Abysm of Ages
Added 2025-11-05 22:15:23 +0000 UTCAs soon as a second massive terrestrial reptile was discovered, the Victorian paleoartists decided the were at each other's throat every second of the day.
Megalosaurus was the first therapod described by science at the time, and though it's been overshadowed in modern popular consciousness by its larger cousins such as Allosaurus and Tyrannosaurus, it's significance in scientific history cannot be understated, even warranting a metaphorical appearance in The Bleak House by Charles Dickens.
Obviously the understanding of the animal's anatomy has changed significantly over time (see the last image, (c) Mark Witton), but there's something obviously compelling about the shape and size of it as proposed by rudimentary science.
The female Iguanodons in this scene are inspired by the more updated understanding of Iguanodon provided by a massive fossil deposit discovered in a Bernissart coal mine in 1878. Depicting these conflicting interpretations as sexual dimorphism is a creative liberty on my part.
