Misplaced Pages

#445554

128-519: Far-Seer is the first book in the Quintaglio Ascension . Sixty-five million years ago, aliens transplanted Earth's dinosaurs to another world. Now, intelligent saurians -- the Quintaglio -- have emerged. Afsan, the Quintaglio counterpart of Galileo, must convince his people of the truth about their place in the universe before astronomical forces rip the dinosaurs' new home apart. Fossil Hunter

256-695: A Compsognathus longipes fossil was found with a lizard in its stomach, and a Velociraptor mongoliensis specimen was found locked in combat with a Protoceratops andrewsi (a type of ornithischian dinosaur). The first confirmed non-carnivorous fossil theropods found were the therizinosaurs , originally known as "segnosaurs". First thought to be prosauropods , these enigmatic dinosaurs were later proven to be highly specialized, herbivorous theropods. Therizinosaurs possessed large abdomens for processing plant food, and small heads with beaks and leaf-shaped teeth. Further study of maniraptoran theropods and their relationships showed that therizinosaurs were not

384-461: A 1999 paper by Paul Sereno suggests that theropods are characterized by traits such as an ectopterygoid fossa (a depression around the ectopterygoid bone), an intramandibular joint located within the lower jaw, and extreme internal cavitation within the bones. However, since taxa like Herrerasaurus may not be theropods, these traits may have been more widely distributed among early saurischians rather than being unique to theropods. Instead, taxa with

512-463: A Bloodpriest is assigned to devour seven out of every eight Quintaglio hatchlings a day after they hatch. The Bloodpriest first goes into a trance, then dons a purple robe and enters the nest; there, he chases the hatchlings and eats all but the fastest, strongest one. The order of the Bloodpriests is exclusively male; the original Bloodpriest was Mekt, one of the original five hunters, but she passed on

640-430: A Quintaglio must go on at least one proper hunt in their life in order to go through the rites of passage. After a successful hunt, the Quintaglio gets a hunting tattoo which symbolises their passage into adulthood. Adults with no hunting tattoo are accorded no status at all. The Quintaglio mythos was further expanded when roughly 150 years prior to the story, the Quintaglio prophet "Larsk" discovered what he believed to be

768-530: A computed tomography scan and 3D reconstruction software. These finds are of evolutionary significance because they help document the emergence of the neurology of modern birds from that of earlier reptiles. An increase in the proportion of the brain occupied by the cerebrum seems to have occurred with the advent of the Coelurosauria and "continued throughout the evolution of maniraptorans and early birds." Studies show that theropods had very sensitive snouts. It

896-427: A constriction in the upper jaw. For hard-to-distinguish specimens, the protruding tooth is the most reliable feature to define the species ' family . Crocodiles have more webbing on the toes of the hind feet and can better tolerate saltwater due to specialized salt glands for filtering out salt, which are present, but non-functioning, in alligators. Another trait that separates crocodiles from other crocodilians

1024-520: A culture equivalent to our Renaissance to the point where they can leave their world. While the Quintaglios rush to develop space travel, the discovery of a second species of intelligent dinosaurs rocks their most fundamental beliefs. Meanwhile, blind Afsan -- the Quintaglio Galileo -- undergoes the newfangled treatment of psychoanalysis, throwing everything he thought he knew about his people into

1152-444: A frog's or those on some types of birds, which they can inflate with air when they are sexually aroused or in "dagamant" (likely "battle frenzy" though no literal translation is given, dagamant is brought on by extreme territorial encroachment and occasionally other factors). Quintaglios continue to grow throughout their entire lives, like crocodiles , although their growth rate slows with age. Similar to certain lizards, Quintaglios have

1280-415: A goddess who laid the "Eight Eggs of Creation". From the first egg came all the water, and from the second came the land. From the third came all the air, and from the fourth came the sun. From the fifth came the stars, planets and moons, and from the sixth came all the plants. Finally, from the seventh came all the herbivores ( Ceratopsians , Ankylosaurs , Sauropods and Hadrosaurs , among others), and from

1408-416: A group including the relatively derived theropod subgroups Ceratosauria and Tetanurae , and excluding coelophysoids . However, most later researchers have used it to denote a broader group. Neotheropoda was first defined as a clade by Paul Sereno in 1998 as Coelophysis plus modern birds , which includes almost all theropods except the most primitive species. Dilophosauridae was formerly considered

SECTION 10

#1732858353446

1536-452: A higher probability of being within the Theropoda may share more specific traits, such as a prominent promaxillary fenestra, cervical vertebrae with pleurocoels in the anterior part of the centrum leading to a more pneumatic neck, five or more sacral vertebrae, enlargement of the carpal bone, and a distally concave portion of the tibia, among a few other traits found throughout the skeleton. Like

1664-404: A level headed, strategic perspective has also made him an expert hunter. His kills were few, but memorable and dramatic- on his first hunt, he killed the biggest Sauropod ever seen, slew the water serpent Kal-Ta-Goot during his pilgrimage, and single-handedly killed a Fangjaw on his trip back to capital city. It is this hunting prowess, as well as his proclamation of the end of the world, that caused

1792-452: A moon, that orbits around a gas giant called "Galatjaroob", which means "The Face of God". The moon is mostly covered by water, but has a single huge continent on the far side, a small archipelago of islands on the other, and a southern and northern ice cap. The continent the Quintaglios live on is called simply called "Land", and is split up into provinces. There are eight provinces, and they are called, (from west to east) Capital City lies on

1920-416: A relationships between tooth size and skull length and also a comparison of the degree of wear of the teeth of non-avian theropods and modern lepidosaurs , it is concluded that theropods had lips that protected their teeth from the outside. Visually, the snouts of such theropods as Daspletosaurus had more similarities with lizards than crocodilians, which lack lips. Tyrannosaurus was for many decades

2048-428: A result of growth or seasonal changes, which can be used to approximate age at the time of death. However, the amount of rings in a skeleton can vary from bone to bone, and old rings can also be lost at advanced age, so scientists need to properly control these two possibly confounding variables. Body mass is harder to determine as bone mass only represents a small proportion of the total body mass of animals. One method

2176-410: A shift in the use of the forearm, with greater flexibility at the shoulder allowing the arm to be raised towards the horizontal plane, and to even greater degrees in flying birds. However, in coelurosaurs, such as ornithomimosaurs and especially dromaeosaurids, the hand itself had lost most flexibility, with highly inflexible fingers. Dromaeosaurids and other maniraptorans also showed increased mobility at

