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"'Ooh, ah,' that's how it always starts. But then later there's running and screaming."
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Therizinosaurus is an extinct genus of the therizinosaurid family that lived in Mongolia during the Late Cretaceous period around 70 million years ago.
The appearance of Therizinosaurus had been a debate until recent decades because of the highly incomplete nature of early finds and a lack of knowledge of the dinosaurs that would come to be categorized later as therizinosauridae. During the early phases of its discovery, it was assumed to be a species of an aquatic turtle. After several examinations and revisions, it was given the description of a gigantic carnosaur (at the time, a family that included most large carnivorous dinosaurs) measuring 55 ft in length. After the discovery of related species Nothronychus, the debate over its appearance ended. While its diet remains unconfirmed, Therizinosaurus was originally thought to be a carnivore, at the point when it was incorrectly theorized to be a much larger animal with a radically different body plan. However, today, scientists agree that Therizinosaurus was not carnivorous, instead being herbivorous, based on studies of its close relatives like Erlikosaurus, Segnosaurus, Nothronychus, and Falcarius. Based on studies of its relatives, Therizinosaurus is believed to have had weak jaws and probably would have fed by sitting down and using its long arms and claws to pull vegetation into its mouth. Footprints suggested to have come from unknown therizinosaurids suggest it may have had a plantigrade walking stance, similar to bears and crocodiles.
Dinosaur researchers Florence and Charlie Magovern discovered two 18-inch-long fossilized eggs in the Xixia Basin in Nanyang, China. These are perhaps the largest eggs of any animal ever found. In 1995, a study of one of these eggs conducted by the Mcgoverns and others revealed the bones of a tiny theropod, which possibly belong to a therizinosaur or a herbivore about which little is known. The fossil baby was named "Baby Louie" after photographer Louie Psihoyos.[2]
History
Jurassic World
The DNA of Therizinosaurus was used in the creation of the Indominus rex in Jurassic World.[1] Therizinosaurus was eventually created after 2018 where it lived in a park with a Giganotosaurus.
Jurassic World Dominion
A Therizinosaurus was cloned by Biosyn and kept within Biosyn Sanctuary. This clone was skinnier than its real counterpart, and walked with a horizontal gate rather than a more vertical one. The Therizinosaurus had large arms and hands, ending in three large claws and feathers covering the back of its arms and back of its body. The Therizinosaurus had a long neck, ending in a relatively small, boxy, and beak skull. The Therizinosaurus was gray, with a red back and blue above its eyes. This species is extremely territorial, and will viciously attack anything within its territory. At some point in its life, the Therizinosaurus within the valley was blinded and left with a white layer over its eyes similar to cataracts.
After ejecting from a crashing plane, Claire Dearing encounter the Therizinosaurus as she was hanging from the seat and parachute she ejected in. The dinosaur at first failed to notice her, and moving instead to fatally swat a nearby deer and begin grazing. Claire used this opportunity to unbuckle and fall to the ground, but the crash alerted the Therizinosaurus to her presence. The Therizinosaurus began stalking around in search of Claire as she crawled into a pond. Claire eventually managed to get far enough in the pond to fully submerge herself until the dinosaur left.
The Therizinosaurus would be evacuated to the Biosyn compound after Lewis Dodgson tried to dispose of his bio-engineered locusts, causing a huge forest fire in the valley. During the Giganotosaurus' rampage and fight with the Tyrannosaurus known as Rexy, Kayla Watts used a flare to distract the Giganotosaurus away from her and the evacuating Owen Grady, Claire Dearing, Maisie Lockwood, Alan Grant, Ellie Sattler, Ian Malcolm, and Henry Wu, causing its attention to focus on the Therizinosaurus as it followed the flare after the Giganotosaurus succeeded in knocking the tyrannosaur unconscious. The Therizinosaurus was quick to fight back when confronted, delivering slashing wounds to the larger carcharodontosaurid, but lost a claw on its left hand to the Giganotosaurus' bites. When Rexy regained consciousness, the Giganotosaurus was unable to determine quickly enough which enemy was the greater threat, allowing Rexy to ram the Giganotosaurus onto the Therizinosaurus' claws, killing it. It can be assumed that the Therizinosaurus is out in the wild or continuing to live in the abandoned sanctuary which is now an international preserve.
Gallery
Promotional Images
Jurassic World Dominion
Behind the Scenes
According to Industrial Light and Magic's Sr. Visual Effects Supervisor David Vickery, a long part of the Therizinosaurus' development was spent looking at what types of feathers it would have, which turned out to be hair-like, sparse, vein stuctuted feathers. This worked well with the idea of giving the feathers an oily-looking irridencents.
Trivia
- Therizinosaurus is one of only six therizinosaurs in the franchise. The other five being Beipiaosaurus, Erlikosaurus, Enigmosaurus, Nothronychus, and Segnosaurus. Of these six, Therizinosaurus is the only one thus far to appear in any of the franchise's main films.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 WIRED - Creating Jurassic World’s New Genetically Modified Dinosaur (June 12, 2015) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o8GHd17aiE
- ↑ Inkworks Jurassic Park III Premium Trading Cards #54.
| Jurassic World: Dominion Prehistoric Creatures |
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| Allosaurus • Ankylosaurus • Apatosaurus • Atrociraptor • Baryonyx • Brachiosaurus • Carnotaurus • Compsognathus • Dilophosaurus • Dimetrodon • Dimorphodon • Dreadnoughtus • Gallimimus • Giganotosaurus • Giant locust • Iguanodon • Lystrosaurus • Microceratus • Moros • Mosasaurus • Nasutoceratops • Parasaurolophus • Pteranodon • Pyroraptor • Quetzalcoatlus • Sinoceratops • Stegosaurus • Stygimoloch • Therizinosaurus • Triceratops • Tyrannosaurus rex • Velociraptor |
