Dino of the Week: Cryolophosaurus

Type Species: Cryolophosaurus elliotti
Classification: Dinosauria-Saurischia-Theropoda-Tetanurae
Time Period: early Jurassic
Location: Antarctica
Diet: Carnivore

The remains of Cryolophosaurus were found in the barren colds and wastes of the Trans-Antarctic Mountains. Although some paintings of this carnivore depict it tramping through snow and shaking its weird crest this way and that in a blizzard, Antarctica in the early Jurassic wasn't where it is today; it was nearer the equator, and part of a larger continent; the climate would've been warmer and the land replete with temperature forests. Cryolophosaurus has been called the "Elvis Presley" of the dinosaurs because of its twin set of backward-sweeping crest that resembles Presley's infamous hairdo. Cryolophosaurus sported small horns adjacent to the backward-sweeping crests, Measuring at about twenty feet long, Cryolophosaurus was to the early Jurassic what Tyrannosaurus was to the late Cretaceous: the King of the Tyrants. 

Although Cryolophosaurus was the largest predator of its day (the much larger Allosaurus wouldn't come until millions of years later), paleontologists speculate that it may have been a scavenger rather than a hunter; the crests were relatively frail, and the ferocity of the hunt would likely damage the crests. Because the crest bones have been intact, it makes more sense that Cryolophosaurus scavenged for its food. One large skeleton of this dinosaur indicates it may have been a voracious eater: what looks like an herbivorous dinosaur's rib was found wedged inside the bones of the Cryolophosaurus' throat! Some postulate that this dinosaur choked on its dinner; others argue that the rib belongs to Cryolophosaurus and was maneuvered into that weird position after death. As to the purpose of this dinosaur's crest, it probably served as courtship decoration.