2304-478: A side-branch of more advanced theropods, they may have been ancestral to all other theropods (which would make them a paraphyletic group). Neotheropoda (meaning "new theropods") is a clade that includes coelophysoids and more advanced theropod dinosaurs , and is the only group of theropods that survived the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event . Neotheropoda was named by R.T. Bakker in 1986 as

2432-425: A single unit with little flexibility. In theropods and prosauropods, the only way for the palm to face the ground would have been by lateral splaying of the entire forelimb, as in a bird raising its wing. In carnosaurs like Acrocanthosaurus , the hand itself retained a relatively high degree of flexibility, with mobile fingers. This was also true of more basal theropods, such as herrerasaurs . Coelurosaurs showed

2560-525: A small clade within Neotheropoda, but was later considered to be paraphyletic . By the Early Jurassic , all non-averostran neotheropods had gone extinct. Averostra (or "bird snouts") is a clade within Neotheropoda that includes most theropod dinosaurs , namely Ceratosauria and Tetanurae . It represents the only group of post-Early Jurassic theropods. One important diagnostic feature of Averostra

2688-665: A small salt-secretion gland beneath the surface of the muzzle, but the opening for it is simply a very tiny hole halfway down the side of the muzzle. Except in an extreme close-up view, it would be all but invisible. Quintaglio hide is tough and leathery. As humans have lost most body hair, Quintaglios have lost most scales and scutes, but these may be present in individuals. Quintaglio skin is almost entirely green, although it may be freckled, mottled, or splotched with brown or yellow in some individuals, and with black in old individuals. Oddly enough, Quintaglios cannot lie; their muzzles turn blue when they say something untrue, and for this reason

SECTION 20

#1732858353446

2816-472: A startling new light. The Quintaglio are a fictional species of sapient theropods which first appeared in Robert J. Sawyer's short story " Uphill Climb ", and later on starred in his Quintaglio Ascension Trilogy . Descended from earth's dinosaurs, (specifically, Tyrannosaurs ), they live on a moon orbiting a gas giant that they refer to as "The Face of God". As stated above, Quintaglios are Tyrannosaurs. It

2944-455: A subdued territorial instinct, and it is implied that Dybo is less susceptible to it as well, although not entirely. However, this is extremely rare, and nearly all other Quintaglios have the territorial instinct. Even Afsan himself, among the most level-headed and rational of Quintaglios, had killed while under the madness of dagamant, not once, but twice; the first time was in Far-Seer , aboard

3072-435: A traditional theropod-like stance. They are far more intelligent than their ancestors. While they are indeed dinosaurs, Quintaglios possess a variety of traits that are more reminiscent of lizards . They are capable of limited regeneration; a Quintaglio can grow back a severed limb or tail, although complex, vital structures such as organs cannot be grown back. Male Quintaglios possess a dewlap sack on their throats, similar to

3200-406: A wide variety of tasks (see below). In modern birds, the body is typically held in a somewhat upright position, with the upper leg (femur) held parallel to the spine and with the forward force of locomotion generated at the knee. Scientists are not certain how far back in the theropod family tree this type of posture and locomotion extends. Non-avian theropods were first recognized as bipedal during

3328-410: Is 18 thousand days, and a female will hopefully mate 4 times in her lifetime every cycle, normally. There are some exceptions though, as Natova, and one of her daughter with Afsan, arose when 16 thousand days old. Also some females will often at the estrous cycle, thus having very low fertility. While male can mate at almost anytime, they have to wait for a chance, when a female is currently about to enter

3456-451: Is a cladogram showing the relationships of the major extant crocodile groups based on molecular studies, excluding separate extinct taxa: Caiman [REDACTED] Melanosuchus [REDACTED] Paleosuchus [REDACTED] Alligator [REDACTED] Crocodylus [REDACTED] Mecistops [REDACTED] Osteolaemus [REDACTED] Gavialis [REDACTED] Tomistoma [REDACTED] Below

3584-647: Is a compound of krokè ( ' pebbles ' ), and drilos/dreilos ( ' worm ' ), although drilos is only attested as a colloquial term for ' penis ' . It is ascribed to Herodotus , and supposedly describes the basking habits of the Egyptian crocodile. The form crocodrillus is attested in Medieval Latin . It is not clear whether this is a medieval corruption or derives from alternative Greco-Latin forms (late Greek corcodrillos and corcodrillion are attested). A (further) corrupted form cocodrille

3712-1221: Is a more detailed cladogram of Crocodylidae, based on a 2021 study using paleogenomics that extracted DNA from the extinct Voay . Mecistops cataphractus West African slender-snouted crocodile Euthecodon † Brochuchus † Rimasuchus † Osteolaemus osborni Osborn's dwarf crocodile Osteolaemus tetraspis Dwarf crocodile Voay † Crocodylus anthropophagus † Crocodylus thorbjarnarsoni † Crocodylus palaeindicus † Crocodylus Tirari Desert † Crocodylus johnstoni Freshwater crocodile Crocodylus novaeguineae New Guinea crocodile Crocodylus mindorensis Philippine crocodile Crocodylus porosus Saltwater crocodile Crocodylus siamensis Siamese crocodile Crocodylus palustris Mugger crocodile Crocodylus checchiai † Crocodylus falconensis † Crocodylus suchus West African crocodile Crocodylus niloticus Nile crocodile Crocodylus moreletii Morelet's crocodile Crocodylus rhombifer Cuban crocodile Crocodylus intermedius Orinoco crocodile Crocodylus acutus American crocodile Alternatively, some morphological studies have recovered Mecistops as

3840-597: Is actually God, adhering more closely to the original creation myths set forth in the sacred scrolls. Worship of the original five was banned by Larsk, but after Far-Seer the Larskian faith is discredited and the Lubalites are free to engage in worship of the original five without persecution. A special order in the Quintaglio Priesthood are known as the "Halpataars", or "Bloodpriests". In order to prevent overpopulation,

3968-468: Is also believed to have also been different among different families. The spinosaurids could have used their powerful forelimbs to hold fish. Some small maniraptorans such as scansoriopterygids are believed to have used their forelimbs to climb in trees . The wings of modern birds are used primarily for flight, though they are adapted for other purposes in certain groups. For example, aquatic birds such as penguins use their wings as flippers. Contrary to

Quintaglio Ascension Trilogy - Misplaced Pages Continue

4096-482: Is an extant dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally carnivorous , although a number of theropod groups evolved to become herbivores and omnivores . Theropods first appeared during the Carnian age of the late Triassic period 231.4 million years ago ( Ma ) and included

