Literature / Predatory Dinosaurs Of The World

Predatory Dinosaurs of the World: A Complete Illustrated Guide is a 1988 book by prolific paleoartist Gregory S. Paul. It is considered one of the landmark works of literature from the Dinosaur Renaissance, being the most extensive and thorough look at theropod dinosaurs of its time. This, along with Paul's detailed and dynamic illustrations, led to it influencing many future paleoartists, as well as many other works of media involving dinosaurs, from Jurassic Park (1990) to Walking with Dinosaurs.

It is also notable for being the oldest high-profile work to depict various non-avian theropods with feathers (about a decade before it was confirmed in the fossil record). Less favorably, it's also remembered for promoting Paul's very controversial views on theropod taxonomy.

This work provides examples of:

• Artistic License – Paleontology:
  • The book is somewhat infamous for promoting Greg Paul's very niche views on theropod taxonomy, with him synonymizing many related genera based on superficial similarities.
    • Some of them are reasonable enough and are even supported by other researchers: such as classifying Tarbosaurus bataar and Gorgosaurus libratus as Tyrannosaurus bataar and Albertosaurus libratus. Others, however, were considered quite absurd, even for its time, such as classifying the Mid Cretaceous Alectrosaurus olseni as "Albertosaurus olseni" and, most infamously, reclassifying Deinonychus antirrhopus as "Velociraptor antirrhopus", even though Deinonychus lived 35 million years before Velociraptor and on the other side of the Pacific.
    • Paul's definition of Ornithomimus is also very inclusive, not just lumping in the closely related and similar-aged Struthiomimus and Gallimimus but also the older and much more basal Archaeornithomimus. Troodon is also presented as a widely distributed Holarctic genus, as Paul lumps the Asian Saurornithoides into it, as well as (albeit tentatively) the fragmentary Elopteryx and Heptasteornis from Romania (who might not even be troodontids).
  • Paul stresses that the skulls of T. rex and T. bataar are so similar that if the latter was found in North America, it would undoubtedly be classified as specimens of T. rex. In actuality, their skulls are quite different from each other. While they look similar in profile view, the skull of Tarbosaurus is quite narrow compared to the robust and wedge-shaped skull of T. rex, and the eyes of Tarbosaurus were further spaced apart compared to T. rex, who is noted for having excellent binocular vision.
  • Paul expresses some of his personal theories about theropod evolution, which hadn't been widely accepted and some were debunked by future finds. Notably, he suggests that abelisaurs like Abelisaurus and Carnotaurus are derived megalosaurs, but megalosaurs are tetanurans, and abelisaurs are now considered derived ceratosaurs (a more basal stock of theropods). He also suggests that spinosaurs like Baryonyx and Spinosaurus evolved from animals like Dilophosaurus, thus making them derived coelophysids, as the latter has a similar notch in its upper jaw and back-swept nostrils, however, conventional wisdom is that spinosaurs are tetanurans and possibly derived megalosaurs. Ornitholestes and Proceratosaurus are also said to be basal allosaurs instead of the conventional coelurosaur classification (which later studies strongly supported).
  • One illustration shows a Ceratosaurus combating two Allosaurus by rearing up on its tail and trying to kick them like a kangaroo. It's highly unlikely that any theropod could do this without breaking its tail.
• Goofy Feathered Dinosaur: Possibly the earliest aversion of the trope (before it was technically even a thing). All the small theropods, from dromaeosaurs to Ornitholestes to even the very basal coelophysids are depicted with a coat of feathers, yet they are still depicted as formidable and highly successful killers (especially the raptors).
• Shown Their Work:
  • As to be expected from a book reflecting the Dinosaur Renaissance, it's very critical of the Dumb Dinos stereotype from the early 20th century and aims to show that theropods were successful and finely engineered predators that could go toe to toe with any mammalian predator.
  • The book is very supportive of the bird-dinosaur link and even depicts the various small, non-avian theropods with feathers, about a decade before it was confirmed in the fossil record, which was quite progressive and forward-thinking for the time (though the illustrations are nowadays outdated, particularly with the very reduced wing feathers).
  • The book is highly critical of the notion that large theropods like T. rex were obligate scavengers, explaining in detail how these animals had all the necessary tools to be apex predators and that no land predator can realistically survive on carrion alone, only soaring fliers like vultures and condors, which can cover vast distances with little effort.
  • It's accurately stated that most specimens of Allosaurus are midsized animals and that the larger, T. rex-sized specimens (like Saurophaganax) are rare, fragmentary, and are only known from the youngest layers of the Morrison Formation.
  • The book correctly states that Spinosaurus is closely related to Baryonyx, and would have shared the latter's crocodile-like skull rather than having the allosaur or tyrannosaur-like head it was commonly depicted with at the time. Unfortunately, Paul neglects to provide a skeletal or illustration of Spinosaurus with the Baryonyx-like head, which would have been far ahead of its time and perhaps even influential, before it would be cemented by the 1998 discovery of the snout which got incorporated into Jurassic Park III.
  • The holotype and only known specimen of Eustreptospondylus (at under 5 meters long) is acknowledged to be an immature animal, even though later media like Walking with Dinosaurs continued to perpetuate the idea of it as an island-dwelling "dwarf megalosaur".
  • Oviraptor is depicted with a proper crest rather than a nose horn as in contemporary depictions, with the book pointing out that the latter was the result of poor interpretations of the holotype.