abbyhoward
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Extinct Creatures #7!
🕑 Added 2016-08-10 16:38:56 +0000 UTC Hey hey we got us some extinct creatures again, at last! I've still been sketching them regularly, just not finalizing them. But it means I have a backlog to choose from.Here we have two herbivores from the middle Cretaceous (like 112 mya or so) of Central Africa-- the first is Ouranosaurus, an iguanodont with a big sail back. It is very pretty, I think! A top-notch iguanodont. As with any sail-backed extinct creature, there are a few possible explanations for why it evolved-- it could be used for thermoregulation, or a display structure, or as a support for a hump that stores fat and water. It could also be a combo of these things. We Just Don't Know. But hey, it makes it look very special and cool
It shared the region with a little sauropod called Nigersaurus, which was also very special in that its face looks like that. Sauropods all kinda look like big nerds up close but none more than Nigersaurus and its beautiful shovel face. This face is very good for eating plants closer to the ground, which is why it looks a bit different than its taller, tree-munching relatives.
Oh, and it was only after I'd started drawing those rad stripes on Ouranosaurus that I remembered most creatures that have stripes are 1. usually much smaller than this guy and 2. live in grasslands or wooded areas. It's theorized that stripes help these animals blend in with the grass or trees and confuse predators or prey or whoever they're trying to trick. So Ouranosaurus probably wouldn't have had stripes. Though it did live in an area that had trees, I wouldn't call it heavily wooded, and grass hadn't been invented yet (though there were lots of ferns and assorted shrubbery, but those weren't tall enough for a big boy like Ouranosaurus to blend in with.) Though hey, who knows what sexual selection may have caused, markings-wise-- maybe The Ladies were very into stripes, regardless of how well they blended in with the surroundings.
I think that's it for this installment-- thank you all so so much for your continued support, it means a lot to me! Talk to you soon,
-Abby