4224-558: Is found in Old French and was borrowed into Middle English as cocodril(le) . The Modern English form crocodile was adapted directly from the Classical Latin crocodīlus in the 16th century, replacing the earlier form. The use of -y- in the scientific name Crocodylus (and forms derived from it) is a corruption introduced by Laurenti (1768). Crocodylidae was named as a family by Georges Cuvier in 1807. It belongs to

4352-485: Is highly unlikely that they ever will. In the epilogue at the end of Foreigner , the Quintaglio's technological prowess has increased dramatically due to new technology recovered from the ancient alien spaceship. The Quintaglios have apparently achieved spaceflight , built computers and set up temporary colonies on nearby moons. They are on their way to colonising new worlds, and it is implied that they are on their way to Earth. The estrous cycle of female Quintaglios

4480-467: Is kept fairly low for this reason, and also due to the culling of egglings by the Bloodpriests. The culling of eggs is necessary as Quintaglios have a large sense of territoriality, socially acceptable close quarters means anywhere from 7 to 10 paces between each person. Quntaglios who feel that their space has been violated, along with other factors (such as having not hunted in a long time) tend to get fierce, and if not calmed might enter dagamant and fight

4608-467: Is known as the extant-scaling (ES) approach. A second method, known as the volumetric-density (VD) approach, uses full-scale models of skeletons to make inferences about potential mass. The ES approach is better for wide-range studies including many specimens and doesn't require as much of a complete skeleton as the VD approach, but the VD approach allows scientists to better answer more physiological questions about

4736-440: Is not considered murder by Quintaglios. Seeing a Quintaglio in dagamant can trigger it in others- in overpopulated areas, or on crowded ships, "Mass Dagamant" has been known to occur. The books frequently refer to a past event of a Mass Dagamant aboard the ship Galadoreter , in which the entire crew went into a territorial frenzy and everybody on board was killed. Some Quintaglios are exempt from dagamant; Toroca, Afsan's son, has

4864-526: Is stated in Fossil Hunter that they're directly descended from Nanotyrannus (although debate among paleontologists since the series' initial creation suggests Nanotyrannus might simply be a juvenile form of Tyrannosaurus rex ; if so, that species would be the Quintaglio's true direct ancestor). Isolation on the Quintaglio Moon (along with some genetic modifications to their Tyrannosaur ancestors by

4992-512: Is suggested they might have been used for temperature detection, feeding behavior, and wave detection. Shortened forelimbs in relation to hind legs was a common trait among theropods, most notably in the abelisaurids (such as Carnotaurus ) and the tyrannosaurids (such as Tyrannosaurus ). This trait was, however, not universal: spinosaurids had well developed forelimbs, as did many coelurosaurs. The relatively robust forelimbs of one genus, Xuanhanosaurus , led D. Zhiming to suggest that

5120-406: Is that the upper and lower jaws of the crocodiles are the same width, and the teeth in the lower jaw fall along the edge or outside the upper jaw when the mouth is closed; therefore, all teeth are visible, unlike an alligator, which possesses in the upper jaw small depressions into which the lower teeth fit. Also, when the crocodile's mouth is closed, the large fourth tooth in the lower jaw fits into

5248-507: Is the Quintaglio equivalent to Charles Darwin , and Mokleb is a Quintaglio Sigmund Freud . The Quintaglio Ascension Trilogy has an underlying theme of standing up for the truth in the face of overwhelming opposition, of dedication to a cause no matter what. It champions new, innovative ideas overcoming fundamentalist dogma, of rationality overcoming mysticism. These themes are explored in other books by Robert J. Sawyer. The Quintaglio Ascension Trilogy has generally been very well received;

Quintaglio Ascension Trilogy - Misplaced Pages Continue

5376-565: Is the absence of the fifth metacarpal. Other saurischians retained this bone, albeit in a significantly reduced form. The somewhat more advanced ceratosaurs (including Ceratosaurus and Carnotaurus ) appeared during the Early Jurassic and continued through to the Late Jurassic in Laurasia . They competed alongside their more anatomically advanced tetanuran relatives and—in the form of

5504-443: Is the second book in the series. Toroca, a Quintaglio geologist (and son of Afsan, from the previous book), is under attack for his controversial theory of evolution. But the origins of his people turn out to be more complex than he ever imagined, for he soon discovers the wreckage of an ancient starship -- a relic of the aliens who transplanted Earth's dinosaurs to this solar system. Now Toroca must convince Emperor Dybo that evolution

5632-726: Is their much higher levels of aggression . Crocodile size , morphology , behaviour and ecology differ somewhat among species . However, they have many similarities in these areas as well. All crocodiles are semiaquatic and tend to congregate in freshwater habitats such as rivers , lakes , wetlands and sometimes in brackish water and saltwater . They are carnivorous animals, feeding mostly on vertebrates such as fish , reptiles , birds and mammals , and sometimes on invertebrates such as molluscs and crustaceans , depending on species and age. All crocodiles are tropical species that, unlike alligators, are very sensitive to cold . They separated from other crocodilians during

5760-408: Is to measure the circumference of the femur, which in non-avian theropod dinosaurs has been shown to be a relatively proportional to quadrupedal mammals, and use this measurement as a function of body weight, as the proportions of long bones like the femur grow proportionately with body mass. The method of using extant animal bone proportion to body mass ratios to make predictions about extinct animals

5888-464: Is true; otherwise, the territorial violence inherited from their Tyrannosaur ancestors will destroy the last survivors of Earth's prehistoric past. Meanwhile, Emperor Dybo's rule is challenged by his brother Dy-Rodlox, lord of Edz-Toolar. Foreigner is the final book in the series. In Far-Seer and Fossil Hunter , we met the Quintaglios, a race of intelligent dinosaurs and learned the threat to their very existence. Now they must quickly advance from

6016-435: Is used to signify groups with no living members. The following family tree illustrates a synthesis of the relationships of the major theropod groups based on various studies conducted in the 2010s. † Herrerasauridae [REDACTED] † Eoraptor † Eodromaeus † Daemonosaurus Crocodile Crocodiles ( family Crocodylidae ) or true crocodiles are large, semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout

