Top favourite prehistoric animals

[Newt]

@Halichoeres - a life-sized resin astrapothere skull would make a sweet centerpiece for a South American-themed aquarium. I can just imagine a school of rummynoses darting through the eye sockets, corydoras using the nasal opening as a cave... More sensible than the Tyrannosaurus skulls every pet store carries, anyhow.

[Lynx]

Pinacosaurus and it's relatives. Nothing else except maybe Spinosaurus and Ceratosaurus.

[Sim]

My favourite prehistoric animals have had some changes since I last posted in this thread.  The first 11 never change, but after that there tends to be changes.  Below are my favourite prehistoric animals right now.

1. Velociraptor mongoliensis
2. Rhamphorhynchus muensteri
3. Herrerasaurus ischigualastensis
4. Saurornithoides mongoliensis
5. Thalassomedon haningtoni
6. Buitreraptor gonzalezorum
7. Baryonyx walkeri
8. Stegosaurus stenops
9. Sinornithosaurus millenii
10. Deinonychus antirrhopus
11. Linheraptor exquisitus
12. Utahraptor ostrommaysi
13. Suchomimus tenerensis
14. Dromaeosaurus albertensis
15. Cymbospondylus petrinus
16. Scaphognathus crassirostris
17. Eoraptor lunensis
18. Eudimorphodon ranzii

With regards to the new additions...  Suchomimus is so cool, it's a baryonychine almost the same size as Tyrannosaurus, and another thing I like about it is it's the most completely known spinosaurid.  Cymbospondylus petrinus has always been my favourite ichthyosaur, I find it impressive and charming.

[Sim]

Actually, I overlooked that number 5 in my list changed.  It's the elasmosaurid position that has gone back to Thalassomedon, the elasmosaurid that I had as a favourite when I started this thread.  I didn't write anything about it at the time, so I will now.  Thalassomedon became a favourite of mine again when I got the CollectA Thalassomedon.  The figure made me realise Thalassomedon does have the qualities which make it my favourite plesiosauroid.  The qualities that make Thalassomedon Thalassomedon.

[HD-man]

  For those who don't know, there's a thread for posting your favorite artworks of these species: https://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=10177.0

[Halichoeres]

What does Thalassomedon have that Styxosaurus doesn't? I'm not especially knowledgeable about elasmosaurids.

[Sim]

Styxosaurus and Thalassomedon have different postcranial proportions, as is shown in the image below.

  (Image source)

Their heads look different too, Styxosaurus seems to have a bump on its snout and proportionally bigger teeth in the front of the mouth.

[Halichoeres]

Thanks!

[Sim]

Currently my favourite prehistoric animals are as follows:

1. Velociraptor mongoliensis
2. Rhamphorhynchus muensteri
3. Herrerasaurus ischigualastensis
4. Saurornithoides mongoliensis
5. Thalassomedon haningtoni
6. Buitreraptor gonzalezorum
7. Baryonyx walkeri
8. Stegosaurus stenops
9. Sinornithosaurus millenii
10. Deinonychus antirrhopus
11. Linheraptor exquisitus
12. Suchomimus tenerensis
13. Utahraptor ostrommaysi
14. Torvosaurus tanneri
15. Dromaeosaurus albertensis
16. Cymbospondylus petrinus
17. Scaphognathus crassirostris
18. Apatosaurus louisae
19. Eoraptor lunensis
20. Dilophosaurus wetherilli
21. Cryolophosaurus ellioti
22. Tuojiangosaurus multispinus
23. Chasmosaurus belli
24. Barosaurus lentus
25. Coelophysis bauri
26. Eudimorphodon ranzii
27. Kentrosaurus aethiopicus
28. Supersaurus vivianae
29. Medusaceratops lokii
30. Styracosaurus albertensis
31. Pentaceratops sternbergii

For why I like the new additions:
I find Apatosaurus interesting with its monstrous neck, tail whip and powerful build, and large size!  Apatosaurus lousiae specifically because it's the species in an impressive mounted skeleton in the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, and it's also the species the Papo Apatosaurus represents and I love that figure.
I find Dilophosaurus and Cryolophosaurus very interesting in form and with regards to the lives they led.
For some time there was a tie for my favourite ceratopian, with Chasmosaurus and Styracosaurus both claiming that position.  But now Chasmosaurus belli has risen up and become my favourite.  I find it captivating.  My other favourite ceratopians, as shown in the above list, are Medusaceratops, Styracosaurus and Pentaceratops.  I find their form interesting too.
I find the different forms of diplodocids in the Morrison Formation interesting, and Barosaurus achieves a pleasing form for me, with its extremely long neck and shorter tail compared to Diplodocus.  Supersaurus vivianae does too, although it surprisingly looks quite different to Barosaurus when the two are compared.  I'm not normally interested in fragmentary species, but Supersaurus vivianae has enough known for it to appeal to me.

