Facts and Movies

Ceratosaurus is a charismatic theropod dinosaur. Aside from how much I like Ceratosaurus personally, it is very apparent that Hollywood and other paleontologists have a great deal of affection for and interest in this genus. That has led to many podcasts, movie roles (yes, even in the Jurassic Park no one likes), and appearances in documentaries. Some depictions of Ceratosaurus shown here are almost magical; by that I mean that often Ceratosaurus is portrayed as a dinosaur with a unicorn-like horn. The facts and fossils show that the horn is not much like a unicorn's horn at all, and, as stated yesterday, was quite variable across species within the genus and individuals. In One Million B.C. Ray Harryhausen said of his Ceratosaurus, its horn, and the other dinosaurs of the movie that his creations were not for "professors... who probably don't go to see these kinds of movies anyway."