Hey YouTube, Jim here!
Welcome to Top10Archive!
You know, our world today is filled with some really strange critters, but if you think
that’s unique to the quaternary period of the Cenozoic era, you’d be wrong.
Even the age of dinosaurs had its own rogues gallery of freakish and unusual creatures,
the top ten of which we’ve lined up for you in this Archive of the strangest dinosaurs
ever to have existed.
As we begin, subscribe to the channel and click the bell so you’re notified automatically
whenever the Top10Archive team uploads a new video.
10.
Incisivosaurus We know oviraptors as being lean, mean, carnivorous
machines, but this tiny beast, also known as the Incisor Lizard, may change what we
understand about the oviraptorsaur lineage.
The incisivosaurus is best recognized by its strange overbite and a pair of oversized,
rodent-like front teeth that hang over the lower jaw.
While menacing-looking, the Incisivosaurus was actually believed to have been part, if
not entirely, herbivorous.
Though only a skull 10 cm long has been recovered, estimations put the dinosaur’s full size
at 3’ (1 m).
9.
Pegomastax Ark: Survival Evolved community members may
recognize this unusual beast for its thieving properties, but whether the pegomastax would
make a good modern pickpocket is not really known from its fossil records.
What we do know is that the possibly herbivorous bird-like dinosaur sported a short beak and
one enlarged tooth, possibly used as a means of defense.
When first discovered, the pegomastax made headlines as the “Dracula dinosaur” and
the “Fanged vampire parrot.” 8.
Qianzhousaurus It’s nickname, Pinocchio rex, may make this
1,800 lb (800 kg), 29’ (9 m)-long Cretaceous carnivore sound like child’s play, but there’s
no reason to believe it wouldn’t make a meal out of you.
And when it does, you’d be dangling out of the dinosaur’s most unique – and oddest
– feature, an elongated snout.
Unlike its cousin the Tyrannosaurus, the Pinocchio Rex isn’t known for its powerful jaws, leaving
paleontologists questioning what its diet could have been.
While a longer snout often points to chowing down on fish, it’s assumed Pinocchio, who
shared the land with the T-Rex, snacked on smaller dinosaurs.
7.
Epidexipteryx What do you get when a mix a peacock with
an oviraptor?
You get the 1’ (30 cm)-tall, 10” (25 cm)-long Epidexipteryx.
Its name, which means Display Feather, points to the tiny dino-bird’s predominantly strange
feature – a series of ornate tail feathers believed to serve the same purpose as those
of a peacock.
The epidexipteryx was believed to have skittered about the ground during the Jurassic Period
and sported long, awkward arms that almost take the focus off its tail feathers.
6.
Stygimoloch Sure, its name is weird, but we’re more
distracted by its Satan-like horns protruding from the rear of its head.
A relative of the pacycephalosaurus, we understand the purpose of the domed head as a means of
protection in the big bad world of carnivorous giants, but those horns kind of make it look
like the rebellious teenager that opted for body augmentation to shock his parents.
In all seriousness, the strange horns weren’t thought to be an added means of protection
but were used by males to compete for females.
5.
Amargasaurus At first glance, the amargasaurus looks like
your standard sauropod, but that row of spikes on its head says differently.
The 32’ (10 m)-long Amarga Lizard actually sports two rows of spikes which run from its
neck down to the end of its tail.
Why the strange sauropod sports any spikes is unknown, though researchers believe that
the larger set on its neck were either supports for a double sail or were covered by horns.
Other theories point to a defense mechanism or even simply as a means of display for species
recognition.
Whatever the reason, they work in making the amargasaurus an oddball of a sauropod.
4.
Concavenator Dinosaur names can be incredibly weird, like
the concavenator.
While it sounds like a scrapped model of terminator, the concavenator, or the hump backed hunter
from Cuenca (ˈkweŋ-kä), was a carnivorous member of the Cretaceous period.
Earning the theropod its name was a strange protrusion directly above its hip caused by
the extension of two presacral vertebrae.
Why it sported this hump is unknown, though researchers speculate it was a means of either
recognizing others within its species or enhancing thermo-regulation.
3.
Mamenchisaurus We can all pretty much agree that giraffes,
while adorable, are pretty strange-looking animals, right?
If you’re with us on it, then you’ll probably think the same about the mamenchisaurus, a
sauropod from the Jurassic period.
At first glance, it looks like your standard sauropod, then things change when you start
to look at the numbers.
Growing upwards of 114’ (35 m)-long, the mamenchisaurus’ neck would make up about
half of that as it was usually the length of the body and tail combined.
Why its neck was so long is similar to why many buy those E-Z Grabber aids – so they
can reach everything around them without having to move.
2.
Therizinosaurus This is nothing short of a living terror,
but when you get beyond how horrific and dangerous it looks, you start to see how strange the
therizinosaurus is.
A long neck, wide pot-bellied torso, giant claws that could tear into a bus – this
giant theropod is more of a failed science experiment than creature of nature.
Despite what its massive claws may indicate, the therizinosaurus was herbivorous and is
often compared to the now-extinct ground sloth.
Its unusual body build indicates that it may have traveled incredibly slow and maybe even
been a little on the lazier side.
1.
Linhenykus Initially discovered in 1993, the mononykus
was recognizable by the distinct characteristic of not having actual hands, but a pair of
functional claws joined by non-functioning fingers.
Eighteen years later, a fossil was dug up in deposits located in Inner Mongolia and
what was discovered was even stranger than the mononykus.
Dubbed the linhenykus, this new specimen was similar to its cousin but had one notable
difference – where the mononykus had useless fingers, the linhenykus had nothing accompanying
its claw, making it the first one-fingered dinosaur ever known.
It’s been proposed that the linhenykus – and it’s clawed relatives – used their unique
appendages to dig in ant and termite nests.
Thanks for watching and we hope you found the info about these strange creatures interesting.
If so, give the video a like and leave a comment about which one captivated your attention.
And please subscribe to the channel.
If you think of yourself as a trivia guru on all things ancient and modern, head on
over to our second channel.
Either search "Test and Quiz Channel" on YouTube, or head over to our featured tab.
And, oh look!
here’s two more videos among the hundreds available on Top10Archive that you can watch
right now.