iAllosaur represents a world of 150 Million years ago, as informed by the fossil record of the American Great Plains. Both the flora and fauna depicted in iAllosaur are based on what has been discovered in exposed sections of the , a sedimentary rock sequence which extends across most of the American West. iAllosaur animates a lost world found in the remains of siltstone and sandstone formed by the rivers and floodplains of the Jurassic period. Its inhabitants represented include the following:
Genus name : Greek "allos", other; + Greek "sauros", lizard
The apex predator of its age, was a marvel of form and function. Allosaurus was compact and fast, with powerful, muscular legs for running and jumping. With long talons on both its hands and feet, and rows of razor-sharp teeth, Allosaurus could shear off chunks of meat as it ran along even the biggest sauropods. And given what we know about the hunting efficiencies of modern solitary predators, Allosaurus likely took down animals of equal or potentially much larger size.
How do we know Allosaurus was a predator, and not a scavenger? As mentioned, we can interpret the jaws and teeth of allosaurus as designed for rapid shearing bites - appropriate for bringing down prey, rather than just eating what flesh might be found. Another bit of evidence we have are Allosaur bones severely damaged from a Stegosaur's thagomizer (the spiked tail). Were Allosaurs scavengers, they would have steered clear of Stegosaurs. Other evidence we have that Allosaurus were predatory is that we have found skeletons containing re-healed broken bones; again evidence of an aggressive lifestyle.
Genus name : Greek "cerato", horned; + Greek "sauros", lizard
was an unusual dinosaur, with a strange appearance. Like a modern hyena, It had an odd shape but was very formidable. Despite their smaller size, Ceratosaurs were most likely fierce competitors to allosaurs, hunting the same large sauropods. Ceratosaurs had good vision, were intelligent, and either ambushed their prey, or coordinated attacks, hunting in pairs or groups. Ceratosaurs had very strong tails - we believe they may have been as or more effective hunting in the water as on land.
Genus name : Greek "apato", unreal; + Greek "sauros", lizard
This creature, whose original name was ("Thunder Lizard"), must have surely shook the ground when it walked. And predatory dinosaurs needed to be wary approaching even a lone adult; a single swipe from its whip-like tail could shatter a carnosaur skull. More agile than it might appear, it likely reared up either in defense or to forage from the tallest tree tops.
Genus name : Greek "brachio", arm; + Greek "sauros", lizard
A truly enormous sauropod, feared nothing as an adult. A brachiosaur made other dinosaurs look like toys in comparison, eating perhaps a literal ton of food each day to fuel its massive body.
Genus name : Greek "stego", roofed; + Greek "sauros", lizard
An adult was a formidable quarry for any predator. It was well protected by the plates of its back (which at minimum certainly provided a strong visual deterrence), and could defend itself aggressively with its spiked tail. With longer hind legs matched with short but powerfully muscled front legs, it was able to quickly turn to present any attacker with its deadly tail. And an artistic reference too good not to mention: The long, tail spikes of a Stegosaur are now properly, scientifically recognized as "thagomizers", a term taken from a Gary Larson "Far Side" cartoon, representing that they were named "for the late Thag Simmons..."
Genus name : Greek, "rhampho", prow; + Greek "rhynchus", beak
This crow-sized fish-eater, was the precursor of the giant pterosaurs that dominated the skies millions of years later in the Cretaceous Period. Furry little fliers like shared the skies with early birds and the first fliers of all, insects. Imagine them nesting in cliff sides above a shoreline - much as depicted in the classic mural... hundreds in a single rookery... Note that the order "Pterosauria" is separate from the superorder or clade "Dinosauria"; pterosaurs were not in fact dinosaurs, but rather more distant cousins than birds.
Genus name : Greek, "ptero", wing; + Greek "dactylus", finger
When fossil hunters first found , this pelican-sized creature they thought it was a bat or maybe a bizarre swimming animal. It turned out that this warm-blooded, fur-covered flying reptile was like nothing alive today. It was neither a bird nor a dinosaur, but a genus of pterosaur that lived during the late Jurassic Period.
Genus name : Greek, "archaeos", ancient; + Greek "pteryx", feather
The first unmistakable bird. could fly or run to catch insects and small lizards as it made it's way under the feet and over the heads of its larger cousins, like Allosaurus. It needed to be fast to avoid being a quick snack itself, perhaps the reason flight evolved in this great, great grandaddy of the sparrow, hawk and owl. Note that all birds, both Archaeopteryx and all his modern relatives, are part of the "Dinosauria"clade - birds being nothing less than "neornithine" dinosaurs.
We at idvance LLC ® love art and we love dinosaurs. And we really love art that brings dinosaurs to life...
There is a feedback loop between artists and scientists when it comes to paleontology. Art has played its part in inspiring interest in paleontology as a legitimate career for generations of scientists. Scientists have in turn made new discoveries that have informed better art. In reinforcing the loop, art has visualized and encouraged novel ideas. We are proud of iAllosaur ® as our modest contribution to a tradition of art responding to science.
iAllosaur presents a particular time and place - North America during the Jurassic. We should offer some context for this.
Geologists have labelled the period between 200 and 150 million years ago as the Jurassic period. It was preceded by the Triassic period - 250 to 200 million years ago - and followed by the Cretaceous -150 to 65 million years ago.
During the Triassic period, at least two major type of reptiles would evolve - the and the . Late in the Triassic, the first mammals evolved from the former, while dinosaurs, pterosaurs and crocodiles evolved from the latter. Terrestrial plants that emerged during the Triassic included ferns and cycads, cycads being short seed-producing plants that appear similar to palm trees, but that are in fact are not closely related.
During the Jurassic, large sauropods first appeared, along with predators fit to hunt them, including carnosaurs. Other dinosaurs that evolved included the first birds. Mammals remained small - their ecological niche was kept marginalized perhaps simply by the success of dinosaurs. Terrestrial plants now included conifers, moss and horsetails - horsetails being spore rather than seed bearing plants which ranged in size from that of grasses to tall trees (spores as opposed to seeds, are not produced by flowers, and contain little food to sustain themselves).
During the Cretaceous, many of the dinosaurs we are most familiar with emerged, including , , etc., and also the largest and most captivating pterosaurs, such as . Flowering plants also first evolved.
During the Triassic period, all of the earth's land mass was a single continent which geologists have named . During the Jurassic period, Pangaea fractured into two continents, which geologists have named Gondwana to the south and Laurasia to the north. During the Cretaceous period, Gondwana and Laurasia further split into what would become the modern continents.
If you want to learn more about Dinosaurs and paleontology, we strongly recommend the following: