# What is the dungheap dino (JP3 question - BEWARE - SPOILERS!) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 24, 2001, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-dungheap-dino-jp3-question-beware-spoilers/73620 "2001-07-24T13:45:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2001, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-dungheap-dino-jp3-question-beware-spoilers/73620/1 "2001-07-24T13:45:01Z")
I’ve always fancied myself an armchair paleontologist, facinated by dinos since age 4 or so (well before such a facination was deemed “marketable”). I’ve even had college instruction on the subject. However, while viewing Jurassic Park 3 this weekend, I could not idenitfy the theropod in the scene where Grant and Co. are digging the satellite phone out of the Spinosaur poo. My impression was that the critter was an implied coprophage (is that the word?), about 7’ tall, with a short nasal horn, and apperaed to be rather red. Can any of my fellow paleo-enthusiasts suggest an identitiy for this dino? ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2001, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-dungheap-dino-jp3-question-beware-spoilers/73620/2 "2001-07-24T15:06:01Z")
It looked like a rather stunted Allosaurus, to me. Then again, a) I’m not a paleontologist and b) neither are the people involved with JPIII. ---
**Author:** ![Jet\_Jaguar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jet_jaguar/32/3562_2.png) [@Jet\_Jaguar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jet_Jaguar)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2001, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-dungheap-dino-jp3-question-beware-spoilers/73620/3 "2001-07-24T18:10:10Z")
With that horn on it’s nose, I believe it’s a Ceratosaurus. ---
**Author:** ![Jet\_Jaguar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jet_jaguar/32/3562_2.png) [@Jet\_Jaguar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jet_Jaguar)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2001, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-dungheap-dino-jp3-question-beware-spoilers/73620/4 "2001-07-24T18:46:47Z")
I want to add that I’m also not a paleontologist, just a guy who knows more about dinosaurs than an adult should. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2001, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-dungheap-dino-jp3-question-beware-spoilers/73620/5 "2001-07-24T20:58:54Z")
Another “amateur” here. However, I think it’s safe to say that it definitely was not an _Allosaurus_. Allosaurs had two horn-like projections over each eye (many therpods had these, in fact, though they were rather pronounced in _Allosaurus_), but no nasal horn. I believe _Ceratosaurus_ is out as well, since the nasal “horn” in the Ceratosaur’s case is more like a short crest - it’s flattened from side to side. Ceratosaurs also had the two “eye horns”. _Ornitholestes_ had a nasal “horn” similar to _Ceratosaurus_, but was much smaller (standing only about 1.5’-2’ at the hip). Having said that, I have no idea what it _was_ (or, perhaps more likely, what it was supposed to be). The problem is that it was on-screen for too brief a period for me to get a good look.