Prehistoric Park, Breaux Bridge, Louisiana

We stopped at Cajun Palms RV Park in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana on our way east. Connected to the park is a prehistoric park that it seems they run because that is how the website is listed. We heard lots of dinosaurs roaring all afternoon on Sunday. On Monday morning Lucy and I took our walk to check out the dinosaurs. There is a golf cart trail at the end of the road that turns into a concrete road and then a greenway to get to the concrete trail where the dinosaurs are located. 

Pterosaur

The Pterosaur is a carnivore; it lived during the late Triassic-Late Cretaceous Era (28-66 million years ago). It ate mostly fish, mollusks, crabs, insects and scavenged dead animals on land. They ranged in size from a few inches up to 40 feet long. They walked on their elbows by folding their wings. They had a large brain and excellent eyesight.

Kentrosaurus

The Kentrosaurus is a herbivore; it lived in the Late Jurassic Period (156-150 million years ago). It eats low lying plants. They ranged in size up to 16 feet in length, 6 feet tall and weighed up to 2 tons. They had a toothless beak and small cheek teeth. They are slow moving, but are well protected from predators. It had hoof-like claws on its toes. It walked slowly on four legs. Its back legs were twice as long as its front legs. This probably allowed it to stand up briefly on its hind legs to reach higher plants.

The walkway

Dimetrodon

The Dimetrodon is a carnivore and its name means "two measures of teeth." It lived during the Permian Period (280 and 265 million years ago). It most likely ate other pelycosaurs (its close relative), insects and other animals. It grew up to 11 feet in length, was 3 feet tall, and  weighed up to 550 pounds. The Dimetrodon was not considered a dinosaur, but a pelycosaur, a so-called mammal-like reptile. They walked on four legs that sprawled out to the sides (unlike dinosaurs, whose legs extended  under their bodies). It was a very fast runner. Its teeth included sharp canines in the front of its snout, ideal for digging into freshly killed prey, and shearing teeth in the back for grinding up tough muscle and bits of bone. The most distinctive feature was its giant sail, which may have been used as a temperature-regulation device, using it to soak up valuable sunlight during the daytime and dissipate excess heat at night.

Stegosaurus

Stegosaurus means "root lizard" or "plated lizard." They are a herbivore, eating mostly plants, and lived during the Late Jurassic Period (154-144 million years ago). They grew up to 23 feet in length, up to 9 feet tall, and weighed up to 2 tons. They had no teeth in front, just a beak. On the sides of its jaw, he had tiny "cheek" teeth," very weak. Although the body was large, its brain was only around the size of a dog's, which was about 1 inch. Like many herbivore dinosaurs, they swallowed small rocks that helped mash up the tough vegetable matter in its enormous stomach. Its bony plates along its back may have helped keep its temperature right. The plates may have had blood vessels which could absorb heat from the sun. They had thick legs like an elephant, which held up its weight, but didn't allow it to run very fast. 

Edmontonia

Edmontonia means "armored dinosaur." It's an herbivore and lived during the Late Cretaceous Era (76-65 million years ago). It grew up to 22 feet in length, up to 6-1/2 feet tall, and weighed up to 3 tons. It had sharp spikes jutting out from its shoulders, which may have been used to deter predators or to fight other males for the right to mate. It had pouches in its cheeks, suggesting they spent a lot of time  chewing their food. They had sharp beaks used for cutting through tough plants.

Brachiosaurus

The Brachiosaurus is an arm lizard. It is an herbivore and lived during the Late Jurassic Period (156-145 million years ago). They grow up to 85 feet in length, 50 feet tall, and weigh up to 85 tons. The life span of the average Brachiosaurus was about 100 years. The adults had little to fear from predators, but they still had to keep an eye on smaller, more vulnerable juveniles. Their best defense was their size. In addition, its long tail could whip away most attackers. It is estimated that they ate about 440 and 880 pounds of plants every day. They probably traveled in herds and may have migrated when they depleted their local food supply.

