The weather is getting cooler, seasonal jingles are playing in every major retail store, and the smell of cinnamon is everywhere…it’s Time for the Christmas Countdown!
I wish you very happy and safe holidays this month as you travel, see family, friends, or else enjoy the spirit of the season and prepare to ring in the new year. This time I’ll be visiting all sorts of critters from throughout the Mesozoic era, so have fun guessing which ones will be featured each day!
Alvarezsaurus: “Alvarez’s Lizard”
Alvarezsaurus was a small, very birdlike dinosaur from Late Cretaceous Argentina.
It was a relative of dinosaurs like Shuvuuia and Mononykus, which are famous for their short, strong, arms that only had one big claw. A few do technically have two other nub fingers on their hands, but these are so small that they were probably in the process of being lost completely.
What were these strange arms used for? One hypothesis is that Alvarezsaurus and its relatives were very good at digging for insects. There were plenty of termites and burrowing grubs (beetle larva) in the Jurassic, so depending on habitat the large claws could be useful for digging under bark, cracking into mounds, or getting into burrows.
Small size, long legs, and strong digging arms probably had plenty of other benefits as well. Fast, hard to catch, I imagine these critters behaving very much like modern ground birds. Fidgety, always on the look-out, and ready to run into the brush at a moment’s notice. Or snag a lizard as it darts past.
Perhaps they dug burrows for themselves to nest in, like modern parrots that dig nests in termite mounds. What better place for a nest than a prebuilt fortress filled with a ready food store? But such strong claws would also be good for digging into a fallen log with a rotting core, or simply expanding a burrow someone else has already started.
Alvarezsaurus does not have a head preserved, but close relatives (and the group as a whole) are clearly very specialized for their way of life. For example, Shuvuuia has eyes and ears that are very much like an owl, and it could move its top jaw in the same way many birds can. Basically, the top “beak” can move up and down while the rest of the head is still. This flexibility is called prokinesis, and is very helpful for using one’s mouth as a tool, a good thing for a critter with such short arms!
So many special adaptations give us a lot of opportunity to imagine how they might have lived. What do you see in your mind’s eye when you imagine these little dinosaurs?
And the Critter of the Month is…
It’s Tango the Archaeopteryx!
It was about time he got a proper update, because he’s had the same illustration since I introduced him way back in 2016.
Tango is very special, because he was the very first critter introduced to Pete’s Paleo Petshop. Depending on how you count the posts on this website, he could be the second or the fourth. (I don’t really count the first two)
- Post #1: Feb. 2015. An announcement that the website was live but still under construction.
- Post #2: Oct. 2015. The “elevator pitch” on the book that started this website, and what this website is all about. Plus Steggy gets her first unofficial appearance.
- Post #3: May 2016. After a lot of quiet work getting the site ready, this was my official start!
- Post #4: May 2016. Tango the Archaeopteryx made his debut! The illustration below was the first official critter profile in the shop.
The illustration above was posted in 2020, but it isn’t really an update. Ok so I tweaked a few things here and there and improved the shadows a little, but his lines are mostly all the same. Now it’s just Tigger, Bowser, and Ajax that are left that still have their original look.
Hmm…I may have to take a closer look at them and dust them off…
Thank you for joining me today! If you really like Tango’s painting and wish to support me, you can find him on Redbubble. Just click on the picture below or CLICK HERE to go to Redbubble and take a closer look.
See you tomorrow for day 2 of the Critter Christmas Countdown!
Pete's Paleo Petshop 
Not a thought behind those eyes
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For Ether Alvis/ana” (The Alvarezsaurus)(Alvis if male Alvana if female) or Tango
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Do you even know if/that the name Alvaro exists? Considering how the surname Alvarez is derived from said aforementioned name; I’d say it would be a better pick. All in all, we have our own mindsets and can make different decisions independent from one another.
(P.S. Another thing I recommend doing is proofreading your comments before pointing them; or else we may not understand what you’re trying to say. Your comments don’t need to be completely grammatically correct, just correct enough for us to understand what you’re saying.)
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Any name suggestions are welcome. I actually tend to prefer the names that sound like something a kid would come up with, since this website is supposed to be a fun place for children anyway.
I will not tolerate rude behavior towards other people on this website. Please help me ensure this website is a friendly and welcoming place for all.
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I know; I was trying to be as kind as possible while delivering my point. I had no intention on being rude, even if my commentary suggests otherwise.
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Lol, Tango is just happy to sing in the sunshine. Not very much to think about except how lovely the warm sun feels. 😀
I’m always happy to see name suggestions, and all are welcome, even if I may not pick them. 🙂 I’m thinking this little guy looks like an Alvin. I imagine him being super curious, fast, and always getting into stuff like Alvin the chipmunk. 😀 Those little claws would decimate a trash bag, so always make sure to put it in a properly locking garbage can, especially if there are food scraps in it!
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(This is AngelicWarrior speaking, by the way)
Tango’s redesign looks awesome, and I appreciate how much has changed since this site was first launched and how much I’ve changed now that I’m 18 (I believe I first discovered this site at 12 or 13).
As the CC lineup is much less predictable than last year’s I will dedicate my entries to similar animals to the ones showcased each day. In that case, the alvarezsaur Shishugounykus will have the spotlight for today on my end.
Shishugounykus was an alvarezsaur from the Jurassic period, which isn’t a common thing to see. In fact, this group of dinosaurs wasn’t known from before the Late Cretaceous until 2010, when Haplocheirus was described. This discovery pushed back the fossil record to almost 70 million years. Since then, two more Jurassic alvarezsaurs would be described: Aorun in 2013 and Shishugounykus in 2019. The latter is the focus, and its known manual features are closely linked to both the unique morphological alvarezsaur digits and typical coelurosaurian hands. Its discovery also showed that early alvarezsaur could come in several different sizes and had hands of different combinations of features.
Additionally, I will put you the names I’d give each critter if I could do so:
Alvarezsaurus: Alvaro
Shishugounykus: Yiwai (meaning “unexpected”, referring to the dinosaur’s species name, inexpectus, in (Simplified) Mandarin Chinese)
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(This is a continuation of the anonymous comment, also made by me, by the way)
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Thank you! I’m glad you like him. 😀
I think you’ll start to notice a pattern as the countdown goes on, so it may be a little easier to guess the next one. 🙂
It’s always cool to find out about new critters, and I had no idea there were any alvarezsaurs during the Jurassic. Hmm…I might have to feature one at some point. 🙂
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It’s good to see you back again at it doing a Critter Countdown. The idea was always great from last year and here it is, better than ever!
Alvarezsaurus is a good first choice considering how its discovery lead to the recognition of a new group of dinosaurs as recent as the 1990s. I appreciate the information provided and your dedication to more than just Jurassic critters.
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Thank you very much! I hope I can keep up! It’s a lot of critters and Baby is coming soon lol. It occurred to me that I’ve been stuck in the Jurassic for a while, and may still be for quite some time. Which is great, because the Jurassic has plenty of critters to explore just on its own…but it’s good to explore other time periods from time to time. 🙂
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