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Description
190 million years ago during the early Jurassic period of what is now the Hanson Formation of Antarctica, an adult Cryolophosaurus ellioti walking around a clearing in a forest of Pagiophyllum sp. (a genus of conifer tree) comes across a prey item in the tall Cladophlebis oblonga ferns. Running around the foliage is a 1.6-meter long tritylodontid, a type of cynodont, and the theropod dinosaur runs up to it and catches it in its jaws by the head while some dinorphodontid pterosaurs fly past.

I decided to draw my favorite dinosaur again (I have expressed my love for Cryo before here www.deviantart.com/olmagon/art… ) for Dinosaur Day which is on 15 May. Happens that my birthday is right around that and while it is my birthday where I live there are time zones on Dinosaur Day so I suppose it could be said I am a dinosaur fan born on Dinosaur Day.

Cryolophosaurus is my favorite dinosaur and was a theropod dinosaur that grew up to 7 meters long and was quite possibly the largest terrestrial carnivore alive at the time, and would have been the apex predator of Jurassic Antarctica, which was much warmer that modern Antarctica and the numerous plant fossils found there suggest it was a lush green continent unlike what it is today. This species has a crest on its head that slightly curls forwards and in fact was nicknamed "Elvisaurus" because that crests looks like Elvis Presley's hair. The Hanson Formation of Antarctica would have been quite a biodiverse place that had many animals the theropod could prey on, with the early sauropodomorph Glacialisaurus being most commonly portrayed as food for it. Chances are many more fossils are in the formation but the rough weather conditions and remote location of the site makes excavation work quite damn tough there. One Cryolophosaurus specimen was even believed to have had the rib of a sauropodomorph lodged in its throat but now it is thought the rib was actually its own. However, that same specimen also has a tooth believed to be from a tritylodontid in its stomach area, which was quite possibly its prey.

That tooth found in the stomach area of the dinosaur is a postcanine tooth and represents the only known material so far of what is thought to be an unknown species of tritylodontid cynodont. The tritylodontids were a widespread group of non-mammalian cynodonts that lived in many places during the early Jurassic and are believed to be herbivores or omnivores. Like most Mesozoic synapsids the majority of these were small, but the size of this antarctic tooth suggests its owner was quite possibly the largest Jurassic therapsid and the creature may have grown up to 1.6 meters long, which is comparable to some leopards (but judging from related species its shorter legs would mean it didn't stand as tall). Still wasn't big enough to be safe from a 7-meter dinosaur though.

Also known from the Hanson Formation is the fossilized humerus of a pterosaur, probably a Dimorphodontid that was probably similar to Dimorphodon. While Dimorphodontids were formerly thought to be seabird analogies that flew out to sea to catch fish, they are now believed to be infrequent fliers that mainly walked on the ground and climbed trees in search of terrestrial prey like insects, so I guess the caracara is a better analogy and I based their colors on caracaras.

Still using that Primal Carmage Cryo skin for the colors by the way. I quite love that skin.

Description
190 million years ago during the early Jurassic period of what is now the Hanson Formation of Antarctica, an adult Cryolophosaurus ellioti walking around a clearing in a forest of Pagiophyllum sp. (a genus of conifer tree) comes across a prey item in the tall Cladophlebis oblonga ferns. Running around the foliage is a 1.6-meter long tritylodontid, a type of cynodont, and the theropod dinosaur runs up to it and catches it in its jaws by the head while some dinorphodontid pterosaurs fly past.

I decided to draw my favorite dinosaur again (I have expressed my love for Cryo before here www.deviantart.com/olmagon/art… ) for Dinosaur Day which is on 15 May. Happens that my birthday is right around that and while it is my birthday where I live there are time zones on Dinosaur Day so I suppose it could be said I am a dinosaur fan born on Dinosaur Day.

Cryolophosaurus is my favorite dinosaur and was a theropod dinosaur that grew up to 7 meters long and was quite possibly the largest terrestrial carnivore alive at the time, and would have been the apex predator of Jurassic Antarctica, which was much warmer that modern Antarctica and the numerous plant fossils found there suggest it was a lush green continent unlike what it is today. This species has a crest on its head that slightly curls forwards and in fact was nicknamed "Elvisaurus" because that crests looks like Elvis Presley's hair. The Hanson Formation of Antarctica would have been quite a biodiverse place that had many animals the theropod could prey on, with the early sauropodomorph Glacialisaurus being most commonly portrayed as food for it. Chances are many more fossils are in the formation but the rough weather conditions and remote location of the site makes excavation work quite damn tough there. One Cryolophosaurus specimen was even believed to have had the rib of a sauropodomorph lodged in its throat but now it is thought the rib was actually its own. However, that same specimen also has a tooth believed to be from a tritylodontid in its stomach area, which was quite possibly its prey.

That tooth found in the stomach area of the dinosaur is a postcanine tooth and represents the only known material so far of what is thought to be an unknown species of tritylodontid cynodont. The tritylodontids were a widespread group of non-mammalian cynodonts that lived in many places during the early Jurassic and are believed to be herbivores or omnivores. Like most Mesozoic synapsids the majority of these were small, but the size of this antarctic tooth suggests its owner was quite possibly the largest Jurassic therapsid and the creature may have grown up to 1.6 meters long, which is comparable to some leopards (but judging from related species its shorter legs would mean it didn't stand as tall). Still wasn't big enough to be safe from a 7-meter dinosaur though.

Also known from the Hanson Formation is the fossilized humerus of a pterosaur, probably a Dimorphodontid that was probably similar to Dimorphodon. While Dimorphodontids were formerly thought to be seabird analogies that flew out to sea to catch fish, they are now believed to be infrequent fliers that mainly walked on the ground and climbed trees in search of terrestrial prey like insects, so I guess the caracara is a better analogy and I based their colors on caracaras.

Still using that Primal Carmage Cryo skin for the colors by the way. I quite love that skin.