[Torvosaurus]

1. Ceratosaurus nasicornis
2. short-faced bear (Arctodus simus)
3. Udanoceratops tschizhovi
4. titanosaurs
5. all protoceratids
6. all terror birds
7. all prehistoric cats, of course.
8. everything else

The first three are in order of  preference, the rest aren't in any particular order, btw.

Torvo

[Sim]

Currently my favourite prehistoric animals are:

1. Velociraptor mongoliensis
2. Rhamphorhynchus muensteri
3. Herrerasaurus ischigualastensis
4. Saurornithoides mongoliensis
5. Thalassomedon haningtoni
6. Buitreraptor gonzalezorum
7. Baryonyx walkeri
8. Stegosaurus stenops
9. Sinornithosaurus millenii
10. Deinonychus antirrhopus
11. Linheraptor exquisitus
12. Suchomimus tenerensis
13. Utahraptor ostrommaysi
14. Torvosaurus tanneri
15. Dromaeosaurus albertensis
16. Scaphognathus crassirostris
17. Scutellosaurus lawleri
18. Dilophosaurus wetherilli
19. Cryolophosaurus ellioti
20. Eoraptor lunensis
21. Dakosaurus maximus
22. Chasmosaurus belli
23. Apatosaurus louisae
24. Coelophysis bauri
25. Barosaurus lentus
26. Kentrosaurus aethiopicus
27. Eudimorphodon ranzii
28. Supersaurus vivianae
29. Scelidosaurus harrisonii
30. Medusaceratops lokii
31. Styracosaurus albertensis

The new additions are Scutellosaurus, Scelidosaurus and Dakosaurus maximus.  The two thyreophorans I find very interesting, while Dakosaurus maximus has a very appealing form to me.  Plus, it's found in one of my favourite ecosystems, the Solnhofen Formation.

[GojiraGuy1954]

5 honourable mentions; Ankylosaurus magniventris, Triceratops horridus, Lisowicia bojani, Scutosaurus karpinskii, Mammuthus trogontherii
10. Xiphactinus audax
9. Archelon ischyros
8. Edmontosaurus annectens
7. Mosasaurus hoffmanni
6. Borealopelta markmitchelli
5. Paraceratherium bugtiense
4. Quetzalcoatlus northropi
3. Megatherium americanum
2. Tyrannosaurus rex
1. Spinosaurus aegyptiacus

I tried to redo this list but it was too difficult. Just know I stand by almost none of these picks anymore

[Concavenator]

Updated list of my favorite prehistoric animals:

1. Allosaurus jimmadseni
2. Deinonychus antirrhopus
3. Yutyrannus huali
4. Apatosaurus louisae
5. Diplodocus carnegii
6. Styracosaurus albertensis
7. Suchomimus tenerensis
8. Amargasaurus cazaui
9. Concavenator corcovatus
10. Dilophosaurus wetherilli
11. Pachycephalosaurus wyomingensis
12. Diabloceratops eatoni
13. Yi qi
14. Anchiornis huxleyi
15. Gallimimus bullatus
16. Austroraptor cabazai
17. Megaraptor namunhuaiquii
18. Megatherium americanum
19. Deinocheirus mirificus
20. Quetzalcoatlus lawsoni
21. Mosasaurus hoffmanii
22. Basilosaurus cetoides
23. Shonisaurus popularis
24. Carnotaurus sastrei
25. Kentrosaurus aethiopicus

[Ajax88]

In no particular order my top 20 Dinosaurs

1.Argentinosaurus
2.Supersaurus
3.Giraffatitan
4.Alamosaurus
5.Parasaurolophus
6.Ouranosaurus
7.Shantungosaurus
8.Olorotitan
9.Dacentrurus
10.Stegosaurus
11.Ankylosaurus
12.Edmontonia
13.Spinosaurus
14.Ceratosaurus
16.Deinonychus
17.Baluar
18.Deinocheirus
19.Giganotosaurus
20.Acrocanthosaurus

Notable mentions: Tyrannosaurus, Utahraptor, lambeosaurus, Bajadasaurus, Citipati.

