Nanuqsaurus

Totally unplanned, just a random Alaskan Tyrannosaurid I thought of drawing whilst in the middle of my homework

It’s been a while since I made a Surviving Earth post. Here’s a leaked image of what appears to be a Nanuqsaurus in a dusty ash field.

From here: https://www.xaviamoros.com/portfolio/surviving-earth-tv-series-coming-spring-2025

It’s a good thing they didn’t just film the end Cretaceous segment in a volcanic ash field.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CyqcnovKtZ0/?igsh=bmZoenN4aXY0OTBk

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cza4HBCCmmM/?igsh=Mm5waDh1Y2xqOTJh

Tired of waiting for a trailer to drop.

On this day, 4 years ago, your's truly first joined Dinopedia, I usually do something for these anniversaries but I've completely forgotten about it until right now so uhhhhhh

Here's my updated top 10 favorite Dinosaurs, there has been quite a few changes

10. Diabloceratops

Diablo officially replaces Pachyrhinosaurus as my favourite Ceratopsian, this thing just has one of the coolest and most unique looking horn orientation, and fire name as well. Diablo was my favourite Ceratopsian at one point, but then I kind of just, lost intrest in it, now after finding really great art of it, I love it again

9.Nanuqsaurus

Nanuq drops one spot down the list, what can say besides it's the coolest Tyrannosauroid (pun not intended), iirc, it's appearing in Surviving Earth, so I'm excited for that

8. Australovenator

Megaraptorans are a goated group of animals, your favourite could literally be any species and I'd fully understand why, the only reason I've put Australovenator as my favourite is because I like the JWE 2 design

7. Acrocanthosaurus

Acro replaces Mapusaurus as my favourite Allosauroid, I like big animals and I like unique animals, this thing is both, Mapu will always hold a special place in my heart though

6. Spinosaurus

Spinosaurus remains in the same spot it was before, take what I said about Acro and copy paste it here, and also I fell in love with the Planet Dinosaur depiction as a kid so that's also a big player

5. Microraptor

Microraptor also remains in the same spot it was before, it's adorable, unique, and it has a interesting history, I still can't believe we know the colours of some Dinosaurs

4. Dreadnoughtus

Dreadnoughtus replaces Isisaurus as my favourite Sauropod, it's big and has a cool name, it also for some reason had an increase in media appearances in recent times, Dominion, PHP, and Dino Dex all had excellent designs

The top 3 has 0 changes

3. Natovenator

Natovenator is the best Dromaeosaurid, it's unique and has a catchy name, I can't help but like it, also I had it as my pfp for a long time

2. Rajasaurus

It's an Indian Dinosaur so obviously I'm gonna be biased, and one of the only cool Indian Dinosaurs as well, I've only liked it more after the PHP depiction

1. Parasaurolophus

This is no surprise, Parasaurolophus was my first favourite Dinosaur and always has been and will always continue to be

No JWE 3 or Survival news today, I'm disappointed, but instead of being sad about it I played JWE 2 all day

We have two more enclosures in the park, a Giant Claw exhibit and a Movie exhibit for the 2013 movie

Here's what the park looks like

Tarbosaurus, there's only one. I must say, this design is really growing on me, Frontier did a wonderful job with the skins and animations

The Murder Turkey, Therizinosaurus, again, only one

4 Velociraptors, they look Compy sized next to the Theri

Next exhibit! It includes an aviary with 3 Azhdarchids that the movie calls Quetzalcoatlus (though I don't think they're based on any named specimens) I'm using Thanatosdrakon as a stand in because the Quetz is too big to fit any more than 1 into a single piece aviary

We have 4 Edmontosaurus kuukpikensis/Ugrunaaluk

5 Pachyrhinosaurus

4 Hesperonychus, using Moros as a stand in

4 Chirostenotes, using Oviraptor as a stand in

2 Parksosaurus, and won't you look at that! I'm using Dryosaurus as a stand in for 4th fukuiraptoring time! And it won't be the last either

Enough of these boring guys, we all know what you really want to see in WWD Movie enclosure, and that is the Nanuqsaurus, formerly Gorgosaurus, using Albertosaurus as a stand in (they're having an identity crisis) anyways there's 3 of them

Name them, the ones I like the most will be picked

Next time we'll be finishing the park with our final three enclosures, Death of a Dynasty enclosure, To Hell and Back enclosure, and a Megalodon enclosure

A Nanuqsaurus resting from a recent meal

Nanuqsaurus, The Polar Bear Lizard

Nanuqsaurus has been crowned the winner of Season 2 of Dinosaur Favouritism, and has been placed as the most favourite Tyrannosaur in Dinopedia!

