Therizinosaurs

Enigmosaurus

Therizinosaurus.

   Therizinosaurus is a large presumably herbivorous Theropod dinosaur that was discovered in the 1940's. Its most distinguishing physical features are its large claws that resembles scythes which can reach lengths of 1 meter (3.3 feet). No skull remains have been found for Therizinosaurus but it is assumed that it was a plant eating dinosaur since other members of its taxonomic family were. Much of it's anatomy is guesswork based on comparative anatomy with other Therizinosaurs to fill in the blanks.

   Therizinosaurus is a unique kind of dinosaur in that it is not only a vegetarian Theropod, but actually grew larger than many carnivorous Theropods. Therizinosaurus grew to approximately 35 feet long head to tail, roughly 20 feet off the ground at the head, and a estimated weight of 3 tons, making this veggie lover one of the largest Theropods, and also land animals of all time. Another interesting point is that unlike most Theropods, Therizinosaurus had no dewclaw, but had four weight-bearing toes. Therizinosaurs are also the only Theropods believed to have not held itself horizontally, but in more of a tridactyl stance like old portrayals of Theropods where the animals stands mostly erect.

   There have been a few sightings in West New Britain, Papua New Guinea of a large reptilian creature that strikingly resembles a Therizinosaurus since the 1990's(the island is scarcely inhabited and there are others nearby that are not populated at all by humans). The creatures a said to be large with a long neck and tail, resembling a large wallaby and having a turtles head.

Brian Irwin, recently interviewed a number of New Britainers who had recently encountered what appears from the descriptions to be living dinosaurs.

“Since the 1990s, a large ‘reptilian’ creature has been sighted occasionally on Umbungi Island in West New Britain, Papua New Guinea. Umbungi Island is located on the south coast of West New Britain between Kandrian and Gasmata. The creature has also been sighted on Alage Island, about 1km to the south of Ambungi Island. I interviewed a young man on Umbungi Island, Robert who sighted the creature around 2005/2006. The creature was also sighted at the same time by Tony Avil, who was not on Umbungi Island when I was there. Robert does not speak English, so an interpreter was used to translate Pidgin to English. The creature was described as having a long tail and a long neck and was 10–15 metres in length, with an appearance like a ‘very large wallaby’ and having a head like a turtle’s head. It walked slowly on two legs and had smooth, shiny brown skin. The top of the head was estimated to be as high as a house and the underbelly of the creature was as high as an adult. The creature was described as being fearful-looking, with the sighting being made from a distance of about 50 metres. The sighting was made in the late afternoon and was observed for a considerable length of time.”

When shown the Dinosaur Handbook, by Hazel Richardson, the eyewitnesses selected Therizinosaurus as being a close match to what they had seen except for the head of the creature. Coincidentally, the skull of Therizinosaurus has never been found and paleoentologists have had to simply guess what the head may have looked like and what the dinosaur ate.

Beipiaosaurus