Dinosauria (Web Series)

Dinosauria is an Animated Dinosaur webseries made by David James Armsby. The first episode "Old Buck" was released on September 9 2021, and the last episode "The Last Tyrant" was released on June 1 2022. The series contains 5 episodes in total and is featured on YouTube.

List of Episodes[]

1. "Old Buck":[]

An elder male Styracosaurus is woken up from his slumber in the shade by the sounds of conflict within his herd. The camera pans across his body and frill, focusing on the scars that riddle his body. The Old Buck descends his hill to find a younger male Styracosaurus taunting a sub-adult. The younger male sees this as a challenge, and intimidates the Old Buck into a fight. The younger male proceeds to rake the side of his rival using both his nasal horn and the hornlets on his frill. On his next charge, the younger male is usurped by the Old Buck who picks him up, as the females and juveniles bellow from the sidelines. A Daspletosaurus is attracted by the commotion, but stops at the hill where the Old Buck was resting. The Old Buck throws the challenger on the ground, and more Daspletosaurus quickly appear. The Old Buck finishes off the younger male by impaling him in the chest with his nasal horn. The Daspletosaurus then rush down the hill to feed, and the Old Buck can climb back up to his hill and rest under his tree.

2. "Our Frozen Past":[]

A mother “Troodon” of two chicks leaves her den during the long winter months to find food. Snow has recently fallen and the mother is eager to explore her new surroundings. She passes a herd of Pachyrhinosaurus, and runs into the forest, stopping to playfully mimic the sounds of some falling icicles. The “Troodon” mother stops on a cliff to look over the wilderness. However, on the same ledge but just out of sight stands the apex predator, Nanuqsaurus, who raises his snout to sniff the air. The mother “Troodon” backs away nervously before making a mad dash back to the nest, and hides deep in her cave holding her chicks close. Moments later, the Nanuqsaurus finds them using its superior sense of smell. The Nanuqsaurus enters the cave. The scared mother slashes the predator twice on the muzzle, before he edges closer and snaps up one of the chicks. Another Nanuqsaurus appears, and the mother fails at an intimidation. The second Nanuqsaurus enters the cave, but the remaining chick has found a crevice where it can safely hide. The mother “Troodon” jumps on the roof of the cave and begins to utter a strange cry into the night. Moments later, the Pachyrhinosaurus family she found earlier arrives on the scene, chasing the Nanuqsaurus pair away. The mother “Troodon” finds her remaining chick still alive, and takes him along, to find a new home. On the way, they pass by the spot where the icicles fell, and the mother teaches her chick the importance of their mimicry and problem-solving skills.

3. "A More Ancient Spring":[]

A male Lambeosaurus wakes up on a cool spring morning, along with the other hadrosaurs in his herd. The Lambeosaurus walks across the field, stopping to pick up a stone as a courting gift for his mate. as the other hadrosaurs, Parasaurolophus and Corythosaurus, begin pairing up as well. A crashing sound is heard from the surrounding forest, and the Lambeosaurus is nervous. He speeds up in pace, only to find that his mate has been killed by a Gorgosaurus. The Lambeosaurus, unable to accept what has just happened, goes to sleep on his rock perch as the other dinosaurs start to lay their eggs. Two male Chasmosaurus compete for mates, and a Euoplocephalus is seen digging a hole to lay her eggs. The Gorgosaurus is seen using the corpse of the Lambeosaurus female to court a larger Gorgosaurus female. The Lambeosaurus male wakes up hearing the call of a female, and rushes into the forest to find this potential mate, forgetting his courting rock. The male, in his rush to find this female, stops and is challenged by the Gorgosaurus that killed his previous mate. Overcome by eagerness, the male shoves the Gorgosaurus out of the way and continues to run through the forest, eventually finding another herd of hadrosaurs and another lonely female. The male Lambeosaurus takes his mate back home and they rest together on the male's rock.

