Only one skeleton has ever been found.
Set four years after the disastrous events of Jurassic World, next year’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom will introduce us to a handful of dinosaurs that we have not yet seen within the franchise. After all, the massive theme park known as Jurassic World housed countless dinosaurs we never actually got to see in the 2015 film; now that they’re roaming free, we’ll be seeing more of what the park had to offer.
For starters, the crocodile-like Baryonyx, which has been teased a bit so far, will be on full display in Fallen Kingdom. And then there’s the so-called Indoraptor, reportedly the new film’s genetically engineered big bad; to date, we haven’t yet caught so much as a glimpse of that particular dinosaur. And we kinda hope it stays that way until June.
Last night’s trailer revealed another new dinosaur that we’ll be seeing in Fallen Kingdom, which immediately captured the attention of the internet. With devil-like horns atop its head, this particular dino is one of the coolest we’ve ever seen within the franchise. But if you were thinking it was a hybrid cooked up for the movie, you’d be wrong.
The horned dinosaur, which looks to be quickly dispatched by the heroic Tyrannosaurus Rex in the film, is actually a real-life dinosaur known as Carnotaurus!
The name Carnotaurus means “meat-eating bull,” a reference to the horns that differentiate it from other dinosaurs. Via Wikipedia, the fast-moving Carnotaurus was “a member of the Abelisauridae, a group of large theropods that occupied the large predatorial niche in the southern Landmasses of Gondwana during the late Cretaceous.”
“Carnotaurus was a lightly built, bipedal predator, measuring 24.6 to 29.5 ft in length and weighing at least 1.35 metric tons. As a theropod, Carnotaurus was highly specialized and distinctive. It had thick horns above the eyes, a feature unseen in all other carnivorous dinosaurs, and a very deep skull sitting on a muscular neck. Carnotaurus was further characterized by small, vestigial forelimbs and long and slender hindlimbs.”
Most experts agree that Carnotaurus’ distinctive horns were used as butting weapons in battle, either to protect its own brain or better inflict pain upon its prey.
While the Carnotaurus has never appeared in the Jurassic Park films, longtime fans of the franchise may remember that Kenner turned him into an action figure for their original toy line back in the ’90s. Fittingly labeled on the box as “Carnotaurus – Demon,” the toy came with “capture gear,” which included shackles and a Hannibal Lecter-like mask.
That’s one scary ass dinosaur!
