What Was The Aquilops? Dinosaurs from Jurassic World: Rebirth

The Jurassic Park and Jurassic World films are just plain awesome. I mean, who doesn’t like to see huge dinosaurs stomping around the place, am I right? Because I’m ancient, I remember seeing the original Jurassic Park movie in the cinema and becoming terrified of going to the toilet, just in case a T-Rex would try to eat me. Ah, those were the days.

Anyhow, here at the Imagining History office, we are tremendously excited that Jurassic World: Rebirth, a new entry in the storied series, is coming out this July. And, we thought, why don’t we have a look into the different Dinosaurs that will be playing a starring role in the forthcoming blockbuster? So, funnily enough, that’s what we’re doing!

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be investigating the cute Aquilops, the humongous Mosasaurus, the flying fortress known as Quetzalcoatlus, the sky-scraper like Titanosaurus, and the super scary Spinosaurus. So, buckle up, things are gonna get scaly!

First up, this adorable little dude:

Recreation of an Aquilops, complete with "funky nose bump". Image courtesy of Brian Engh.

Dinosaurs From Jurassic World: Rebirth

Aquilops

Name:

Aquilops Americanus, meaning American Eagle Face

Lived:

106 million years ago in the Early Cretaceous Period

Relatives:

The Aquilops is part of the Ceratopsia or “Horned Dinosaur” family. That means it’s related to everyone’s favourite plant-eating dinosaur, the Triceratops. Horned Dinosaurs are well known for being herbivores (plant-eating) dinosaurs with beaks. Experts think the Aquilops is one of the oldest members of the horned dinosaur family tree.

Size:

The Aquilops was roughly the size of a small cat (the perfect animal companion, ideal for fitting in your rucksack, just like in Jurassic World: Rebirth!). That makes the Aquilops much smaller than it’s truck-sized cousin, the Triceratops. Aquilops had a skull no bigger than a lemon!

A diagram of what the Aquilops' lemon-sized skull could have looked like. Image courtesy of Andrew A. Farke, W. Desmond Maxwell, Richard L. Cifelli, Mathew J. Wedel.

Weight:

Around 3 pounds. That’s the same weight as your liver! Odd, but true. The Aquilops weighed around 4,000 times less than a Triceratops.

Cat-sized and frankly adorable. Yep, we want the Aquilops as a pet too. Image courtesy of Brian Engh.

Appearance:

Aquilops had a beak like all of the other dinosaurs in the Horned Dinosaur family. But it didn’t have the bony head frill that it’s cousins are well known for (it was more of a “no frills” kind of dinosaur! You’re welcome!).

Also, despite being part of the Horned Dinosaur family tree, it actually didn’t have the face horns you may be familiar with from it’s relatives like the Triceratops. But it did have what experts are describing as a “funky bump” on the front of it’s beak. A little odd, but I guess it’s better than nothing.