Grahhhrr! There's a new species of Dinosaur in town partner, and his name is Eodromaeus! His name means "Dawn Runner" and it is thusly named because the creature lived around 230 million years ago which places it a bit before the ascension of the dinosaurs as the dominant species on Earth which we all know lasted quite a long time. Standing around just below the knee level of a human, Eodromaeus was around 4 feet in length and looks to be quite a speedy little devil. Miraculously, the skeleton of the Eodromaeus is almost 100% complete which is an incredibly rare event in itself, but considering the small size of the dinosaur and the rather delicate nature of his frame it's an amazing find. Even more amazing is the age of the dinosaur of course and the curious nature of some of the features on the Eodromaeus raises more questions than it answers.

Originally mother Earth had a different plan and the earlier proto-mammals and giant insects were the dominant land species and their plentiful numbers kept the lizards and early dinosaur-like creatures from making much of a strong presence. But then the Permian-Triassic Extinction Event happened (more dramatically known as The Great Dying) and quite a number of large mammals and insects were wiped off the face of the earth allowing the reptiles to flourish. Curiously, some conjecture that forcing the mammals into the background may have been the major factor responsible for the now typical mammalian features of being covered in fur and possessing a high metabolism as most now had to exist as creatures of the night. But you know...blah blah blah, theories theories theories, life goes and and continues to do funny things in order to survive.

Although for now the Eodromaeus is cl@ssified as a firm ancestor of the eventually giant and quite terrifying theropods such as the Allosaurus, Deinonychus, and or course the Tyrannosaurus Rex, some unusual features had some proclaiming it to be a possible ancestor of the giant long-necked sauropods. Although Eodromaeus possesses typical razor-like incisors of a carnivore, it also possesses some rather blunt teeth in the back typical of your usual plant-eating herbivore. But after the full skeleton was fully examined it seems clear to most that the dinosaur shares far too many bird-like features commonly found in later theropods and modern day birds resulting in it taking the place as an early line to those eventual terrors of the Cretaceous Period. Yet what about that odd mixture of teeth? Some have put forth a reasonable theory of the Eodromaeus as an omnivore which was likely predominantly a predator, but could live off of some plants as was needed for survival or certain specific dietary needs. Sounds reasonable and is also pretty darn interesting.

Some other notable features is that Eodromaeus possesses a rigid tale and a rather unique pelvic structure which is fairly common for a theropod. But it also possesses large air sacs in its neck bones which could have helped to regulate breathing, but I have a hankering it could just be a tool for good old sexual display as sexual activity betwixt dinosaurs tends to be the most obvious things that scientists tend to think about last as try to reason out the biological function of every feature on a creature. Pretty keen eh? Yeah, yeah, I know...perhaps not particularly interesting to a lot of folks, but I'm an old dinosaur nerd so thanks for putting up with my ramblings.

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