6144-592: The Allosauroidea (the diverse carcharodontosaurs ) and the Coelurosauria (a very large and diverse dinosaur group including the birds). Thus, during the late Jurassic, there were no fewer than four distinct lineages of theropods—ceratosaurs, megalosaurs, allosaurs, and coelurosaurs—preying on the abundance of small and large herbivorous dinosaurs. All four groups survived into the Cretaceous, and three of those—the ceratosaurs, coelurosaurs, and allosaurs—survived to end of

6272-647: The Coelophysoidea . The coelophysoids were a group of widely distributed, lightly built and potentially gregarious animals. They included small hunters like Coelophysis and Camposaurus . These successful animals continued from the Late Carnian (early Late Triassic) through to the Toarcian (late Early Jurassic ). Although in the early cladistic classifications they were included under the Ceratosauria and considered

6400-477: The Dasheter , where he and Dybo were challenged by a sailor named Nor-Gampar in full dagamant; Afsan killed Gampar and nearly attacked Dybo before coming to his senses. The second time was during the mass dagamant caused by the bloodpriest repute in Fossil Hunter , and he killed Rodlox's aide Pod-Oro. It is later discovered that dagamant is an almost entirely psychological condition. Due to the horrifying experience of

6528-461: The Eocene epoch, about 55 million years ago. Many species are at the risk of extinction , some being classified as critically endangered . The word crocodile comes from Ancient Greek κροκόδιλος (krokódilos)  'lizard', used in the phrase ho krokódilos tou potamoú , ' the lizard of the ( Nile ) river ' . There are several variant Greek forms of the word attested, including

SECTION 50

#1732858353446

6656-408: The Quintaglio Ascension has generated the most fan-mail for anything he has written. However, the series has received some negative criticism. Some reviewers have said that the Quintaglios act too human, while others point out the implausibility of a technological civilisation developing from a nomadic hunting society. Sawyer defends his work by stating that the human-like behavior of the Quintaglios

6784-534: The Toronto Star called Far-Seer "One of the year's outstanding SF books"", Far-Seer , Fossil Hunter and Foreigner consistently receive four- to five-star ratings in user reviews on amazon.com , and both Far-Seer and Fossil Hunter received Homer awards for "Best Novel" during their initial release dates. The books have been praised for their creativity, endearing characters, and social relevance. Sawyer has remarked in his short story anthology Iterations that

6912-584: The abelisaur lineage—lasted to the end of the Cretaceous in Gondwana . The Tetanurae are more specialised again than the ceratosaurs. They are subdivided into the basal Megalosauroidea (alternately Spinosauroidea ) and the more derived Avetheropoda . Megalosauridae were primarily Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous predators, and their spinosaurid relatives' remains are mostly from Early and Middle Cretaceous rocks. Avetheropoda, as their name indicates, were more closely related to birds and are again divided into

7040-407: The bee hummingbird ( Mellisuga helenae ) is smallest at 1.9 g and 5.5 cm (2.2 in) long. Recent theories propose that theropod body size shrank continuously over a period of 50 million years, from an average of 163 kilograms (359 lb) down to 0.8 kilograms (1.8 lb), eventually evolving into over 11,000 species of modern birds . This was based on evidence that theropods were

7168-475: The clade Tetanurae for one branch of a basic theropod split with another group, the Ceratosauria. As more information about the link between dinosaurs and birds came to light, the more bird-like theropods were grouped in the clade Maniraptora (also named by Gauthier in 1986 ). These new developments also came with a recognition among most scientists that birds arose directly from maniraptoran theropods and, on

7296-742: The coelurosaurs , feathers may have been confined to the young, smaller species, or limited parts of the animal. Many larger theropods had skin covered in small, bumpy scales. In some species, these were interspersed with larger scales with bony cores, or osteoderms . This type of skin is best known in the ceratosaur Carnotaurus , which has been preserved with extensive skin impressions. The coelurosaur lineages most distant from birds had feathers that were relatively short and composed of simple, possibly branching filaments. Simple filaments are also seen in therizinosaurs, which also possessed large, stiffened "quill"-like feathers. More fully feathered theropods, such as dromaeosaurids , usually retain scales only on

7424-524: The cranium and forelimb, with injuries occurring in about equal frequency at each site. Most pathologies preserved in theropod fossils are the remains of injuries like fractures, pits, and punctures, often likely originating with bites. Some theropod paleopathologies seem to be evidence of infections , which tended to be confined only to small regions of the animal's body. Evidence for congenital malformities have also been found in theropod remains. Such discoveries can provide information useful for understanding

7552-630: The furcula (wishbone), pneumatized bones, brooding of the eggs , and (in coelurosaurs, at least) feathers . O. C. Marsh coined the name Theropoda (meaning "beast feet") in 1881. Marsh initially named Theropoda as a suborder to include the family Allosauridae , but later expanded its scope, re-ranking it as an order to include a wide array of "carnivorous" dinosaur families, including Megalosauridae , Compsognathidae , Ornithomimidae , Plateosauridae and Anchisauridae (now known to be herbivorous sauropodomorphs ) and Hallopodidae (subsequently revealed as relatives of crocodilians). Due to

7680-455: The spinosaurids ) appear to have specialized in catching fish. Diet is largely deduced by the tooth morphology , tooth marks on bones of the prey, and gut contents. Some theropods, such as Baryonyx , Lourinhanosaurus , ornithomimosaurs, and birds, are known to use gastroliths , or gizzard-stones. The majority of theropod teeth are blade-like, with serration on the edges, called ziphodont. Others are pachydont or folidont depending on

7808-480: The 19th century, before their relationship to birds was widely accepted. During this period, theropods such as carnosaurs and tyrannosaurids were thought to have walked with vertical femurs and spines in an upright, nearly erect posture, using their long, muscular tails as additional support in a kangaroo-like tripodal stance. Beginning in the 1970s, biomechanical studies of extinct giant theropods cast doubt on this interpretation. Studies of limb bone articulation and

SECTION 60

#1732858353446

7936-483: The 65 million years they have had to evolve, Quintaglios vary from tyrannosaurs in several significant ways. Tyrannosaurs have very stubby forelimbs, with only two visible fingers. Quintaglios, on the other hand, have longer, more well developed arms with dexterous five-fingered hands, (four fingers and an opposable digit) similar to a human, (unlike humans, though, most Quintaglios are left-handed). The fingers terminate in curved, retractable claws, which can be extended when

8064-592: The Bloodpriest ritual, experienced within a day of birth, the Quintaglio brain imprints with an extreme fear of anything outside itself. Anyone who has not been through the ritual suffers from little if any tendency to enter dagamant, and is capable of interacting with and living with people in close quarters with little ill effect. Quintaglios have a level of technology comparable to our own Renaissance . They have sailing ships, and electricity hasn't been discovered yet, nor have fossil fuels or solar power. The telescope and

