of of pack behavior; solitary disputes. This could be over mates within a pack I suppose, but let us assume it is territorial reign that is at stake here to keep the antithesis theory afloat. The predators in this image don't really have much coloration to them at all. There is nothing particularly stunning about the animals in the color department except the red coloring above the eyes. However, the enormous muscles are still present in the legs and we can see the power that could be unleashed if this fight were to move past the intimidation stage. Certainly the animals are going through the motions of having a good shouting match at one another before escalating to violence. Dinosaurs of the size of Giganotosaurs would do serious damage to one another should the argument escalate to a physical match whether they would have clawed at each other or just snapped their teeth at one another.

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