Not used for Contest 2013

[Federreptil]

Please excuse me for going back to the Horrible Horn Horde 2.0. But it's simply the big thing this year. There is even a video about it.

[Federreptil]

There is an update for Hell Creek:



After a while, the fern savannah for the horned lizards seemed a bit too dry and bare to me. It seems unlikely that the migrating herds would have found enough food here. The widespread absence of grass does not mean that other plants have not occupied the open spaces. So I have redensified the open space between the hardwood trees.



So the hornsaurus now stand in a richer green.



The birds continue to perch on the gentle giants.



The young animals almost disappear among the ferns.



Ferns of different sizes and shapes now sprout everywhere among the animals, forming a loose carpet, whereas before there were more green spots in the sandy terrain.



The second major new addition is an increase in the Torosaurus herd. Two new members are coming as resin kits from the DeClay Studio in Vietnam, relieving the three PNSO animals, which have so far had to form the herd alone for the new independent herd. The smaller CollectA models were not allowed in the Triceratops herd in advance if the Torosaurus was supposed to be a fully-grown retiree of the three-horned dinosaur. The Schleich interpretation was always just filler, and even the late-nineties Walking with Dinosaurs model from Toyways is perhaps rare, but it is a bit strange.



This is a dinosaur search picture if you only pay attention to the big chunks.



The new members give the herd of torosaurs a completely different weight.



Even the T-Rex has made it into the redensified green.



Soon the torosaurians will get some new additions.



New dangers await the pachycephalosaurs.



Here is the answer to the dinosaur search above.

[Libraraptor]

What a great addition to an already great diorama!

[Federreptil]

There are already colourful eggs for the mammals here. The chickens' ancestors left a large buffet here for the little predators.



Our ancestors are still sitting in the shadows before they occupy the new top of the food pyramid.



Finally, the smaller ceratopsids in Hell Creek: in the shadow of the large Triceratops and Torosaurus herds, the Leptoceratops groups lived more in the shadows.

[Federreptil]

What a great addition to an already great diorama!

There is always room for improvement. And mentally, the story goes on and on. So there will be more updates with new species. (See the Leptoceratops in the Easter special.) And there will probably be more 'action' after all. At the beginning, I just wanted to show the absence of the big duels and predatory dinosaur attacks, because these had long since become a perennial cliché. The films and computer games in particular put the focus on fighting. I deliberately wanted to create a counter-image to this. Now I've come to the point where perhaps the race and hunting success play a bigger role after all. Because they are also part of the Hell Creek stories.

[Federreptil]

I'm just wondering.


These pictures show the Tyrannosaurus successfully hunting. Originally, I wanted to show the Tyrannosaurus in Hall Creek in peace and delegate the dangers of the hunt to the pack of young Nanotyrannosaurus. Now I'm in the middle of a debate about whether the Nanotyrannus is a separate species or really an adolescent Tyrannosaurus. And the theory that the Tyrannosaurus would have occupied all the niches for medium-sized predators in its evolution because it had no competitors is now completely obsolete, at least since the discovery of the Dakotaraptor.


But let's stick with the adult Tyrannosaurus and its hunting success. If we assume that it was primarily a scavenger and would have hunted other more agile predators for their prey, it would be easy. Tyrannosaurus could have relied on its excellent sense of smell and roamed its territory at a moderate speed as an endurance runner to land on its next meal as unerringly as a vulture. With its size, it would have scared away annoying competitors and used its powerful jaws to break open even the largest carcasses and secure the best pieces. The greatest dangers would then have been territorial disputes or complex mating rituals with risks.


If we imagine an agile, active hunter, things become more difficult. And the question marks start spinning. Today, we have no land-based predators that roam the countryside like minibuses, measuring 13 meters in length. The Tyrannosaurus actually lacks the speed to hunt in the open savannah.


Potential smaller prey such as the Ornithomimus or the Pachycephalosaurus, perhaps even the Edmontosaurus, would have quickly fled to safety. Even today's big cats can't sustain a sprint for very long. Given its size, the Tyrannosaurus would have been visible from a long way off. How could it have sneaked up unnoticed against the wind?


Stalking in the first place – if something the size of a minibus breaks through the undergrowth, would padded soles help to make it quieter? How poor must the senses of potential prey have been if they didn't hear or see him coming?