8192-461: The Early Cretaceous. A few palaeontologists, such as Gregory S. Paul , have suggested that some or all of these advanced theropods were actually descended from flying dinosaurs or proto-birds like Archaeopteryx that lost the ability to fly and returned to a terrestrial habitat. The evolution of birds from other theropod dinosaurs has also been reported, with some of the linking features being

8320-572: The Face of God is just a planet, and also discovers that their world is a moon that orbits it; furthermore, the Quintaglio moon is too close to the planet, and that it causes stresses that will one day reduce it to a ring of rubble surrounding the planet. When he declares his findings, he is met with opposition from the Master of the Faith, Det Yenalb, and is blinded as punishment for his "heresy". Afsan's ability to keep

8448-554: The Lubalites (practitioners of the Cult of the Original Five Hunters) to believe that he is "The One" foretold in their ancient prophecy. Afsan also mated with Wab-Novato, and produced a clutch of eight eggs with her. Their egglings were spared the culling of the bloodpriests because the Lubalites believed Afsan was The One, and so would not eat them. Afsan's son, Toroca, is a prominent character in Fossil Hunter and Foreigner . In

8576-667: The Order Saurischia into two suborders, Theropoda and Sauropoda. This basic division has survived into modern palaeontology, with the exception of, again, the Prosauropoda, which Romer included as an infraorder of theropods. Romer also maintained a division between Coelurosauria and Carnosauria (which he also ranked as infraorders). This dichotomy was upset by the discovery of Deinonychus and Deinocheirus in 1969, neither of which could be classified easily as "carnosaurs" or "coelurosaurs". In light of these and other discoveries, by

8704-405: The Quintaglio is threatened, (though they are capable of extending and retracting them at will). They are much smaller than a Tyrannosaur, although still large; an old adult Quintaglio standing about 8 feet (2.4 m) high. Rather than standing with their backs parallel to the ground like a normal theropod, they usually maintain a semi-erect posture, although while running they do stoop forward into

8832-444: The Quintaglio moon, and birds are extinct. Following is a list and a brief description of creatures known to inhabit the Quintaglio moon, first with the Quintaglio term and then the human one. The Quintaglio Ascension Trilogy is intended to be an allegory to the human races' Age of Enlightenment . Each book features a Quintaglio equivalent to a prominent human thinker. Sal-Afsan is a Quintaglio version of Galileo , his son Toroca

8960-461: The Tetanurae and Ceratosauria. While some used to consider coelophysoids and ceratosaurs to be within the same group due to features such as a fused hip, later studies showed that it is more likely that these were features ancestral to neotheropods and were lost in basal tetanurans. Averostrans and their close relatives are united via the complete loss of any digit V remnants, fewer teeth in the maxilla,

9088-510: The abandonment of ranks in cladistic classification, with the re-evaluation of birds as a subset of theropod dinosaurs that survived the Mesozoic extinctions and lived into the present. The following is a simplified classification of theropod groups based on their evolutionary relationships, and organized based on the list of Mesozoic dinosaur species provided by Holtz. A more detailed version can be found at dinosaur classification . The dagger (†)

9216-588: The aliens that transplanted them there to push them in the right direction), ensured that one day they would evolve into a sentient species. 65 million years later, they did, and the Quintaglio race emerged. Quintaglios resemble miniature Tyrannosaurs, and share many features in common with their ancestors. They eat only meat , and have massive heads with jaws filled with rows of sharp, serrated teeth. They have short, muscular necks, stocky torsos, solid black forward-facing eyes, thick muscular tails, and powerful hind legs ending with three birdlike talons. However, due to

9344-546: The animal might have been quadrupedal. However, this is no longer thought to be likely. The hands are also very different among the different groups. The most common form among non-avian theropods is an appendage consisting of three fingers; the digits I, II and III (or possibly II, III and IV ), with sharp claws. Some basal theropods, like most Ceratosaurians , had four digits, and also a reduced metacarpal V (e.g. Dilophosaurus ). The majority of tetanurans had three, but some had even fewer. The forelimbs' scope of use

9472-459: The animal, such as locomotion and center of gravity. The current consensus is that non-avian theropods didn't exhibit a group wide growth rate, but instead had varied rates depending on their size. However, all non-avian theropods had faster growth rates than extant reptiles, even when modern reptiles are scaled up to the large size of some non-avian theropods. As body mass increases, the relative growth rate also increases. This trend may be due to

9600-484: The avian theropods (birds). However, discoveries in the late 20th and early 21st centuries showed that a variety of diets existed even in more basal lineages. All early finds of theropod fossils showed them to be primarily carnivorous . Fossilized specimens of early theropods known to scientists in the 19th and early 20th centuries all possessed sharp teeth with serrated edges for cutting flesh, and some specimens even showed direct evidence of predatory behavior. For example,

9728-407: The beginning of the third book, he suffers an accident which nearly kills him, but as a result he regenerates his eyes; however, he is still blind, despite having eyes that are physically fully functional. Afsan undergoes extensive psychoanalysis with Nav-Mokleb to try and solve this problem. Afsan is wounded by a gunshot during a confrontation with "The Others"; the doctors, having no experience with

9856-586: The colour blue is reviled among Quintaglios as "The Liars' Tint". Those who can lie without their muzzles turning blue are called demons or "Aug-Ta-Rot", which literally means "Those who can lie in the light of day", and though there exist Quintaglios capable of doing so, this is not widely known, and Aug-Ta-Rot are believed to exist only in mythology. Quintaglios are exclusively carnivorous , like their Tyrannosaur ancestors. They bring down larger prey by hunting in packs. While they are advanced enough to use weapons to kill prey, their culture forbids it; Quintaglios hunt

9984-790: The company of others, or extended time in close quarters with other Quintaglios can cause them to enter an animalistic frenzy known as dagamant. This also happens if exposed to sufficiently alien stimuli; it is implied that this is triggered by the uncanny valley effect after some Quantaglio are driven to immediate dagamant by the merest sight of the Yellow Quintaglios. When a Quintaglio is in dagamant, he or she will bob their torsos up and down, and males will inflate their dewlap sacks. A Quintaglio under dagamant loses all conscious control over their actions, and will attack with unrelenting viciousness and bloodlust until it wears off or one or both are killed; for this reason, to kill another while in dagamant