4. "Sea and Sky":[]

A flock of mostly female "Geosternbergia" stand on the edge of a cliff during a thunderstorm. A school of fish lies below the surrounding coast, and the pterosaurs are hoping to feed, but they are too nervous. Dangerous predators like Cretoxyrhina and Tylosaurus lurk in these waters. A large male walks through the group and stops at the very edge of the cliff. He then jumps off, and dives below the waves. He snatches up a fish and begins to the surface as the females watch. A group of juvenile Cretoxyrhina move closer to the male "Geosternbergia", but are scared off when a larger Tylosaurus appears. The "Geosternbergia" quickly attempts to take off from the water, doing so just in time for the Tylosaurus dive out of the water and miss. The females, watching their alpha succeed, take off and dive into the sea to catch a meal of their own. The male perches on the cliff, swallows his catch, and watches his flock hunt for themselves.

5. "The Last Tyrant":[]

A herd of Alamosaurus walk across a scrubland field, and the infamous asteroid can be seen travelling across the sky. The film then switches to a watering hole in Hell Creek, which a few different species of dinosaurs are gathered around. These include a flock of Ornithomimosaurs(either Struthiomimus or Ornithomimus), a mother and calf Triceratops, two Edmontosaurus, and two competing male Pachycephalosaurus being watched by one adult and one juvenile female. The ornithomimosaurs flee from the scene as a large female Tyrannosaurus rex walks up to the lake to get a drink. She gets her fill, and walks away without conflict. She returns to her nest and mate, and they nuzzle before they notice the asteroid is coming. They huddle together as the asteroid hits. Moments later, the land is now windswept, and dead and rotting bodies litter the landscape. The nesting flock of ornithomimosaurs have been wiped out, along with their eggs. The baby Triceratops desperately tries to wake up his dead mother, and the adult Pachycephalosaurus female is seen cowering next to the body of the juvenile, as three ornithomimosaurs run by. An Alamosaurus walks past the bodies of two dead Quetzalcoatlus, before finding a mass graveyard of decomposing bodies of other Alamosaurus. The male Tyrannosaurus has scavenged his mate, and finds one of his eggs has hatched, but the child is dead. Suffocating from this sickly landscape, the Alamosaurus collapses on the ground and dies. The male Tyrannosaurus does so as well. The film then switches tone to celebrate the life and legacy of the non-avian dinosaurs, panning over the numerous easter eggs, inspirations, and other sources for the series. These include the Parasaurolophus holotype, a poster for the Ray Harryhausen movie "The Valley of Gwangi," the Hannah Styracosaurus skull, shots of ducks and swans, and many more. The film ends with the Wankel Rex cast at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

Prehistoric Animals Depicted in the Series[]

Alamosaurus sanjuanensis
Chasmosaurus belli
Corythosaurus casuaris
Cretoxyrhina mantelli
Daspletosaurus torsus
Edmontosaurus annectens
Euoplocephalus tutus
Fictional Hell Creek bird (jokingly called Madeupornis birdi)
Gorgosaurus libratus
Lambeosaurus lambei
Nanuqsaurus hoglundi
Pachycephalosaurus wyomingensis
Pachyrhinosaurus perotorum
Parasaurolophus (both P. walkeri & P. cyrtocristatus)
Pteranodon sternbergi ("Geosternbergia")
Quetzalcoatlus northropi (dead)
Styracosaurus albertensis
Triceratops horridus
Tylosaurus proriger
Tyrannosaurus rex
Unnamed Ornithomimosaur, either Struthiomimus altus or Ornithomimus velox
Alaskan "Troodon”
Unnamed Bony Fish

Scientific Inaccuracies[]

