E02 #03 '개미 사냥' 모노니쿠스 Mononykus

2편. 사막 Desert

 : 드레아드노우그투스 Dreadnoughtus

 : 타르보사우루스 Tarbosaurus

 : 벨로키랍토르 Velociraptor

 : Azhdarchid

 : 모노니쿠스 Mononykus

 : 안킬로사우루스 Ankylosaurs

 : Alvarezsaurs

 : 테리지노사우르스 Therizinosaurs 

 : 바르바리닥틸루스 Barbaridactylus

 : Hadrosaur

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We move on to one of our most-loved sequences, that featuring the amazing Mononykus, a small, feathered, bird-like alvarezsaurid theropod from Mongolia.

Evidence from ear anatomy shows that Mononykus and kin were OWL-LIKE in hearing abilities and likely had facial discs. These animals were seemingly ant- or termite specialists that used a long tongue and tiny, reduced teeth to process insect prey. A fascinating dinosaur group!

 

My friend and colleague Alberta Claw has done an excellent job of describing the scientific backing to the view of Mononykus portrayed in Prehistoric Planet, I very much recommend his own Twitter thread, here...

https://twitter.com/albertonykus/status/1529173580998647810

트위터에서 즐기는 Alberta Claw

Seeing lots of love for Mononykus in Prehistoric Planet, including from producers Jon Favreau and Mike Gunton. Mononykus was part of a group called the alvarezsaurs, and as someone who has adopted one as my username for years, I was very impressed by its portrayal! Here's why...

Alvarezsaurs were a group of small theropod dinosaurs, mostly pigeon- to turkey-sized. They were pretty closely related to birds (but not as close as, say, Velociraptor) and one species has been preserved with remains of a feathery coat.

One of the strangest features of Late Cretaceous alvarezsaurs were their forelimbs: extremely short and stout, with stiffened joints to avoid dislocation, HUGE attachments for muscles that pull towards the body, and a single enlarged claw.

We only see this set of traits in animals that hunt for social insects by using their forelimbs to tear open hard substrates: anteaters (pictured), pangolins, and some armadillos. So this is also our best guess for how alvarezsaurs fed. 

In Prehistoric Planet, Mononykus digs up termites from dead wood, not a termite mound. Traces of wood-nesting termites are common in some Cretaceous deposits, whereas it is disputed whether mound-building termites were present in the Mesozoic at all.

Termite-eaters also often have a long tongue. A tongue skeleton (“hyo” in picture) is preserved in one alvarezsaur specimen and reported to be “well-developed”. A toothless tip of the lower jaw may have allowed a long tongue to protrude.

Alvarezsaurs had very long legs for their size, which probably helped them not only escape predators, but also travel efficiently for long distances. And as mentioned on Prehistoric Planet, alvarezsaurs may have traveled a lot, for insect colonies can be very widely dispersed.

(Jonah Choiniere et al.)

The newest alvarezsaur discovery shown in Prehistoric Planet is their great hearing! A study last year found they had similar inner ear structure to barn owls, which hunt by ear. Some modern termite-eaters like the bat-eared fox listen for prey, too.

For more about the biology of Mononykus and its close relatives, I wrote a popular article a couple years ago covering most of these topics in more detail: https://albertonykus.blogspot.com/2020/05/making-sense-of-alvarezsaurid.html

Alvarezsaurs were previously featured on Chased by Dinosaurs (2002) and Dinosaur Planet (2003), but neither truly highlighted how amazing they were. I couldn’t be more pleased with their depiction in Prehistoric Planet, and the fact so many viewers are now enamored by them!

Very little is known about alvarezsaur feathers; the only examples found are fibrous remnants from Shuvuuia. Might be simple filaments, but some argue they may be the more durable shafts of complex feathers. Your drawings seem within realm of plausibility.

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Moving on, we stay in Asia and meet the hadrosaur Barsboldia, a (probably) flat-headed hadrosaur from Mongolia, named in 1981 and notable for the tall, wavy ridge along its backbone...

 

These animals lived in environments (now preserved in the Nemegt Formation) that featured lakes, floodplains and forests at times, but also large, dune-dominated deserts at others. The animals here would have encountered desert conditions during parts of their histories...

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Prehistoric Planet : Mononykus chasing termites - Gaëlle Seguillon

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David Krentz Concept Art

Here is some work I did for Prehistoric Planet Season 1.  At first I worked with some existing models ( which were really good) and then adjusted them for a little more character and form.

I'll send some more pics of mono, but I did this painting to finalize the direction. At first a blue was was considered for hot environment reasons.