10112-430: The cycle and accept the invitation. Females do not have to stick with one male every time, instead, they follow their instinct and choose the right spouse for the moment. Despite living on their own territory, the Quintaglios often have a long lasting friendship with the previous spouses, with the possibility of some forms of pair bonding . The female will usually give birth after the mating and lay exactly eight eggs. And

10240-499: The different parts of theropod anatomy. The most common sites of preserved injury and disease in theropod dinosaurs are the ribs and tail vertebrae . Despite being abundant in ribs and vertebrae, injuries seem to be "absent... or very rare" on the bodies' primary weight supporting bones like the sacrum , femur , and tibia . The lack of preserved injuries in these bones suggests that they were selected by evolution for resistance to breakage. The least common sites of preserved injury are

10368-421: The early sauropodomorphs, the second digit in a theropod's hand is enlarged. Theropods also have a very well developed ball and socket joint near their neck and head. Most theropods belong to the clade Neotheropoda, characterized by the reduction of several foot bones, thus leaving three toed footprints on the ground when they walk (tridactyl feet). Digit V was reduced to a remnant early in theropod evolution and

10496-471: The effects of injuries caused by weapons, leave the bullet inside of him not realizing that it will kill him. He lives long enough for his eyesight to come back, and he says goodbye to his friends and loved ones before his death. In the epilogue of Foreigner , Afsan is long dead, but a computer emulating his exact thoughts and mannerisms has been built. It journeys with the last of the Quintaglios to return to their original home; Earth. The Quintaglios live on

10624-502: The egg will be of custody of the public nursery. When all of the eggs hatched, a Bloodpriest will pick one, often the strongest and swiftest, and devour all others. As the child is designed to belong to the tribe, the parents and the child often do not know each other for the lifetime - only by guessing through their ages, as well as some traits. Only the nursery's record would reveal the truth. There are some exceptions - in royal family, and Afsan's family, all children would be let survive and

10752-421: The eighth and final egg came the carnivores which preyed upon them, ( Tyrannosaurs , Ornithomimids and Dromaeosaurids , among others.) God created the five original female hunters by biting off her left arm, each of her fingers becoming a Quintaglio. They wished to create as God did, so she bit off her right arm and these became the first males, the mates of the original hunters. Quintaglio tradition states that

10880-601: The evolutionary history of the processes of biological development. Unusual fusions in cranial elements or asymmetries in the same are probably evidence that one is examining the fossils of an extremely old individual rather than a diseased one. The trackway of a swimming theropod, the first in China of the ichnogenus named Characichnos , was discovered at the Feitianshan Formation in Sichuan. These new swim tracks support

11008-471: The face of God, and a religion was built around the worship of The Face of God. Larsk's descendants became the Royal Family, and rule all of land. Dy-Dybo, former Prince and current Emperor, is a part of the Royal Family and a direct descendant of Larsk. This religion adds a new tradition to Quintaglio society; that of sailing across the ocean to retrace Larsk's voyage and gaze upon The Face of God. The story of

11136-469: The far eastern end of land, in the shadow of the Ch'Mar volcanoes. It is where most of the action takes place. Arj'Toolar is Afsan's home province. In addition to Quintaglios, many other creatures inhabit the Quintaglio Moon. All originally came from earth. Some have remained pretty much unchanged since the Cretaceous period, whereas others have evolved since then into completely new species. There are no mammals on

11264-413: The feet. Some species may have mixed feathers elsewhere on the body as well. Scansoriopteryx preserved scales near the underside of the tail, and Juravenator may have been predominantly scaly with some simple filaments interspersed. On the other hand, some theropods were completely covered with feathers, such as the troodontid Anchiornis , which even had feathers on the feet and toes. Based on

11392-414: The first book in the series revolves around Afsan (the main character), discrediting this notion while on one of these voyages, and challenging Quintaglio tradition by proving that the Face of God was nothing more than a planet . There also exists a cult known as the Lubalites. This cult is based around the worship of the original five hunters, particularly Lubal, and rejects the notion that The Face of God

11520-470: The first known dromaeosaurid ( Dromaeosaurus albertensis ) in 1922, W. D. Matthew and Barnum Brown became the first paleontologists to exclude prosauropods from the carnivorous dinosaurs, and attempted to revive the name "Goniopoda" for that group, but other scientists did not accept either of these suggestions. In 1956, "Theropoda" came back into use—as a taxon containing the carnivorous dinosaurs and their descendants—when Alfred Romer re-classified

11648-454: The gharial are similar in appearance, they belong to separate biological families . The gharial, with its narrow snout , is easier to distinguish, while morphological differences are more difficult to spot in crocodiles and alligators. The most obvious external differences are visible in the head, with crocodiles having narrower and longer heads, with a more V-shaped than a U-shaped snout compared to alligators and caimans. Another obvious trait

11776-526: The heaviest theropods known to science. It is still not clear why these animals grew so heavy and bulky compared to the land predators that came before and after them. The largest extant theropod is the common ostrich , up to 2.74 m (9 ft) tall and weighing between 90 and 130 kg (200 - 290 lb). The smallest non-avian theropod known from adult specimens is the troodontid Anchiornis huxleyi , at 110 grams in weight and 34 centimeters (1 ft) in length. When modern birds are included,

11904-608: The hypothesis that theropods were adapted to swimming and capable of traversing moderately deep water. Dinosaur swim tracks are considered to be rare trace fossils, and are among a class of vertebrate swim tracks that also include those of pterosaurs and crocodylomorphs . The study described and analyzed four complete natural molds of theropod foot prints that are now stored at the Huaxia Dinosaur Tracks Research and Development Center (HDT). These dinosaur footprints were in fact claw marks, which suggest that this theropod

12032-454: The intruder(s) to the death. Quintaglios are sparsely clad, and wear little clothing beyond simple sashes, hats, belts and jewellery. Priests, however, wear robes; junior priests wear robes of black and red, senior priests wear colourful, banded robes coloured like The Face of God (these are changed to white robes after Far-Seer ), and Bloodpriests wear purple robes. Quintaglios are a very religious people. Their original creation myth tells of

12160-422: The knee was normally strongly flexed in all theropods while walking, even giants like the tyrannosaurids. It is likely that a wide range of body postures, stances, and gaits existed in the many extinct theropod groups. Although rare, complete casts of theropod endocrania are known from fossils. Theropod endocrania can also be reconstructed from preserved brain cases without damaging valuable specimens by using