But always remember folks, from the Small Tyrants like Raptorex, to the behemoths like Tyrannosaurus and Tarbosaurus, all tyrannosaurs and tyrannosauroids are among some of the coolest Dino’s ever, and all are awesome creatures.

All hail The King’s of The Cretaceous 👑

(Ida is not real, the event that happened in this story did not happen. This is a realistic interpretation of a "What If...?", it is not meant to demoralize the real paleontologists who make real breakthrough discoveries)

Ida the Tyrannosaurus

On April 16th, 2022, Paleontologist Jay Norman and Paleoartist Edward Kohler were trying to find Stygimoloch (Pachycephalosaurus spinifer) fossils in Hell’s Creek, Montana. However, after a hot day, Norman tripped on a rock sticking out of the ground, Kohler identified it as a fossil, possibly of Nanuqsaurus or another medium theropod. As they carefully dug it out, they found it was a small fragment of a Tyrannosaurid jaw. They carefully dug further, finding more possible fragments, before fining the entire rest of the skull, and a destroyed neck vertebra. It was intensely miraculous that this skull had been merely fragmented and not destroyed, as carbon dating put the fossil at about 65.8 million years ago. However, after scanning the fossils on Blender and then putting the digital fossils together, they found that the jaws of the Tyrannosaurid were destroyed. There were heavy outdents, possibly caused by a tree or a Ceratopsid horn puncture. They found out that a team 4 miles north found a huge Triceratops horridus specimen and wanted to double-check. So using Blender, they fitted the Triceratops horn through the bottom jaw; too big. Then they tried the puncture that broke the top jaw and snout; perfect fit. But something bothered Norman, the other puncture wound. The Triceratops’ horn was too big to fit the hole. Luckily, a few months later, the same team found a nest of Triceratops specimens, and a juvenile had a broken frill. Then, the adult next to it (possibly the mother), had a chip in her left horn. The same Blender process was used, yadda yadda yadda, it was a fit. That team was Astrid Olsson and Rocco Abate, two European paleontologists who were investigating Triceratops behavioral patterns, trying to see if they truly could be in huge herds as shown in media.

A Tyrannosaurid injured from two Triceratops? This wasn’t a coincidence, it was a revolutionary find. Not only did this prove that Triceratops engaged with Tyrannosaurids, but it proved that Tyrannosaurids hunted, disproving Jack Horner. Additionally, even though speculated, this proved that Triceratops at least, worked together. The amount of bone healing, trying to merge the dispersed part of bones with the rest of the jaws, put both injuries about 2 months before the specimen’s death. At first, Korman illustrated it as Nanuqsaurus hoglundi, but the size of the specimen made it out to likely be of the Tyrannosaurus species, likely Tyrannosaurus rex. But when another, more informative Paleontologist, Paleontologist Matt Broker, a Tyrannosaur expert investigated the specimen, he deducted it to be Tyrannosaurus mcraeensis, not Tyrannosaurus rex. And the specimen was female. Broker could tell from the smoothed-out cheekbones, snout, brows, and less pronounced jaw edges. Broker put the animal to be about 13 years old, a late subadult or early adult. Seeing as the animal had, likely perished from combat, Broker suggested the name “Ida” referencing Ida the primate, who was the “missing link” in our evolution, like how Ida’s discovery had led to several scientific confirmations. The European team decided to name their specimens Andre, a homage to Andre the Giant, for the alpha, who was estimated to be around 10 feet tall and 30 feet long. The mother Trike was nicknamed Minerva. And the juvenile was named Mary.

At Andre's Stronghold, a site once thought to be a rushing river, there were several prints of footprints, from Triceratops horridus to Tyrannosaurus mcraeensis. Several skeletons have been found, there was a hip fragment, thought to belong to Tyrannosaurus rex, but with Ida's presence, it was likely Tyrannosaurus mcraeensis. There are a confirmed 4 Tyrannosauridae fragments in Adre's Stronghold. There are a confirmed 2 Triceratops, and 5 unknown specimens, known as "Andre's Ghosts".

Ida was thought to have originated from a nest found in west Montana in the Rockies in 2018, putting her life at 65.8 mya, fitting the nest and her fossils. Her age matched the uranium-lead dating of those eggshells. Ida was about 4.8 meters tall, and about 12 meters long. She weighed about 5.9 metric tons. Ida’s famous encounter was thought to have occurred when Ida was looking for food, and found a Triceratops herd. Ida possibly tried singling out a youngster, probably only 2 at the time of this incident, but the mother Trike defensively thrusted her horn through Ida’s bottom jaw. As Ida, reeling, (evidenced by fossilized footprints) tried to retreat, the Alpha, Andre the Giant came and trusted his horn through the other side of Ida’s face, specifically her top jaw. Ida was forced to retreat. This major injury would’ve put it so Ida couldn’t eat, and starved, but because her injuries show her bones healing for at least two months, that’s not the case. It is likely Ida scavenged at this point, slowly losing her body weight while eating very small amounts of flesh. During this time, Ida lost about 1/3 of her body weight, only weighing about 3.6 metric tons. A scar across her brow and snout were matched with the sickle claw of a dromaeosaurid, possibly Dakotaraptor stieni or Achillobator giganticus. There were likely multiple specimens, as even though Ida was starving, she wasn’t weak. She likely held her own for a bit before finally succumbing to the onslaught.

