Post by DinosaurMichael on Mar 25, 2012 9:16:26 GMT -5
Kodiak Bear - Ursus arctos middendorffi
The Kodiak bear (Ursus arctos middendorffi), also known as the Kodiak brown bear or the Alaskan grizzly bear or American brown bear, occupies the islands of the Kodiak Archipelago in South-Western Alaska. Its name in the Alutiiq language is Taquka-aq. It is the largest subspecies of brown bear. Few Kodiak bears have been weighed in the wild, so some of the weights are estimates. Size range for females is from 225 kg (500 lbs) to 315 kg (700 lbs) and for males 360 kg (800 lbs) to 635 kg (1400 lbs). Mature males average 480–533 kg (1,058–1,175 lb) over the course of the year, and can weigh up to 680 kg (1500 lbs) at peak times. Females are typically about 20% smaller and 30% lighter than males and adult sizes are attained when bears are 6 years old. Bears weigh the least when they emerge from their dens in the spring, and can increase their weight by 20–30% during late summer and fall. Bears in captivity can sometimes attain weights considerably greater than those of wild bears. An adult male Kodiak bear stands up to 1.5 m (5 ft) tall at the shoulder when it is standing on all four legs. When standing fully upright on its hind legs, a large male could reach a height of 3 m (10 ft). The largest Kodiak bear on record grew in captivity and died in the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in December 1955, weighing 757 kg (1670 lb). They are the largest brown bear subspecies, and are comparable in size to polar bears. That makes Kodiak bears and polar bears both the two largest members of the bear family and the two largest extant wholly terrestrial carnivores. The standard method of evaluating the size of bears is by measuring their skulls. Most North American hunting organizations and management agencies use calipers to measure the length of the skull (back of sagittal crest on the back of the skull to the front tooth) and the width (maximum width between the zygomatic arches — “cheek bones”). The total skull size is the sum of these two measurements. The largest bear ever killed in North America was from Kodiak Island with a total skull size of 78.1 cm (30.75 in), and 8 of the top 10 brown bears listed in the Boone and Crockett record book are from Kodiak. The average skull size of Kodiak bears that were killed by hunters in the first five years of the 21st century was 63.8 cm (25.1 in) for boars and 55.4 cm (21.8 in) for sows. Although the term “Kodiak bear” is widely used to include all coastal Alaska brown bears, the subspecies only occurs on the islands of the Kodiak Archipelago (Kodiak, Afognak, Shuyak, Raspberry, Uganik, Sitkalidak, and adjacent islands). The Kodiak bear population was estimated to include 3,526 bears in 2005, yielding an estimated archipelago-wide population density of 0.7 bears/square mile (271.2 bears/1000 km²). During the past decade the population has been slowly increasing.
Ceratosaurus - Ceratosaurus nasicornis
Ceratosaurus ( /ˌsɛrətɵˈsɔrəs/) meaning "horned lizard", in reference to the horn on its nose (Greek κερας/κερατος, keras/keratos meaning "horn" and σαυρος/sauros meaning "lizard"), was a large predatory theropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Period (Kimmeridgian to Tithonian), found in the Morrison Formation of North America, in Tanzania and Portugal. It was characterized by large jaws with blade-like teeth, a large, blade-like horn on the snout and a pair of hornlets over the eyes. The forelimbs were powerfully built but very short. The bones of the sacrum were fused (synsacrum) and the pelvic bones were fused together and to this structure (Sereno 1997). A row of small osteoderms was present down the middle of the back. Ceratosaurus was a fairly typical theropod, with a large head, short forelimbs, robust hind legs, and a long tail. The skull of Ceratosaurus was quite large in proportion to the rest of its body. Each premaxilla contained only three teeth, and each maxilla (the main tooth-bearing bones in the upper jaw) held between twelve and fifteen flattened, exceptionally long teeth. Each dentary (the main tooth-bearing bone in the lower jaw) bore eleven to fifteen teeth. The prominent nose horn is formed from protuberances of the nasal bones. A juvenile specimen is known in which the two halves of the horn are not yet fused together. In addition to the large nasal horn, Ceratosaurus possessed smaller hornlike ridges in front of each eye, similar to those of Allosaurus. These ridges were formed by enlargement of the lacrimal bones. Uniquely among theropods, Ceratosaurus possessed dermal armor, in the form of small osteoderms running down the middle of its back. The tail of Ceratosaurus comprised about half of the body's total length. It was thin and flexible, with high vertebral spines. The type specimen was an individual about 17.5 feet (5.3 m) long; it is not clear whether this animal was fully grown. David B. Norman (1985) estimated that the maximum length of Ceratosaurus was 20 feet (6 m). A particularly large Ceratosaurus specimen from the Cleveland-Lloyd Quarry (UUVP 81), discovered in the mid-1960s, may have been up to 28.8 feet (8.8 m) long. Marsh (1884) suggested that Ceratosaurus weighed about half as much as Allosaurus. In Predatory Dinosaurs of the World, published in 1988, Gregory S. Paul estimated that the C. nasicornis holotype skeleton came from an animal weighing about 524 kilograms (1,160 lb). A large femur from the Cleveland-Lloyd Quarry represents a much bigger and heavier individual, whose bulk was estimated by Paul at about 980 kilograms (2,200 lb).