12288-677: The larger superfamily Crocodyloidea , which also includes additional extinct crocodile relatives. These all belong to the order Crocodilia , which also includes alligators and gharials . Crocodylidae is cladistically defined as a crown group composed of the last common ancestor of the Nile crocodile ( Crocodylus niloticus ), the Dwarf crocodile ( Osteolaemus tetraspis ), and all of its descendants. It contains two subfamilies : Crocodylinae and Osteolaeminae . Crocodylinae contains 13-14 living species, as well as 6 extinct species. Osteolaeminae

12416-544: The largest known theropod and best known to the general public. Since its discovery, however, a number of other giant carnivorous dinosaurs have been described, including Spinosaurus , Carcharodontosaurus , and Giganotosaurus . The original Spinosaurus specimens (as well as newer fossils described in 2006) support the idea that Spinosaurus was probably 3 meters longer than Tyrannosaurus , though Tyrannosaurus might have been more massive than Spinosaurus . Specimens such as Sue and Scotty are both estimated to be

12544-464: The largest living land animal today, the African elephant , which is characterized by a rapid period of growth until maturity, subsequently followed by slowing growth in adulthood. As a hugely diverse group of animals, the posture adopted by theropods likely varied considerably between various lineages through time. All known theropods are bipedal , with the forelimbs reduced in length and specialized for

12672-457: The late 1970s Rinchen Barsbold had created a new series of theropod infraorders: Coelurosauria, Deinonychosauria , Oviraptorosauria , Carnosauria, Ornithomimosauria, and Deinocheirosauria . With the advent of cladistics and phylogenetic nomenclature in the 1980s, and their development in the 1990s and 2000s, a clearer picture of theropod relationships began to emerge. Jacques Gauthier named several major theropod groups in 1986, including

12800-514: The later form krokódeilos ( κροκόδειλος ) found cited in many English reference works. In the Koine Greek of Roman times, krokodilos and krokodeilos would have been pronounced identically, and either or both may be the source of the Latinized form crocodīlus used by the ancient Romans. It has been suggested, but it is not certain that the word crocodilos or crocodeilos

12928-435: The lineage of the members are quite clear. Later, it was discovered that siblings have anxieties when being together, and may cause serious sibling rivalry accidents. In Foreigner , it is decided to end the tradition of killing hatchlings and instead just not allowing seven out of the eight eggs to hatch. This decision came from Toroca, after it was proven that the Bloodpriests' tradition was actually psychologically scarring

13056-503: The majority of large terrestrial carnivores from the Early Jurassic until at least the close of the Cretaceous , about 66 Ma. In the Jurassic , birds evolved from small specialized coelurosaurian theropods, and are today represented by about 11,000 living species. Various synapomorphies for Theropoda have been proposed based on which taxa are included in the group. For example,

13184-515: The microscope are recent inventions and modern-style medicine is in its infancy. Aviation is also in its infancy, and haven't gotten more advanced than gliders yet. Thanks to Afsan and Toroca, Quintaglios are also aware of the solar system and evolution. Buildings are made out of stone or mud, and not much attention is given to them; due to frequent earthquakes, structures rarely stand for very long. Quintaglios have no firearms, and due to their laws and customs pertaining to using weapons to kill food it

13312-404: The movement of the tooth row further down the maxilla and a lacrimal fenestra. Averostrans also share features in their hips and teeth. Theropods exhibit a wide range of diets, from insectivores to herbivores and carnivores. Strict carnivory has always been considered the ancestral diet for theropods as a group, and a wider variety of diets was historically considered a characteristic exclusive to

13440-660: The need to reach the size required for reproductive maturity . For example, one of the smallest known theropods was Microraptor zhaoianus , which had a body mass of 200 grams, grew at a rate of approximately 0.33 grams per day. A comparable reptile of the same size grows at half of this rate. The growth rates of medium-sized non-avian theropods (100–1000 kg) approximated those of precocial birds, which are much slower than altricial birds. Large theropods (1500–3500 kg) grew even faster, similar to rates displayed by eutherian mammals. The largest non-avian theropods, like Tyrannosaurus rex had similar growth dynamics to

13568-475: The old-fashioned way, running prey down and dispatching it via tooth and claw. Quintaglio hunts are led by special female Quintaglios who perpetually emit the pheromones characteristic of being in heat, though they are typically also sterile. Quintaglios live a mostly nomadic lifestyle, travelling in packs and following herds of animals. They set up camp for a short while, then move on so that prey can repopulate extensively hunted areas. Quintaglio population density

13696-553: The oldest known bird, Archaeopteryx ), the bird-like troodontids and oviraptorosaurs, the ornithomimosaurs (or "ostrich Dinosaurs"), the strange giant-clawed herbivorous therizinosaurs, and the avialans, which include modern birds and is the only dinosaur lineage to survive the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event . While the roots of these various groups are found in the Middle Jurassic, they only became abundant during

13824-492: The only dinosaurs to get continuously smaller, and that their skeletons changed four times as fast as those of other dinosaur species. In order to estimate the growth rates of theropods, scientists need to calculate both age and body mass of a dinosaur. Both of these measures can only be calculated through fossilized bone and tissue , so regression analysis and extant animal growth rates as proxies are used to make predictions. Fossilized bones exhibit growth rings that appear as

13952-407: The only early members of this group to abandon carnivory. Several other lineages of early maniraptorans show adaptations for an omnivorous diet, including seed-eating (some troodontids ) and insect-eating (many avialans and alvarezsaurs ). Oviraptorosaurs , ornithomimosaurs and advanced troodontids were likely omnivorous as well, and some early theropods (such as Masiakasaurus knopfleri and

14080-399: The other side of the world; they are simply known as "The Others". They are similar to the Quintaglios, but both genders have dewlaps, are yellow with grey highlights, and are smaller in stature. They can lie without physical changes, and have about four eggs each time. The following is a list of the main and secondary characters featured in the books. On his pilgrimage, Afsan discovers that

14208-418: The palms faced the ground or backwards towards the legs. In humans, pronation is achieved by motion of the radius relative to the ulna (the two bones of the forearm). In saurischian dinosaurs, however, the end of the radius near the elbow was actually locked into a groove of the ulna, preventing any movement. Movement at the wrist was also limited in many species, forcing the entire forearm and hand to move as

14336-400: The past considered the herrerasaurians to be members of Theropoda, while other theorized the group to be basal saurischians, and may even have evolved prior to the saurischian-ornithischian split. Cladistic analysis following the discovery of Tawa , another Triassic dinosaur, suggests the herrerasaurs likely were early theropods. The earliest and most primitive unambiguous theropods are