Could several Tyrannosaurus rexes also have been successful in the savannah using cooperative hunting strategies? How many prey animals would there have had to be to feed a pack? That would have required truly enormous herds of herbivores on the move. Such large herds have such a high food requirement that they would have changed all vegetation if they had lived in one place.


Is the Tyrannosaurus a selective specialist that actually targets the sluggish horned dinosaurs above all else? As if there were a big cat today that hunted almost exclusively elephants and rhinos? If the overly long horns of modern Triceratops depictions are not just a fashion fad, they would suggest large herds rather than solitary animals. Especially since there is finally a bonebed for Triceratops. Could a Tyrannosaurus be successful here if the herds were not so huge that they could not escape him?


And what if the Tyrannosaurus had been a lone hunter, lying motionless in a favorable spot for a long time. Suddenly bursting out of its hiding place when its prey passed by unsuspectingly. Then I wonder if the potential prey really had such poor senses that it could lie in wait unnoticed. How huge would the hiding place have to be? Would that really have been a mighty redwood forest? In a real primeval forest, wouldn't hunters and prey have become hopelessly entangled within a very short time? Today, we only know of a commercial forest with hardly any undergrowth and a wild tangle of fallen and rotting trees.


In addition, today we can only find fossils where animals were able to sink into wet sediments or were covered by pyroclastic eruptions. Large areas of the Tyrannosaurus's former territory remain terra incognita for us.


But I admit that I find it difficult to imagine an agile Tyrannosaurus in its full power. On the one hand, I believe that such a powerhouse could literally explode and rush forward with incredible energy—nothing like the sluggish, cautious movements of most movie dinosaurs. From this perspective, we actually have no idea of this power. On the other hand, some skeletons of the great predators show healed injuries and how dangerous life can be, especially for large predators. After all, the Tyrannosaurus charges forward with a huge, heavy skull, struggles to maintain its balance like a crane with enormous outriggers, brings a considerable weight and thus mass into motion, and when it falls, its small arms cannot support or catch it. Shouldn't a T-Rex be more careful? Or does it possess a level of body control that we cannot imagine because there are no real comparisons for it today?


But this is probably all too simplistic. Perhaps all possibilities apply at the same time and a T-Rex can be anything: a scavenger, a loner, a lurking hunter, and a roundabout strategist who takes any kind of prey when the opportunity arises. Just as the tiger knows many ways of life depending on its territory and opportunities.

About the models:

When a project takes a long time, conditions change. When I started preparing for Hell Creek, I didn't want to show the typical fighting and hunting scenes with Tyrannosaurus. Instead, I wanted to use the calm as a contrast to expectations. But I've been working on it for so long now that it might get a little boring to always see resting herds. This is a model by @nikola_roglic_3d printed by @dinosauriacreatures.


Sue at work. The Field Museum @fieldmuseum in Chicago has created a new reconstruction of its famous Tyrannosaurus skeleton, showing Sue eating a young Edmontosaurus. @declaystudio offers a resin model in exactly this pose. How a full-grown T-Rex could actually catch a young Edmontosaurus is up to the imagination of the viewer... Here, of course, the rest of the Edmontosaurus herd flees in fear and terror.


I guess I'm a little megalomaniacal or just too carefree. If I don't use any of these pictures for the current diorama competition, I'll continue to publish them here.

[Federreptil]

A herd of Ornithomimus can reach speeds of up to 60 kilometers per hour when fleeing. A fully grown Tyrannosaurus certainly cannot keep up. A chase would be futile, and how could such a large predator sneak up on them? The first Jurassic Park movie fed us the wrong images.


For decades, an astonishing number of tyrannosaurs were found, but actually no small or medium-sized predators. Then, with the first discoveries of Nanotyrannus, a medium-sized predator appeared. And when Nanotyrannus was then considered the adolescent of the large T. rex, there was a theory that there had been no separate species of medium-sized predators because the T. rex would have filled all the niches itself as it grew up. Then the even more agile Nanotyrannus could have hunted the Ornithomimus. And as a slimmer young animal, the predator might have had the necessary speed. Perhaps it would have hunted in packs.


Then, in 2015, the Dakotaraptor was first described. It is an exceptionally large dromaeosaurid, comparable to the Utahraptor, with a length of up to 5.5 meters. We have long been accustomed to raptors with plumage, packs, and cooperative hunting strategies. Here, two female hunters drive the herd ahead of them.