"Our Frozen Past" depicts the Prince Creek Formation as a sort of snowy wasteland, but it would have relatively little snow throughout the year.
In "A More Ancient Spring," Parasaurolophus walkeri and Parasaurolophus cyrtocristatus are depicted as male and female of the same species respectively, but these are both their own separate species.
This film is styled like a love story between two Lambeosaurus, but it is doubted that these animals would have this extreme level of intelligence, and it is unlikely if the Lambeosaurus male and his newfound mate would still be up for mating when the other animals have already nested and laid their eggs. The behavior of collecting rocks for mates is also quite speculative and inspired from modern penguins.
"Geosternbergia" in "Sea and Sky" are depicted walking digitigrade, but many trace fossils have been found from Geosternbergia and related pterosaurs that show these animals walked plantigrade with both their toes and heels on the ground when they walked. In the behind the scenes video, David acknowledges this error saying by the time he found it, it was too late to fix it.
A small bird makes several appearances throughout "The Last Tyrant." This bird isn't really based on one particular species, but instead being a mishmash of traits found in other Cretaceous birds.
Despite The Last Tyrant's first act taking place minutes before the K-Pg Extinction, Triceratops horridus is used when Triceratops prorsus lived closer to the extinction. T. horridus lived a few million years earlier, probably evolving into T. prorsus.
The infamous Asteroid Impact might not have been visible from Hell Creek, as it hit closer to the Gulf of Mexico than Montana and South Dakota.
Despite popular culture's claims otherwise, archosaurs like Tyrannosaurus and "Geosternbergia" could not vocalize the way they are shown in this series. Most dinosaurs lacked the larynx to be able to make roars like mammalian creatures do; they more likely hissed, boomed, and bellowed.
The validity of Troodon has been questioned since 2011, and is now considered a nomen dubium (a doubtful name) because the genus is based around a single tooth which may be indistinguishable from other Troodontids.

Speculation[]

The Dinosauria Series has their fair share of speculation, which can't be proved or disproved, and should be given spotlight in order to prevent misconceptions on the portrayal and behavior.

The fight in the episode, Old Buck, is needlessly violent, as territorial and hierarchical disputes hardly ever result in death or major injury of either combatant. The old buck Styracosaurus would have most likely ended the fight after knocking his opponent rather than impaling him.
“Troodon” in general is considered quite intelligent by dinosaur standards, but the mimicry skill portrayed in the film is completely speculative. The behavior of caring for its young and the number of offspring is also speculative. However, the young are a bit large, and it is unclear if they were the only children born.
The Pachyrhinosaurus are coated in fur-like feathers on their back. It is debated if Pachyrhinosaurus had these filaments or not, but given its size and location during the Cretaceous, it could have overheated with a feather coat, though it still is possible seasonal coats are a variable.

Trivia[]

