FOR AGES 3 YEARS TO 18 YEARS
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Kidadl provides inspiration to entertain and educate your children. We recognise that not all activities and ideas are appropriate and suitable for all children and families or in all circumstances. Our recommended activities are based on age but these are a guide. We recommend that these ideas are used as inspiration, that ideas are undertaken with appropriate adult supervision, and that each adult uses their own discretion and knowledge of their children to consider the safety and suitability.
Kidadl cannot accept liability for the execution of these ideas, and parental supervision is advised at all times, as safety is paramount. Anyone using the information provided by Kidadl does so at their own risk and we can not accept liability if things go wrong.
During the early Jurassic Period, a dilophosaurid theropod dinosaur known as Dracovenator lived in South Africa approximately 200 million years ago. It was described and named in 2005 by Adam M. Yates. The name means, dragon hunter. This medium-sized bipedal carnivore measured between 18-21.3 ft (5.5-6.5 m) in length. The weight and size of Dracovenator are 881.8 lb (400 kg) and 23 ft (7 m) respectively. Dracovenator inhabited the ground and was a moderately-built carnivore. An incomplete Dracovenator skeleton skull was all that was recovered as its type specimen. It was reclassified from Syntarsus rhodesiensis to Dracovenator, a juvenile specimen. An adult has a hand claw, an upper jaw, hip bones, backbones, including ribs, and foot bones. It may have similar-looking characteristics similar to Dilophosaurus. It was named a dragon hunter because of its carnivorous nature.
If you like reading about the Dracovenator, you might also like the Chungkingosaurus and the Homalocephale.
It is pronounced 'dra-co-ven-a-tor'. In the name of this genus, draco stands for 'dragon', and venator stands for 'hunter', thus meaning 'dragon hunter'.
Dracovenator regenti were theropods related to the family genus Dilophosauridae of the Animalia kingdom. The type species of Dracovenator is Dracovenator regenti, which was described and named in 2005 by Adam M. Yates. It was described as a new theropod dinosaur from the Early Jurassic era of South Africa and its implications for early theropod evolution.
The Dracovenator was found to roam the earth in and around Hettangian-Sinemurian in the early Jurassic period.
The dinosaurs ceased to exist about 65 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous period, they roamed the Earth during the early Jurassic time. The Dracovenator is assumed to have gone extinct around this time. Climate change on Earth may have been caused by large volcanic eruptions.
Dracoventor's remains were found in the foothills of the Drakensberg, also known as dragon's mountain. It is also believed to have lived in the Upper Elliot Formation found in South Africa.
The Dracovenator's habitat is believed to have been on land near forests.
From fossilized footprints called trackways, it is clear that dinosaurs traveled together. Herding behavior may have been associated with some dinosaur groups based on the finding of numerous track sites.
The average lifespan of Dracovenator is 21 years. An incomplete Dracovenator skull was all that was recovered.
According to the information collected, typically, a female will normally lay between 24-26 eggs per clutch. In the first year of life, hatchlings reached 4.9 ft (1.5 m) in length at the end of their first growth stage. Adults take care of these juveniles. As with other extinct reptiles of comparable size, Dracoventor bauri invested a lot of energy in reproduction. When a juvenile grows up, it measures between 18-21.3 ft (5.5-6.5 m) in length.
Dracovenator's features are estimated to have measured between 18-21.3 ft (5.5-6.5 m) in length. Other estimates suggest that Dracovenator was 23 ft (7 m) long and weighed 881.8 lb (400 kg). An articular bone, a bone fragment of the maxilla, two dentary fragments, two pieces of the surangular bone, three pieces of the angular bone, two pieces of the prearticular bone, and several teeth exist within the holotype specimen. Despite its small size, this dinosaur has kinks in its upper jaws between the premaxilla and maxilla. Dilophosaurus also had lumps and bumps on the back end of its lower jaw. The lump features on the lower jaw were much smaller in size. Based on Mutyikwa and Raath's research (1999), they reclassified paratype BP/1/5278 from Syntarsus rhodesiensis to Dracovenator, a juvenile specimen consisting of teeth, teeth roots, and jawbones. A pair of crests may have been present on it, as on Dilophosaurus. Only the skull of this dinosaur was recovered.
A diagnosis specifies the anatomical features that distinguish an organism(s) from others. A diagnosis may also contain autapomorphies, but not necessarily all of them. An autapomorphy is a distinctive characteristic of a given organism. According to research by Yates (2005) classification, this dragon hunter must have these features. The presence of a broad bilobed fossa at the lateral premagnum foramen is connected by a deep, narrow channel at the alveolar margin. The articular bone has an oblique notch, separating the retroarticular process from the posterior margin of the glenoid. There are also several well-developed tab-like processes on the dorsal surface, one on the medial surface, including chorda tympanic foramen, while the other is on the lateral side, just beyond the depressor mandibula fossa.