The Kodiak bear (Ursus arctos middendorffi), also known as the Kodiak brown bear or the Alaskan grizzly bear or American brown bear, occupies the islands of the Kodiak Archipelago in South-Western Alaska. Its name in the Alutiiq language is Taquka-aq. It is the largest subspecies of brown bear. Few Kodiak bears have been weighed in the wild, so some of the weights are estimates. Size range for females is from 225 kg (500 lbs) to 315 kg (700 lbs) and for males 360 kg (800 lbs) to 635 kg (1400 lbs). Mature males average 480–533 kg (1,058–1,175 lb) over the course of the year, and can weigh up to 680 kg (1500 lbs) at peak times. Females are typically about 20% smaller and 30% lighter than males and adult sizes are attained when bears are 6 years old. Bears weigh the least when they emerge from their dens in the spring, and can increase their weight by 20–30% during late summer and fall. Bears in captivity can sometimes attain weights considerably greater than those of wild bears. An adult male Kodiak bear stands up to 1.5 m (5 ft) tall at the shoulder when it is standing on all four legs. When standing fully upright on its hind legs, a large male could reach a height of 3 m (10 ft). The largest Kodiak bear on record grew in captivity and died in the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in December 1955, weighing 757 kg (1670 lb). They are the largest brown bear subspecies, and are comparable in size to polar bears. That makes Kodiak bears and polar bears both the two largest members of the bear family and the two largest extant wholly terrestrial carnivores. The standard method of evaluating the size of bears is by measuring their skulls. Most North American hunting organizations and management agencies use calipers to measure the length of the skull (back of sagittal crest on the back of the skull to the front tooth) and the width (maximum width between the zygomatic arches — “cheek bones”). The total skull size is the sum of these two measurements. The largest bear ever killed in North America was from Kodiak Island with a total skull size of 78.1 cm (30.75 in), and 8 of the top 10 brown bears listed in the Boone and Crockett record book are from Kodiak. The average skull size of Kodiak bears that were killed by hunters in the first five years of the 21st century was 63.8 cm (25.1 in) for boars and 55.4 cm (21.8 in) for sows. Although the term “Kodiak bear” is widely used to include all coastal Alaska brown bears, the subspecies only occurs on the islands of the Kodiak Archipelago (Kodiak, Afognak, Shuyak, Raspberry, Uganik, Sitkalidak, and adjacent islands). The Kodiak bear population was estimated to include 3,526 bears in 2005, yielding an estimated archipelago-wide population density of 0.7 bears/square mile (271.2 bears/1000 km²). During the past decade the population has been slowly increasing.
Ceratosaurus - Ceratosaurus nasicornis
Ceratosaurus ( /ˌsɛrətɵˈsɔrəs/) meaning "horned lizard", in reference to the horn on its nose (Greek κερας/κερατος, keras/keratos meaning "horn" and σαυρος/sauros meaning "lizard"), was a large predatory theropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Period (Kimmeridgian to Tithonian), found in the Morrison Formation of North America, in Tanzania and Portugal. It was characterized by large jaws with blade-like teeth, a large, blade-like horn on the snout and a pair of hornlets over the eyes. The forelimbs were powerfully built but very short. The bones of the sacrum were fused (synsacrum) and the pelvic bones were fused together and to this structure (Sereno 1997). A row of small osteoderms was present down the middle of the back. Ceratosaurus was a fairly typical theropod, with a large head, short forelimbs, robust hind legs, and a long tail. The skull of Ceratosaurus was quite large in proportion to the rest of its body. Each premaxilla contained only three teeth, and each maxilla (the main tooth-bearing bones in the upper jaw) held between twelve and fifteen flattened, exceptionally long teeth. Each dentary (the main tooth-bearing bone in the lower jaw) bore eleven to fifteen teeth. The prominent nose horn is formed from protuberances of the nasal bones. A juvenile specimen is known in which the two halves of the horn are not yet fused together. In addition to the large nasal horn, Ceratosaurus possessed smaller hornlike ridges in front of each eye, similar to those of Allosaurus. These ridges were formed by enlargement of the lacrimal bones. Uniquely among theropods, Ceratosaurus possessed dermal armor, in the form of small osteoderms running down the middle of its back. The tail of Ceratosaurus comprised about half of the body's total length. It was thin and flexible, with high vertebral spines. The type specimen was an individual about 17.5 feet (5.3 m) long; it is not clear whether this animal was fully grown. David B. Norman (1985) estimated that the maximum length of Ceratosaurus was 20 feet (6 m). A particularly large Ceratosaurus specimen from the Cleveland-Lloyd Quarry (UUVP 81), discovered in the mid-1960s, may have been up to 28.8 feet (8.8 m) long. Marsh (1884) suggested that Ceratosaurus weighed about half as much as Allosaurus. In Predatory Dinosaurs of the World, published in 1988, Gregory S. Paul estimated that the C. nasicornis holotype skeleton came from an animal weighing about 524 kilograms (1,160 lb). A large femur from the Cleveland-Lloyd Quarry represents a much bigger and heavier individual, whose bulk was estimated by Paul at about 980 kilograms (2,200 lb).