[Pliosaurking]

I'll do top 20 dinosaurs then top 10 other animals then my overall top 10

Dinosaurs:

1.Triceratops
2.Spinosaurus/Carcharodontosaurus
3.Tyrannosaurus Rex/Suchomimus/Acrocanthosaurus
4.Pentaceratops/Regaliceratops/Utahceratops
5.Ceratosaurus/Daspletosaurus/Torvosaurus
6.Ankylosaurus/Medusaceratops/Kosmoceratops
7.Torosaurus/Pachyrhinosaurus/Chasmosaurus
8.Pachycephalosaurus/Tarchia
9.Centrosaurus
10.Brachiosaurus/Baryonx
11.Utahraptor/Giganotosaurus
12.Albertosaurus/Gorgosaurus
13.Carnotaurus/Irritator
14.Monolophosaurus/Cryolophosaurus
15.Kentrosaurus/Edmontonia
16.Argentinosaurus
17.Apatosaurus/Brontosaurus
18.Protoceratops
19.Lambeosaurus
20.Concavanator

Prehistoric non dinosaurs:
1.Deinosuchus/Sarcosuchus
2.Pliosaurus/Kronosaurus/Liopleurodon
3.Postosuchus/Fasolasuchus/Purrusaurus
4.Tylosaurus
5.Mosasaurus
6.Livythan/Basilosaurus
7.Kaprosuchus/Barinasuchus
8.Prionosuchus/Hatzegopteryx
9.Eyrops/Koolasuchus
10.Dimetrodon/Pteranodon

Overall:
1.Triceratops
2.Deinosuchus/Sarcosuchus
3.Pliosaurus/Kronosaurus/Liopleurodon
4.Spinosaurus/Carcharodontosaurus
5.Suchomimus/Tyrannosaurus Rex/Acrocanthosaurus
6.Pentaceratops/Regaliceratops/Utahceratops
7.Ceratosaurus/Daspletosaurus/Torvosaurus
8.Postosuchus/Fasolasuchus/Purrusaurus
9.Tylosaurus
10.Ankylosaurus/Medusaceratops/Kosmoceratops

Gotta say that was quite hard, narrowing this list down was very difficult and actually got me thinking. I may end up changing this slightly. I will say however the top 5 of each are accurate. Triceratops has always and I'll say will always be my favourite animal to ever live, although there's some close competition.

[andrewsaurus rex]

Very interesting how few lists have T rex on them.  I gather this is because it's too obvious or cliche of a choice?

She'll always be my number one.  How can you not be impressed.

[Sim]

Not for me, I find Tyrannosaurus quite uninteresting.  It is an impressive animal, but it doesn't have anything that appeals to me.

[Libraraptor]

Very interesting how few lists have T rex on them.  I gather this is because it's too obvious or cliche of a choice?

She'll always be my number one.  How can you not be impressed.

Maybe T.rex has been produced, featured and hyped so often that some are tired of it and T.rex as a topic is exhausted to some? I can feel the effect on myself: The more T.rex figures  or other items of it I see  being released, the less interested I am in them. It´s not really an annoyance to me, but there are so many other interesting animals of which they could produce models or figures and don´t, still countig on Rexes popularity which may be declining the more other interesting species appear.

[DinoToyForum]

I'll do top 20 dinosaurs then top 10 other animals then my overall top 10

Dinosaurs:

1.Triceratops
2.Spinosaurus/Carcharodontosaurus
3.Tyrannosaurus Rex/Suchomimus/Acrocanthosaurus
4.Pentaceratops/Regaliceratops/Utahceratops
5.Ceratosaurus/Daspletosaurus/Torvosaurus
....

Gotta say that was quite hard, narrowing this list down was very difficult and actually got me thinking. I may end up changing this slightly. I will say however the top 5 of each are accurate. Triceratops has always and I'll say will always be my favourite animal to ever live, although there's some close competition.

But that's not a top 5, its a top 12!

[SidB]

Very interesting how few lists have T rex on them.  I gather this is because it's too obvious or cliche of a choice?

She'll always be my number one.  How can you not be impressed.

Maybe T.rex has been produced, featured and hyped so often that some are tired of it and T.rex as a topic is exhausted to some? I can feel the effect on myself: The more T.rex figures  or other items of it I see  being released, the less interested I am in them. It´s not really an annoyance to me, but there are so many other interesting animals of which they could produce models or figures and don´t, still countig on Rexes popularity which may be declining the more other interesting species appear.

There are several good, positive reasons why Tyrannosaurus rex is rather absent here, but I'm going to suggest two other negative ones. IMO, and it's just my opinion, I think that there's an intimidation factor here (though quite unconscious). Some have become either embarrassed to indicate their preference for the rex, for fear of appearing unsophisticated or boorish. Others like to follow the leader, a well known social dynamic which ensures a certain popularity in certain circles, which many deeply covet. Then again, very many have simply become exhausted by it's endless overexposure, for sure. I seem to have a virtually limitless fascination with  the taxon, so still am keen on any new rex of quality that is released.