According to an article published in 2006, Dracovenator regenti possesses a hand claw, an upper jaw, hip bones, back bones, ribs, and foot bones. The exact number of bones they had is unknown.
Several groups of fossil dinosaurs, some consisting of horns, frills, crests, sails, and feathers, have displayed visual display structures. This suggests that visual communication has always been one of the significant features of given dinosaur biology. Color may have played a significant role in visual communication. There is less certainty about dinosaur vocalization's evolution. In some cases, Paleontologist Phil Senter suggests non-avian dinosaurs made sounds using non-vocal means like hissing, jaw grinding, clapping, splashing, and wing beating. Apparently, dinosaurs could make closed-mouth vocalizations similar to cooing, which is found in crocodilians, birds, and other reptiles. Dracovenator vs Dilophosaurus has few similarities and both are related to the family genus Dilophosauridae.
A Dracovenator size is 18-21.3 ft (5.5-6.5 m). But some believe it to be 23 ft (7 m) long. It is quite large; being thrice the size of a giraffe.
The estimated walking speed of medium-sized, bipedal (two-legged) dinosaurs ranges from 2.5-3.7 mph (4-6 kph), while the estimated running speed ranges from 23-54.7 mph (37-88 kph).
A Dracovenator dinosaur weighed roughly 880 lb (400 kg).
There are no sex-specific names for the Dracovenator.
A baby Dracovenator is called a hatchling.
They were believed to be carnivores but some pieces of evidence suggest they were omnivores. When we think of Dracovenator meaning dragon hunter, the name implies a skilled hunter capable of taking down magnificent prey. Dracovenator was a plant-eating theropod that was often observed chewing on plants in reality. Its diet at large is composed of plants, despite its sharp teeth and powerful jaws. While it collected plants as well as meat, it wasn't a very omnivorous animal. As well as amphibians, Dracovenator would feed on small dinosaurs and synapsids. It is a very intelligent species that uses strategic thinking and a pack hunting method. An efficient pack coordinates its attacks, and its catch is split fairly among its members. The Dracovenator probably preyed upon prosauropod dinosaurs in the environment where they lived.
Yes, they were aggressive. Their attacks were aggressive; if the prey was not disabled at the first strike, they would attack again and again.
A holotype and paratype specimen of this species are held in the fossil collection of the Evolutionary Studies Institute. A large part of the cranial material housed at Evolutionary Studies Institute has been lost, and no new fossils of Dracovenator have been discovered so far.
Dracoventor is quite a famous dinosaur and has quite a fandom. It is featured in the ark Dracovenator.
The word Draco means 'dragon', while Venator means 'hunter', so it is also called 'dragon hunter'. The dragon's mountain is known in Dutch as the Drakensberg, the mountain where it was discovered. During Professor Kitching's fieldwork, Regent Lucas Huma served as an assistant to him under the name regenti. The type species, Dracovenator regenti, was named and described in 2005 by Adam M. Yates.
Dinosaurs were supposedly very caring parents so they did take care of their babies. They were overprotective of their eggs. Feathers were used to keep the egg warm, indicating that they were beginning to use an insulating layer. There is some evidence that the younger dinosaurs were provided with parental care because of the lack of teeth in their embryos.
Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly dinosaur facts for everyone to discover! Learn more about some other creatures from our Ostafrikasaurus facts, or Rahonavis facts for kids.
You can even occupy yourself at home by coloring in one of our free printable swimming dinosaur coloring pages.
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At Kidadl we pride ourselves on offering families original ideas to make the most of time spent together at home or out and about, wherever you are in the world. We strive to recommend the very best things that are suggested by our community and are things we would do ourselves - our aim is to be the trusted friend to parents.
We try our very best, but cannot guarantee perfection. We will always aim to give you accurate information at the date of publication - however, information does change, so it’s important you do your own research, double-check and make the decision that is right for your family.
Kidadl provides inspiration to entertain and educate your children. We recognise that not all activities and ideas are appropriate and suitable for all children and families or in all circumstances. Our recommended activities are based on age but these are a guide. We recommend that these ideas are used as inspiration, that ideas are undertaken with appropriate adult supervision, and that each adult uses their own discretion and knowledge of their children to consider the safety and suitability.
Kidadl cannot accept liability for the execution of these ideas, and parental supervision is advised at all times, as safety is paramount. Anyone using the information provided by Kidadl does so at their own risk and we can not accept liability if things go wrong.
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