Introduction:
Allosaurus, one of the most famous Dinosaurs of all time. It is so popular that probably even your grandmother knows it. Allosaurus has appeared in many different books, documentaries, TV shows, films and so much more. You have seen it a bunch of times in museums and the reason is because of good fossilization that preserved the dinosaur and the reason for becoming the Lion of the Jurassic Period.
It was one of the most biggest, predatory dinosaurs ever to walk the Earth. Allosaurus is common yet unique compared to all the other dinosaurs that you can instantly find it out in a bag of dinosaur toys. In this article, I will go over simple facts and easily define what makes an Allosaurus. So, let’s get started!!!
Discovery:
Allosaurus was discovered by a famous paleontologist, Othniel Charles Marsh in 1877 in the Morrison Formation, Colorado in the USA. Morrison Formation is well known for having a lot of Jurassic Period dinosaurs and even many new species are still being discovered. The paleontologist discovered the Allosaurus in the middle of something called the Bone Wars.
The name Allosaurus comes from Greek words and it meant ‘different lizard’ because of the vertebrae fossils were different from regular dinosaurs. And the other part of the name was fragilis because the fossils were fragile.And so, the species name came to be Allosaurus fragilis. There are three different species of Allosaurus and they are Allosaurus fragilis, Allosaurus jimmadseni, and Allosaurus europaeus.
They are different in some way but they are all still Allosaurus, like how they are different types of Tigers but in the end, they are still tigers, it is the same situation. Allosaurus fragilis was discovered in Morrison Formation, Allosaurus jimmadseni was discovered in Cleveland-Lloyd Formation while Allosaurus europaeus was discovered in Lourinha Formation of Portugal but the most discovered species is Allosaurus fragilis with at least 60 individuals discovered.
The Allosaurus is a regular find in paleontology that many dinosaurs were named because the finds were fragmentary but further research proved it was an Allosaurus. This is mostly the case for fragmentary fossils but that is why more researchers are needed, like yourself, if you want to be a part of this exciting field. Maybe you can find out if Allosaurus europaeus is new or just A. fragilis because the finds for A. europaeus is too fragmentary.
Biology:
Allosaurus is a carnivorous dinosaur eating only meat and it can grow up to 32 ft long and 7 ft in height. It was a well-adapted, slim, and fast build predator. It had a long tail to balance it’s own weight and help in turning while running. It had strong arms with 3 deadly claws on each hand to slash at it’s prey and slashing teeth to slice the meat like butter. It was also one of the only carnivores that could open their open mouth very wide.
It also had a pretty long neck for a carnivore and most important of all, it had horns above and in front of the eyes with ridges going down to the mouth. These facial features were probably protected with keratin, the stuff that makes your nails hard.
It probably lived in lush, tropical area with dry seasons and wet seasons. It could have hunted in packs but the pack behavior is hard to know for the extinct animals. Sometimes, they might be found together but that does not mean they lived in groups but fossilized tracks can help if they are found alongside with others of different sizes walking together for a long way. The diversity of dinosaurs during Jurassic USA was so much that the ecosystem could support evolving an apex predator to roam the land. There will be separate post listing the classification of all the superfamily, Allosauroidea, which includes the Allosaurus and many more species.
Design:
Allosaurus design has changed as the views of dinosaurs changed. The current design should be with a sloping head, horns above and before the eyes, with an almost S-shaped neck, slim and muscular build with palms of the hands facing each other in a clapping position.
The legs should be muscular and the tail should be long, at least a bit more longer than the body length from the hips, with a rounded end. No back spikes or anything, no exposed teeth cause then the teeth will dry out and no skin wrapping the skeleton because they are animals with muscles, organs and fats, so add little bit of smoothness to the design. I have made a design and you can get stickers of my design by clicking the design. Thank you in advance for getting some merch!!
Media:
Allosaurus has appeared in films from a long time ago like the Valley of Gwangi and One Million Years B.C as well as to new films like the Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom and Jurassic World Dominion while also getting a short film Jurassic World Battle at Big Rock. It will also appear in the newest animated show, Jurassic World Chaos Theory. The dinosaur has also appeared in all kinds of Jurassic Park and Jurassic World games, make sure to play those games to get your own digital version of the Allosaurus. One reason for its popularity is because of the documentary Walking With Dinosaurs and other documentaries like Dinosaur Revolution and Planet Dinosaur.
Merchandise:
And let’s not forget, action figures. There are tons of action figures and models you can get and you can follow my Amazon affiliate links to get some awesome Allosaurus figures!!!
Mattel Jurassic World Ruthless Rampagin’ Allosaurus https://amzn.to/4dGg9Vx
Jurassic World Roar Attack Allosaurus Camp Cretaceous: https://amzn.to/4bB0WTD
Jurassic World Roar Attack Allosaurus Camp Cretaceous: https://amzn.to/3yhijut
Jurassic World Roarivores Allosaurus: https://amzn.to/4aicOc7
Jurassic World Dominion Uncaged Wild Pop Ups Allosaurus (Blue) : https://amzn.to/3UXVtRy
Jurassic World Dominion Uncaged Wild Pop Ups Allosaurus (Green) : https://amzn.to/3UBZ7ix
Jurassic World Allosaurus to Dimetrodon Transforming Toy: https://amzn.to/3UDuwRF
PNSO Allosaurus Paul Dinosaur Model Collectible: https://amzn.to/4annDJY
New Schleich 2024 Allosaurus: https://amzn.to/44Gx3z9
Collect A Allosaurus (Roaring): https://amzn.to/3wxKVyY
Dinosaur Drawing Commission: https://artistree.io/prehistoricpedia#a4bbf520-f2f6-4424-8e34-dc5def2dc01e?ref=search