The final shot of the trailer with the Tyrannosaurus roaring over the cliff at sunset is likely a reference to a similar shot in Walking with Dinosaurs.
The creator of the show, David James Armsby, is a huge fan of dinosaurs, one way or another including them in all of his short films, the most noteworthy being "Sharp Teeth" and "Mother of Nature".
Some prehistoric animals make their mainstream debut in this series. Notable examples include "Geosternbergia" and Alamosaurus.
"Old Buck" is the first episode in the series and was originally supposed to be a solo film. The creator, David James Armsby, enjoyed working on it so much that the rest of the series was born. The final film clocks in at around 4 and a half minutes.
The rival male in this episode is a reference to a Styracosaurus specimen with an asymmetrical frill, nicknamed Hannah.
The "Old Buck" is based on the skull of Styracosaurus ovatus, now commonly recognized as S. albertensis, just with heavy differentiation in frill ornaments.
Most of the fight sequence between the two male Styracosaurus was choreographed by using action figures from the Beasts of the Mesozoic Ceratopsian Series.
The trio of Daspletosaurus at the end are somewhat based on fossil bonebeds of groupings of tyrannosaurus like Albertosaurus and Daspletosaurus. It is unclear if these three are a family group, or an unorganized mob taking advantage of the same food source.
The episode "Our Frozen Past" is a repurposed version of the early story concept of the Dinosauria series, called "All Days." This is the second episode in the series and is 6 minutes and 37 seconds long.
The concept of this episode was created during one of David's many trips to local wildlife ponds, when one lake was frozen over and the swans and ducks had to walk on the surface of the ice.
The mother "Troodon" threatens a Nanuqsaurus by hissing and snarling. The sounds she makes are mostly made of David's own voice, with a bird sound and dry paintbrush sound thrown in as well.
The title of the episode "A More Ancient Spring" is a reference to a painting made in 1830 called "A More Ancient Dorset." This film had the longest development, and is 6 minutes and 15 seconds long.
The Parasaurolophus sounds in the episode are taken directly from studies using model skulls of the animal.
In addition, one Parasaurolophus is based on the holotype of P. walkeri, with a noticeable knock in its spine.
A Euoplocephalus is seen digging a hole to rest in. This scene had no fossil evidence to be based on, but during development a fossil of a Mongolian Ankylosaur was found resting in a hole.
The sexually dimorphic color schemes of Corythosaurus are heavily based on Mallard Ducks, another reference to the many bird-watching trips taken during production.
The female Lambeosaurus was killed off-screen at the beginning of the film by a male Gorgosaurus. This was a courting gift for a larger female, and during his presentation, the male stands still and rakes at the ground with his foot. This is based on numerous trace fossils of large carnivores seemingly standing still and clawing at the ground.
Both male and female Chasmosaurus are depicted with a fan of quills along their tail, which has next to no fossil evidence.
"A More Ancient Spring" and "Old Buck" take place at the same time and place, but the only species included in both films is Lambeosaurus lambei.
The episode "Sea And Sky" is the only episode in the series with no dinosaurs. This is the shortest episode in the series, at 4 minutes and 11 seconds in length.
This episode was inspired by a painting by paleoartist Mark Witton, nicknamed "Pteranogeddon."
The flock of "Geosternbergia" are depicted with a Polygamous mating system, where one or few large males compete over large groups of smaller, less vibrantly colored females.
The flock in this episode has one alpha male, but another smaller male can be seen. It is unknown if this individual is an example of sexual mimicry, or is simply a juvenile male.
The alpha male "Geosternbergia" takes off from the cliff and from the water's surface by throwing himself forwards using his large wings over his legs.
The vocalizations the "Geosternbergia" make are recorded using a plank of wood clacking against a bamboo bowl.
The Tylosaurus is depicted with a forked tongue, a trait seen in many of its modern squamate descendants.
The episode "The Last Tyrant" is the longest in the series at 10 minutes and 29 seconds long.
The Tyrannosaurus used in the film is a modified version of the design originally meant for "All Days," a scrapped film series.
In the film, Tyrannosaurus is depicted with slight sexual dimorphism, with the male being slightly smaller and having more enlarged keratin crests above his eyes than the female. Both individuals have moderately-scarred muzzles, which are based on numerous examples of "face-biting" on Tyrannosaurus skulls.
One Edmontosaurus has a pretty beaten-up tail, with a U-shaped bite mark towards the sacrum. This is based on a skeleton of an Edmontosaurus with a healed bite wound, probably due to a Tyrannosaur attack.
The Triceratops calf is depicted with a fan of quills running along its tail.
Two male Pachycephalosaurus are seen butting heads to compete, while an adult and juvenile female watch in the distance. The younger female is based on Stygimoloch, which is debated over on whether or not it was a sub-adult Pachycephalosaurus.
All Hadrosaur feet across the series are based on one mummified Edmontosaurus foot and shin, with one nailess finger, one nailed finger, and a large hoof-like toe in the center.
The ending montage shows a mounted Triceratops skull with a broken left horn. This is most likely the same Triceratops in the film that had its left horn broken after the asteroid impact.
"The Last Tyrant" ends on a cast of the Wankel Rex specimen displayed at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.
In the last shot of the museum, the trailer for the series plays on a projector screen in the background.
A figure of the Styracosaurus from Old Buck was made for the collectible figurine line; Beasts of the Mesozoic.