Build six Dino skeletons
23 February 2023
We've found some really cool MOCs for you again. As many as six this time that all fit together. This time we are talking about six Dinosaur skeletons that are all in perfect minifigure scale so they will fit perfectly in your LEGO® town or in a nice LEGO® museum MOC. Of course we have the building instructions and parts lists for you again so you can easily recreate them.
First we have the Ankylosaurus Magniventris, this species was discovered in 1906 and got its name in 1908 meaning 'curved saurian with the big belly'. After that, a small number of fossils of the species have been found. They are all incomplete so only part of the skeleton is known. By looking at other Ankylosauridae, the group to which Ankylosaurus belongs, we can get an idea of what the animal looked like.
Next up is the Pteranodon. It was discovered in 1870 as the first pterosaur outside Europe during an adventurous expedition by the famous Professor Marsh in the Wild West. Marsh initially found only pieces of wing bone. Later, his collaborators also dug up skulls, which showed that the animal had no teeth. Therefore, in 1876, Marsh gave it the name Pteranodon: 'wing-without-tooth'. After that, more than 1,200 fossils of the animal have been found so far. Since the first discovery, fifteen species of the genus Pteranodon have been named. Only two of these are thought to be truly distinct species today: Pteranodon longiceps and the Pteranodon Sternbergi named in 1966. The latter was perhaps the ancestor of the former.
Then we get the skeleton of the Stegosaurus. This is one of the most famous dinosaurs because of its distinctive appearance. It had long straight hind legs and short strong front legs. Its straight legs made it unable to run. Unlike ancient images show, it held its tail high in the air. At the end of that tail were two pairs of long spines. These enabled him to defend himself against predators, from which he could not run away. He was additionally protected by small leg plates on his neck. On its back was a row of 19 large pointed bony plates placed alternately until the end of the tail. The function of these plates is not clear. Possibly they protected the back from attacks, but it is also possible that they were used by the animal to cool down or to impress conspecifics and predators with them.
The Parasaur which means 'near a lizard' is the 4th in this list of skeletons. As early as 1848, fossils of pareiasaurs were reported from Germany - some of these fossils may have belonged to Parasaurus. It wasn't until 1857 when von Meyer described these fossils and created the genus Parasaurus. The type species is Parasaurus Geinitzi. The genus name means "near the lizard" in Greek. This should not be understood evolutionarily but as a resemblance in "form" or archetype. The species designation honours professor Hanns Bruno Geinitz.
Then we get one of the most famous dinosaurs, the T-rex, or Tyrannosaurus. It belongs to the group of Tyrannosauridae and lived about seventy to sixty-six million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous period, in the western part of present-day North America. The first fossil of Tyrannosaurus was discovered in 1874. In 1905, the type species of the genus was named: Tyrannosaurus rex, the 'king tyrantaurian'. Other species within the genus were later named, but usually T. rex is considered the only true species. In recent years, dozens of skeletons of T. rex have been found, giving scientists a good idea of what the animal looked like. Tyrannosaurus was a giant carnivore, growing up to 14 metres long and weighing eight tonnes. It walked on strong, high hind legs with its horizontal, broad torso balanced by a short, heavy tail. The front legs were very small. Prey was attacked with the large, heavily built head. Equipped with long teeth and heavy muscles, the jaws could exert tremendous biting force. Tyrannosaurus hunted large herbivorous dinosaurs, some of which, such as Triceratops and Ankylosaurus, knew how to defend themselves well so they had to be eliminated quickly with a few powerful bites.
At last and also a fairly well-known dino namely the Triceratops. The first remains of Triceratops were found around 1867 in the United States of America, in the town of Golden. In 1889, famous professor Othniel Charles Marsh gave the genus its name, which means 'three-horned face'. The first named species was Triceratops Horridus. Later, many more fossils of it were unearthed, all differing slightly in shape. Marsh and other scholars would name 16 more species for this purpose. Today, scientists believe that most of these are not distinct species. Perhaps only T. horridus is real. It may be that there was a second species: T. prorsus.Because of the many finds, the animal's build is well known. Triceratops was very large. He could grow nine metres long, three metres high and weigh 13 tonnes. It had a huge head, a short sturdy neck, a stocky narrow torso and a short tail that drooped slightly but did not drag on the ground. Its skin was covered with scales whose colour is unknown. The body rested on four legs that were very heavily muscled. The position of the hind legs was straight. The front legs were more spread out with the elbows pointing slightly outwards. The inner fingers and toes bore small hoof-shaped nails. The head was elongated. On the back of the skull grew a broad leg shield that extended over the neck and shoulders. Above the eyes were two long horns. A third, shorter, horn was placed on the nose. The narrow snout bore a sharp horned beak. With this, Triceratops plucked bushes from the ground, which were cut into pieces by sharp rows of small teeth. These were immediately swallowed and further digested in the large abdominal cavity. Scholars do not agree what the neck shield and horns were for. They may have been used to defend against the giant Tyrannosaurus rex, the main predator found in Triceratops' habitat. That possibility has made Triceratops one of the most famous dinosaurs among the general public. But some scientists think they were only used to fight among themselves, to determine who was the strongest. Others believe they were merely meant to show off or keep the different species apart.
These super cool LEGO® dinosaur skeletons were conceived and made by Bricklink user Kongzilla from Australia and would like to thank him very much for sharing his creations.
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