Introduction:
Concavenator is a relatively new dinosaur, discovered in 2010, with an almost complete skeleton that showed how different and strange this dinosaur’s shape was. While we know this dinosaur from only one skeleton find, that skeleton tells us more than several fragmented fossils could, unlike the hotly debated cousin of this dinosaur, Altispinax/Becklespinax. Concavenator’s discovery not only helps us understand the variety within a certain dinosaur family but also aids in filling in the gaps of other dinosaur genera from the same family and creating a more well-understood family tree. So, let’s see what Concavenator has in store for us!
Discovery:
The first fossil remains were discovered, you would not believe it, in Spain. Spain of all places!!! I, for sure, never thought Spain would have fossil beds. I think I underestimated this country because they yielded such a wonderful specimen in the history of paleontology, especially in the modern times when most finds are pretty fragmentary. Concavenator was found in limestone slabs of Las Hoyas, Ceunca Province of La Huérguina Formation, and that is considered to be an area of exceptional fossil preservation.
The fossils were articulated and nearly complete with some parts missing but enough to research about. The find contained a skull, 10 neck bones, 13 back bones with the last 2 having an unusual elongation, 5 hip backbones, 30 tail bones, a partial chest girdle and arm, the pelvic girdle, & partial legs, as well as ribs.
The fossil was also found preserving scale impressions on feet and tail and it is a characteristic of the lithographic limestones because of its fine grained nature of limestone. In 2010, the specimen was described by paleontologists Francisco Ortega, Fernando Escaso, & José Luis Sanz and gave the name of the new genus and species of Carcharodontosaurid dinosaur, Concavenator corcovatus.
Concavenator comes from the derived Latin word, ‘Conca‘ which is the name of the Cuenca Province and ‘venator‘ means hunter. The species name, ‘corcovatus‘ is also taken from Latin referencing the hump-like structure on the dinosaur. Research papers for the dinosaurs detailing more from the fossil came out later in 2015 and 2018.
Biology:
Concavenator was a medium-sized Carcharodontosaurid theropod measuring in around 5 – 6 m (16 – 20 feet) in length and 1.7 m (5.5 feet) in height as well as weighing in 320 – 400 kg. The size and weight distribution makes it a very gracile predator and to me, I think it could have been a pursuit predator or a long range hunter. Having a lower mass can make it easier to run for longer distances. It existed around Early Cretaceous Period about 125 million years ago.
You might have already noticed the physical qualities and the obvious one being the hump/sail-like structure on the back in front of the hips. Similarly, it also crests on top of its snout and some paleontologists think it could have been a display feature, or thermo regulation, or even a fat storage. Nobody knows because of its’ extinct nature makes it hard to know what lead this dinosaur to evolve such a structure.
Another controversial feature of this dinosaur is that on it’s arms, it had bumps which could support quill-knobs like those of birds. Now this was odd because that would mean it had feathers which is not common in this clade of dinosaurs. Some believe it did not support actual feathers instead just some simple, quill-like structures like those Psittacosaurus and other Ornithischians.
These structures would be expected in other Neotetanurae, which lived in Middle Jurassic Period but there have been no evidences of those either. Paleontologists thought those bumps would have been places of muscle attachment but that did not fit making them go back to the previous hypothesis. However unlikely it maybe, Concavenator had quill-like structures on it’s hands.
Media:
One of the surprising media appearances of this dinosaur is in the inclusion of Jurassic World franchise. Yes, you have heard it right, Concavenator did make an appearance in the film Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom and the inclusion of this genus shows that Jurassic World happens in a parallel universe or I am reading into it too much. Well, I mean, being a dinosaur and Jurassic fan, I think the quirk is a set combo.
Either way, Concavenator shows up as a Taxidermy. You might be wondering, what in the world is a taxidermy. Simple! You have an animal that is living and breathing and after you capture it and put it down, you take out all the organs and blood and whatever nasties you have in the body except for the skin. Even the eyes are taken out and replaced with replica eyes.
Now you are left with just the skin and after a process of not making it decompose, you fill it up cotton or other, not-de-composable materials along with the skeleton and voila. You have an animal statue which was once living. I know it sounds gross but that is what you see in Natural History Museums of the animals that are alive today.
So that’s all good and all but what point am I trying to get at? Well, according to the lore of Jurassic franchise, Dr. John Hammond and his buddy, Sir Benjamin Lockwood were cooking up dinosaurs at the basement of Lockwood Manor and it is implied that the skeletons and the taxidermy statues were once the first batch of clones created by the duo, thus making Concavenator appear earlier in human history.
Jurassic Park took place in 1993 and by then Dr. Hammond was already pretty old, so think, how long ago did they discover this dinosaur, when in reality, Concavenator was discovered in 2010. I feel like that is enough evidence that Jurassic franchise is a parallel universe or maybe like the real world fossil collectors, they just did not say what they had and did not release the info to the public.
So there is the only film appearance of Concavenator and you might have guessed it but both Jurassic World Mobile Games have the dinosaur along with Jurassic World Evolution 2 as a part of the Cretaceous Dinosaur Pack DLC. The dinosaur is also available in the game called Path of Titans.
Not a lot of media appearances of this guy other than more paleoartists renditions but I feel like there should be more media appearances of this dinosaur. Also, I have not made my rendition of Concavenator! If you want a very special, one-of-a-kind illustration, check me out on Fiverr Dinosaur Art Commissions or click the button below.
Merchandise:
Luckily enough, for this time, there are some Concavenator action figures unlike some genera I have covered till now. Of course, Jurassic is in the list of course and my recommendation would be the Hammond Collection but no pressure, there is something for everyone, either you are an avid collector or just a Concavenator enjoyer.
I hope you liked this post about Concavenator and I hope you come back again for dinosaur content in other posts in Prehistoric Pedia. Hope to see you again soon.