Dakotaraptors would certainly have been the ideal hunter for the Ornithomimus. And other more agile species such as the Pachycephalosaurus would also have had to watch out.


Here, two Dakota raptors have cornered the herd of ornithomimuses and are driving them across the plain.


The fast-running dinosaurs certainly don't want to get acquainted with the sharp sickle claws on the feet of the raptors.


The flight feathers on the forearm of the Ornithomimus have now been proven by findings. Thus, both hunters and prey were feathered and probably used their wings during fast runs to maintain balance, even during abrupt changes in direction. Just like ostriches do today.


The long tails, which are largely stiffened in raptors, act like long balancing poles.


Even the fastest runners found it difficult to escape these raptors by running away.


We have long been accustomed to the idea that raptors have intelligent hunting strategies.


A third raptor lies in wait here until the other two hunters drive their prey towards her. At the decisive moment, she will step into the path of the "bird imitators" and kill her prey for the pack.


"Clever girl!"

Twelve years ago, I won my first diorama competition on the Dinosaur Toy Forum with a fleeing herd of ornithomimuses. Back then, the running dinosaurs already had a delicate down of protofeathers, but no flight feathers on their arms or tail tips. And, of course, the three hunters were still naked Tyrannosaurus rexes in Jurassic Park style. So these scenes are an update to my original idea:


The winning photo for the 2013 DTF.

[Federreptil]

Do T-rexes have a family life?


The Tyrannosaurus family after a successful hunt. This interpretation was created using 3D prints of the templates by @nikola_roglic_3d. The adult animal balances gracefully on one leg while carrying its limp prey in its mouth. The four young animals are so small and delicate that their front arms are already very delicate.


Is this scene really realistic? I have my doubts, as I don't believe that T-Rexes were raised in this way.


The prey is a Pachycephalosaurus, while the herd of Pachys in the background can relax again once the predator has had its fill.


Actually, I only work with working hypotheses here.


When I started the Hell Creek project, I was still confident that this time I would achieve maximum credibility and authenticity in the diorama. This time, I would take huge steps toward creating a real biotope and ecosystem for the Cretaceous period. So, naturally, almost every element was checked and questioned.


Ultimately, however, I have to admit that new questions keep cropping up and that previous "certainties" dissolve in the course of the process. There are simply too many gaps and unknowns, and it becomes clear that many popular images and television documentaries with grand gestures have created a seemingly coherent picture. So questions remain. And the scenes and situations I create are an illustration of these questions. How plausible is that? What are the arguments in favor of it? Where do the ideas come from? What doesn't make sense?


This image has grown very dear to me. The adult Tyrannosaurus – here with its prey – is surrounded by its offspring, which it is clearly caring for and feeding. Thanks to the 3D printing of the fantastic models by @nikola_roglic_3d, the young animals have become even smaller and more delicate, and look less kitschy than in the first attempt with the young animals from PNSO. This makes the images more believable and more reminiscent of the first scenes of @prehistoricplanet. But actually, they are analogies to the behavior of today's large predators such as polar bears or tigers. Or perhaps to the duck family with their ducklings.


Are these analogies even appropriate? Intensive care for young animals ends when they have completed their development and are able to survive independently. In birds, this is usually the ability to fly. The other examples are mammals, which have a completely different reproduction rate than, for example, egg-laying crocodiles. In crocodiles, the size difference between young animals and adult parents is much more appropriate for the T-Rex. The size of the clutch also far exceeds the reproduction rate in mammals. Here, the large loss of young animals in the first few years is long since factored in. What's more, what would a fully grown Tyrannosaurus have taught its tiny offspring?


Given that I sometimes make pretty wild statements about the pictures here, I wonder if anyone is still reading this? Or is it just a wallpaper of pictures after all?

[Totoro]

I sure am reading, and as always, just shaking my head at the beauty and scope of your scenes.  I guess you'll just have to join most of us hoping for that Time Machine we'd all love to pilot back in time to watch it all and finally have some of the answers you seek, tho looking at your dioramas makes me feel like I'm actually doing just that!  Amazing work, thank you for sharing all this! 

[Libraraptor]

It´s always refreshing to see some action in creative threads like these, and yes, I DO read every new entry, including yours.    And yes, I DO love the detail and appreciate the work you put into it!