14464-531: The period, where they were geographically separate, the ceratosaurs and allosaurs in Gondwana, and the coelurosaurs in Laurasia. Of all the theropod groups, the coelurosaurs were by far the most diverse. Some coelurosaur groups that flourished during the Cretaceous were the tyrannosaurids (including Tyrannosaurus ), the dromaeosaurids (including Velociraptor and Deinonychus , which are remarkably similar in form to

14592-439: The relative absence of trackway evidence for tail dragging suggested that, when walking, the giant, long-tailed theropods would have adopted a more horizontal posture with the tail held parallel to the ground. However, the orientation of the legs in these species while walking remains controversial. Some studies support a traditional vertically oriented femur, at least in the largest long-tailed theropods, while others suggest that

14720-468: The scope of Marsh's Order Theropoda, it came to replace a previous taxonomic group that Marsh's rival E. D. Cope had created in 1866 for the carnivorous dinosaurs: Goniopoda ("angled feet"). By the early 20th century, some palaeontologists, such as Friedrich von Huene , no longer considered carnivorous dinosaurs to have formed a natural group. Huene abandoned the name "Theropoda", instead using Harry Seeley 's Order Saurischia , which Huene divided into

14848-414: The second book, Afsan is made Dybo's court astrologer, and is given a "Seeing Eye" Goanna named "Gork" by his aide, former palace butcher Pal-Cadool. Though Afsan is now blind, this doesn't stop him from trying to track down a murderer when his children start to get killed off one-by-one. He also proposes a solution for Emperor Dy-Dybo when his Brother, Dy-Rodlox, challenges him for position of Emperor. In

14976-783: The shape of the tooth or denticles . The morphology of the teeth is distinct enough to tell the major families apart, which indicate different diet strategies. An investigation in July 2015 discovered that what appeared to be "cracks" in their teeth were actually folds that helped to prevent tooth breakage by strengthening individual serrations as they attacked their prey. The folds helped the teeth stay in place longer, especially as theropods evolved into larger sizes and had more force in their bite. Mesozoic theropods were also very diverse in terms of skin texture and covering. Feathers or feather-like structures (filaments) are attested in most lineages of theropods (see feathered dinosaur ). However, outside

15104-491: The suborders Coelurosauria and Pachypodosauria . Huene placed most of the small theropod groups into Coelurosauria, and the large theropods and prosauropods into Pachypodosauria, which he considered ancestral to the Sauropoda (prosauropods were still thought of as carnivorous at that time, owing to the incorrect association of rauisuchian skulls and teeth with prosauropod bodies, in animals such as Teratosaurus ). Describing

15232-399: The survivor and causing increased territoriality. It was also decided that the survivor should be chosen randomly among the unhatched eggs, in order to increase the variability of the population. It is also hinted that the Quintaglios begin to develop parent-child relationship universally, in the new era. In Foreigner , a second species of sentient theropods is discovered on an archipelago on

15360-469: The theropod dinosaurs were the carnivorous Eodromaeus and, possibly, the herrerasaurids of Argentina . The herrerasaurs existed during the early late Triassic (Late Carnian to Early Norian ). They were found in North America and South America and possibly also India and Southern Africa. The herrerasaurs were characterised by a mosaic of primitive and advanced features. Some paleontologists have in

15488-404: The tradition to males because she felt it was inappropriate for one who lays eggs to dispatch hatchlings. While Quintaglios consider themselves to be civilised beings, deep down their thoughts and actions are ruled by their primal, territorial instincts. Quintaglios hate physical contact with one another, value their privacy and have a wide circumference of personal space. Spending too much time in

15616-515: The tropics in Africa , Asia , the Americas and Australia . The term “crocodile” is sometimes used more loosely to include all extant members of the order Crocodilia , which includes the alligators and caimans (both members of the family Alligatoridae ), the gharial and false gharial (both members of the family Gavialidae ) as well as other, extinct, taxa. Although crocodiles, alligators, and

15744-408: The way theropods have often been reconstructed in art and the popular media, the range of motion of theropod forelimbs was severely limited, especially compared with the forelimb dexterity of humans and other primates . Most notably, theropods and other bipedal saurischian dinosaurs (including the bipedal prosauropods ) could not pronate their hands—that is, they could not rotate the forearm so that

15872-603: The wrist not seen in other theropods, thanks to the presence of a specialized half-moon shaped wrist bone (the semi-lunate carpal) that allowed the whole hand to fold backward towards the forearm in the manner of modern birds. In 2001, Ralph E. Molnar published a survey of pathologies in theropod dinosaur bone. He found pathological features in 21  genera from 10 families. Pathologies were found in theropods of all body size although they were less common in fossils of small theropods, although this may be an artifact of preservation. They are very widely represented throughout

16000-408: Was gone by the late Triassic. Digit I is reduced and generally do not touch the ground, and greatly reduced in some lineages. They also lack a digit V on their hands and have developed a furcula which is otherwise known as a wishbone. Early neotheropods like the coelophysoids have a noticeable kink in the upper jaw known as a subnarial gap. Averostrans are some of the most derived theropods and contain

16128-569: Was named by Christopher Brochu in 2003 as a subfamily of Crocodylidae separate from Crocodylinae, and contains the two extant genera Osteolaemus and Mecistops , along with several extinct genera. The number of extant species within Osteolaeminae is currently in question. Recent molecular studies using DNA sequencing have shown crocodiles to be more closely related to the gavialids rather than to alligators , contrary to prior theories based on morphological studies alone. Below

16256-511: Was necessary for readers to connect with the characters, and that agriculture is not necessarily a pre-requisite for a developed civilisation (a point he explores in greater detail with his Neanderthal Parallax trilogy). Theropod This is an accepted version of this page Theropoda ( / θ ɪəˈr ɒ p ə d ə / ; from ancient Greek θηρίο- ποδός [ θηρίον , ( therion ) "wild beast"; πούς , ποδός ( pous, podos ) "foot"]) whose members are known as theropods ,

16384-423: Was swimming near the surface of a river and just the tips of its toes and claws could touch the bottom. The tracks indicate a coordinated, left-right, left-right progression, which supports the proposition that theropods were well-coordinated swimmers. During the late Triassic , a number of primitive proto-theropod and theropod dinosaurs existed and evolved alongside each other. The earliest and most primitive of

#445554