Some things that Norman and Kohler couldn’t figure out were if Ida was injured in her torso or legs at all, what she’d been eating leading up to her death, as anything past her neck was destroyed or moved away via erosion and tectonic activity. Or, if she’d managed to kill any of the dromaeosaurs, as there aren’t any nearby fossils supporting this, the only clues to a dromaeosaur even being involved are the two scars. She couldn't have been attacked by Andre near her legs or chest though, as these would be fatal blows, and she couldn't have survived for two months. At most, she had a puncture on her tail.

(Thanks @Tyranno Imperrium1 for the Idea)

Much better than my idea "Pygmy Tyrannosaur"

This is a planet zoo mod btw, or at least I think it is, if it is, idk why they chose to have that popular piece of paleo art as the image

Hello, once again I’m looking at every creature in the Dino Dan franchise. We’re now at the final stretch as we begin with the new Creatures from Dino Dana. To recap, I’m looking at each creatures’ design, behavior and any other information given and looking at how accurate/inaccurate it is and some personal notes on the design itself.

Positives = Accuracies

IDK = Can’t find or tell weather that’s accurate/possible or not

Negatives = Inaccuracies

Stellar design for the first new creature of the series. The orange with white stripes is nice on its own and the green spikes really sell it for me. I also really like the shape and kinda prefer the long neck.

In terms of pure aesthetics, this is fine, but honestly I prefer stuff like the Primeval Titanoboa (hottake). Also the pink comes off as a bit humiliating, more so than the yellow on the Rex and Tricera. Also, interesting this is what they went for as first Cenozoic of the series

That stupid goofy feather cut really tanks the design for me. A feather cut which every individual Incisivo has BTW. That and the head is bizarrely small, the lack of proper wings and the color not really doing anything for me. Notability, the 2D app version of this design lacks the dumb feather cut, making it automatically better.

Say for the lack of hooves, this design looks pretty good overall. With that said, purple with yellow spots has got to be the most humiliating coloration of any creature in the show yet (the male looks a bit better though).

The mix of purple, red, blue and green look gorgeous in Sinornitho. It rivals Kosmo and Futa for favorite of any creature in the show. The head also looks nice, Unfortunately, it still lacks wings but whatever. Fix the wings and the skinny-ness, then the design will be perfect.

Meg is a fine creature in general and I primarily only dislike Meg design when they’re just Great White but big. While going the thicc boi route would have been preferable, I do really like the black with purple spots and stripes look.

Also, before you say it’s too big, I can head-canonize the IMAGINARY submarine as being bigger inside like the Tardis. Also I find so bizarre how Meg and Livy are seen exclusively in Dana’s imagination

I actually prefer feathered medium boi Nanuq. This design looks really good with the black n white color and the spots and I prefer the old thinner build, tho this might be a bit too thin. Also the roar is sometimes cool and other times annoying.

This might be one of my favorite designs in the show. Horn length aside, the build is splendid and the grayish-blue with orange frill are just fantastic. Accurate and appealing, A+.

It’s not big surprise this design is super accurate, you’d have to try to make a bad wooly design. This one looks really good too, but the design really speaks for it

Smilodon looks really cool too, I love white face markings and shades of brown and the leopard spots (though you can’t really see from the photo). I’m pretty this is meant to be S.fatalis. Good kitty.

While I do wish the skull and skin were ironed out, the overall design looks nice and the horse splotches look really cool, I don’t care how inaccurate or on the nose it is. Also the straight up horse noises are ironically funny.

Also weird they still won’t add an ornithomimid but did add Hippodraco of all dinosaurs (not that I’m complaining about horse dragon)

While it sucks that this guy is a reskin, the orange brown with white stripes is still gorgeous. I also kinda prefer this design over both Maia and Edmonto

Updated notes (updates in highlights): Thank you so everyone who pointed some of these out it me.

Had to look close at the feet to see if I was right or not. Also I didn’t know forehead nostrils were inaccurate for Brachio.

I decided that for Stygi and Draco the invalid genus inaccuracy only applies to the series since it’s (kinda) fixed in the movie.

Reworded to just say Troodon is dubious

Had a good close look at the Theri feet are there are 4 toes

Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed and goodbye.