Dinosaurs & Prehistory - Dinosaurs - Dilophosaurus - Dinosaur anatomy - Jurassic
Which ability of Dilophosaurus has not been scientifically proven?
Correct!
Through Jurassic Park, Dilophosaurus became particularly known for spitting poison at its victims. However, there is no fossil evidence of such an ability. There is also no scientific evidence for the fold-out neck brace shown in the film. The real Dilophosaurus wetherilli was also significantly larger than the film version. Adults reached approximately six to seven meters in length and were among the largest land animals in North America in the Early Jurassic. What was actually characteristic were the two elongated bone ridges on the skull. This is exactly where the name Dilophosaurus – meaning “two-crested lizard” – comes from. The combs could have been additionally covered by keratin and may have served for visual presentation. A comprehensive new description of the known fossils appeared in 2020 and confirmed Dilophosaurus as a large, two-crested theropod from the Kayenta Formation in what is now Arizona.
There is no fossil evidence for the ability of the Dilophosaurus to spit poison shown in the film. However, among other things, his two skull crests are documented.