Camarasaurus

Camarasaurus means "chambered lizard." It was an herbivore and lived during the Late Jurassic Period (155-145 million years ago). They ate ferns, leaves and conifers. They grew up to 85 feet in length, 15 feet tall, and weighed up to 20 tons. They were a sauropod, whose intelligence (as measured by its relative brain to body weight) was among the lowest of the dinosaurs. It has a relatively short neck and tail. It also had a larger hollow-like head in comparison to other sauropods. They had strong, robust teeth indicating that it may have processed food in its mouth to some degree before swallowing.

Velociraptor

Velociraptor means "swift plunderer" or "swift seizer." They are a carnivore and lived during the Late Cretaceous Period (99-65 million years ago). They ate other dinosaurs, especially slow-moving plant eaters. They grew up to 6 feet in length, 4 feet tall, and weighed 55-100 pounds. It played a large role in the Jurassic Park movies but was often shown inaccurately. Rather than being a larger, human sized dinosaur, the Velociraptor was around the size of a really large turkey. It is also believed to have had feathers that were not shown in the movie portrayal. They traveled in packs. They ran with their sickel-shaped toes pointed back, ready to tear apart any prey it got hold of. Pointing the toe back kept it from dulling on the ground so it stayed nice and sharp. Its tail had hard, fused bones and was inflexible and not useful as a weapon but it kept him balanced as he ran, hunted and jumped. It may have been able to run up to roughly 40mph on its two skinny legs, but it could only sustain that speed for very short bursts.

Parasaurolophus

Parasaurolophus means "near crested lizard." It's an herbivore and lived during the Cretaceous Era (76-65 million years ago). It age pine needles, leaves and twigs. It grew up to 30 feet in length, 8 feet tall, and weighed up to 2 tons. They come from a family of dinosaurs known as Hadrosauridae that are known for having strangely shaped skulls. They had a long elongated, bony crest on its head with which it may have made low-frequency, fog horn like sounds. The crest was up to 6 feet long. They spent most of their day browsing for vegetation on four legs, but could easily break into a reasonable trot on its two hind legs if it needed to. Its mouth was like a duck bill with hundreds of teeth on the inside.

Triceratops

Triceratops means "three horned face." They are herbivores, and lived in the Late Cretaceous Period (99-65 million years ago). They grow up to 30 feet in length, up to 7 feet tall, and weigh up to 9 tons. They had between 400 and 800 teeth, although only a small percentage of these were in use at any one time as they were constantly replaced throughout its lifetime. On some adults, the "eye horns" grew to be more than 3 feet long. Their big tail helped balance the weight of its big head. When threatened by predators, it probably charged into its enemy like the modern-day rhinoceros does. It needed its three horns to protect itself from the T-Rex which lived during the same time period.

Utahraptor

Utahraptor means "Utah's predator. It is a carnivore and lived during the Cretaceous Era (125 million years ago). They hunted anything that was available to them. They grow up to 25 feet in length, up to 9 feet tall, and weigh up to 1500 pounds. They were the largest raptor dinosaur that ever lived. They had large curved claws on their second toe that was up to 9" long. They used these claws for slashing and ripping at its prey. The Utahraptor was a dromaeosaurid, whose intelligence (as measured by its relative brain to body weight) was the highest among the dinosaurs. There were also grey colored Utahraptors, called Spitters, that have small spines on its back and a yellow sac on its throat, and are capable of spitting acid.

Gastonia

Gastonia means "Rob Gaston found the first specimen." It is an herbivore and lived during the Cretaceous Era (125 million years ago). It grows up to 15 feet in length, up to 5 feet tall, and weighs up to 1 ton. Gastonia would have had bad eyesight but a great sense of smell and hearing, and it would have moved slowly.  It probably would have behaved like most turtles behave today, by lying low and waiting for the predators to go away. The only way to take down this animal would have been by flipping it on its back, as it had a soft belly. Its head contained a mobile brain case, perhaps for shock absorbance in case of head butting in a confrontation. It was discovered relatively recently and named in 1998, which is why they are still doing research on how rapidly they grew and how much they needed to eat.

Sarcosuchus

Sarcosuchus means "fleshy crocodile." It was a carnivore and lived during the Early Crustaceous Period (112 million years ago). It's diet was mostly fish. It grew up to 39 feet in length and weighed up to 10 tons. They had no less than 132 teeth on each side of its mouth that were not very sharp. Their eyes only rolled up and down, not left and right. They spent most of their time submerged partially below the surface of freshwater rivers.

