Stock Dinosaurs: Non-Dinosaurs: Difference between revisions

Very few pterosaurs have been portrayed in non-docu media, despite their notable variety in [[Real Life]]. Among pterosaurs listed here, only three can be called “pterodactyls” without getting totally wrong: ''Pteranodon'', ''Quetzalcoatlus'', and of course ''[[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|Pterodactylus]]''. The other two, ''Rhamphorhynchus'' and ''Dimorphodon'', were more primitive than the former and are usually called “rhamphorhynchs”.

Several interesting new pterosaurs were discovered in the second half of the XX century, but only one managed to achieve some consideration in media: ''Quetzalcoatlus'', because was the only one clearly bigger than the pteranodont, and the new “biggest flying animal ever”. In the 2000s, ''Ornithocheirus'' gained some popularity as well thanks to a memorable apparition in ''[[Walking Withwith Dinosaurs]]'', but only because was (wrongly) described as [[Up to Eleven|the biggest flying animal ever existed]]. The others (''Dsungaripterus'', ''Pterodaustro'', ''Tapejara'', ''Eudimorphodon'', ''Sordes'', and so on) were largely ignored outside dino-books and documentaries. If you’re searching for these and other non-stock pteros, go [[Useful Notes/Prehistoric Life Non Dinosaurian Reptiles|here]].

Its name, “two-shaped teeth”, recalls that of the famous ''Dimetrodon'' (“two-measured teeth”). It had [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|two kinds of teeth]] (while most pterosaurs have only one). Some teeth were bigger and sparse among the smaller ones. With this kind of dentition, the feeding habits of ''Dimorphodon'' have always been matter of speculation. It could have been a fisher, a hunter of small land animals, an insectivore, or all these things.

Similarly, these animals are often collectively referred to as "swimming dinosaurs", but this time they were ''not'' close relatives of true dinosaurs; some of them were not even related each other. If you'd like to see a seagoing dinosaur, watch ''[[Everything's Better Withwith Penguins|March of the Penguins]]''.

Like Plesiosauroids, Pliosauroids too were widespread throughout the Mesozoic, 218-65 mya. Both subgroups shared the same body plan, with rigid bodies, short tails, and the two pairs of powerful flippers--perhaps alternately-moved making a typical “double-wings” swimming effect (as seen in ''[[Walking Withwith Dinosaurs]]''). The difference stays in front of their shoulders. Pliosaurs had very short stocky necks, and their head was far bigger than an ''Elasmosaurus''. Their teeth were less-numerous, but much longer and stronger: like elasmosaurs, expect to see them visible when the mouth closed, even though they could have been hidden by lips in [[Real Life]]. Despite the resemblances, the head-anatomy of plesios and plios was the same. Both had eyes and nostrils placed above to see out of water when the remaining head was submerged. Both shared a singular trait: each nostril had two chambers like fish, possibly giving them a directional sense of smell. We don’t know if they passed more time near the surface or in the deeps, but some think pliosaurs were more deep-creatures than plesiosaurs.

Despite this, Pliosaurs have been the least-portrayed group of sea-reptiles, and still remain mainly documentary-animals. The kronosaur has long been the most commonly shown pliosaur in books and documentaries until 1999, when a memorable appearance of an [[Rule of Cool|extraordinarily oversized]] <ref> The fictional length 80ft/25m was based on misidentified bone fragments; in reality, the species maxed out at 25ft/7m long</ref> ''Liopleurodon'' on [[Walking Withwith Dinosaurs]] rapidly made it the new iconic member of the family (very similarly to ''Deinonychus'' à ''Velociraptor'' thanks to [[Jurassic Park]]). In the show, an old male liopleurodon was described weighing 150 tons (a bit less than the Blue Whale) and [[Up to Eleven|the biggest predator of all time]]. In particular, the scene in which he pulls the ichthyosaur in pieces [[Nightmare Fuel|disturbed many viewers]] (even though the sad final scene where he’s stranded and slowly dies gives it a bit of humanity). To give the idea about how the animal remained impressed in pop-consciousness: [[Follow the Leader|all successive depictions]] have shown Liopleurodons with the WWD blue-white color-patterns. <ref> For some reason, unlike dinosaurs and pterosaurs, marine reptiles are almost-always shown with dull colors even in modern portraits. However, they could have been very colorful like modern tropical seagoing animals.</ref> While WWD may have made ''Liopleurodon'' the Stock Pliosaur in place of ''Kronosaurus,'' [[Charlie the Unicorn]] managed to bring it to the status of minor Internet meme.

The only other marine reptile which has appeared in fiction more than once, ''Archelon'' lived in the same Late Cretaceous inland shallow sea which once covered the Great Plains. Discovered at the start of the XX century, it shared its habitat with ''Elasmosaurus'', ''Tylosaurus'', and the flying ''Pteranodon'': its size and armor made adult Archelons virtually unattackable by predators. (Even though in [[Walking Withwith Dinosaurs|WWD]] a dead archelon is shown killed by a giant mosasaur, but the latter was oversized).

A common misconception about the Woolly Mammoth is saying it was ''larger'' than modern elephants: actually the 'woolly' was the same size as its tropical, 21st century cousins--perhaps this is due to the confusion with other mammoth species that ''were'' a bit larger, like the [[Useful Notes/Prehistoric Life|Emperor Mammoth]] and [[Useful Notes/Prehistoric Life|Columbian Mammoth]]). Also note that only males had the typical huge, curly tusks: the females' tusks were not that different from those of modern elephants. As preserved fossil hair are often reddish-brown, some depictions show woollies with this color: actually, this is due to a chemical change since 10.000 years ago. When alive they were blackish, as seen in the ''[[Walking Withwith Dinosaurs|Walking With]]'' series.