Tyrannosaurus rex

Tyrannosaurus rex means "Tyrant Lizard King." It was a carnivore and lived during the Late Cretaceous Period (70-65 million years ago). It ate other dinosaurs. It grew up to 42 feet in length, up to 13 feet tall and weighed up to 7 tons. It is most commonly referred to as "T-Rex." It had massive jaws with 50-60 blade-like teeth, some up to 9" long. It had bad breath from the shards of rotten, infected bacteria infested meat lodged in its numerous teeth which gave T-Rex a "septic bite," which may have infected (and eventually killed) wounded prey. It was believed that T-Rex could eat up to 500 pounds of meat in one bite. The T-Rex could bite its prey with the force of 2000-3000 pounds of pressure. When it ran, he could go 20 miles per hour and could cover 15 feet in one step. Its arms were only about 3 feet long, and it had 2-fingered hands, not too helpful in fighting other dinosaurs.

Dilophosaurus

Dilophosaurus means "Double crested lizard." It is a carnivore and lived during the Early Jurassic Period (201-189 million years ago). It ate dead carcasses and large fish. It grew up to 22 feet in length, up to 10 feet tall, and weighed up to 1200 pounds. It always ran in packs, never alone. The most distinctive feature was the paired crest on the top of its head. It was a very fast runner on its two hind legs. Its teeth were very long, but had a small base and its mouth was not built well to consume larger animals. Unlike its portrayal in Jurassic Park, it did not spit poison.

Allosaurus

Allosaurus means "different lizard." It was a killer predator and scavenger and ate other dinosaurs and dead carcasses. It lived during the late Jurassic Period (150-135 million years ago). It grew up to 40 feet in length, up to 17 feet tall and weighed up to 5 tons. It has been called the "great-great grandfather of T-Rex. It was a frightening killing machine. Its front hands hand 3 claws on each, not two like T-Rex. It had big, sharp teeth that had edges like saws. They were active predators and there is evidence that they attacked the Stegosaurus. Like many predatory dinosaurs (not to mention modern crocodiles), the Allosaurus consistently grew, shed and replaced its teeth, some of which averaged 3 to 4 inches in length. It had about 16 teeth in both its upper and lower jaws at any given time. At the time they lived, they were the largest predators and at the top of their food chain. This means that they had no predators themselves at all.

Olorotitan

Olorotitan means "giant swan." Its an herbivore and ate twigs and leaves. It lived during the Late Cretaceous Period (70-65 million years ago). It grew up to 40 feet in length, up to 13 feet tall and weighed up to 5 tons. They had a relatively long neck compared to other duck billed dinosaurs. They walked primarily on two legs though it may have grazed on all four legs. It was the fastest of all the hadrosaurs when on its hind legs.

Iguanodon

Iguanodon means "Iguana tooth." It was an herbivore and ate ferns and plants. It lived during the Early Cretaceous Period (135-125 million years ago). It grew up to 30 feet in length, up to 9 feet tall and weighed up to 3.5 tons. It was relatively a gentle plant eater despite its large size. Its long spikes on its thumbs were used to stab food. The front of its beak-like mouth was toothless.

Styracosaurus

Styracosaurus means "spiked lizard." It was an herbivore and ate ferns and plants. It lived during the Late Cretaceous Period (75-70 million years ago). It grew up to 17 feet in length, 6 feet tall and weighed up to 3 tons. It had a beak-like mouth with teeth found only in its cheeks. Their large frills had at least 6 horns on them. It had a two foot long horn extending from its snout and smaller horns poking out from its cheeks. These horns were most likely used to defend them from predators.

Protoceratops

Protoceratops means "first horned face." It is an herbivore and eats plants. It lived during the Late Cretaceous Period (86-71 million years ago). It grew up to 8 feet in length, up to 3 feet tall (to the top of the shoulder), and weighed up to 900 pounds. It had a large head and bulky body. It had short legs so it could not move at a fast pace. It also had very large eyes. It had frills attached to the skull. It laid eggs in a nest (each nest had 12 or more eggs). It had a parrot-like beak and lived in herds.