Therizinosaur: Mystery of the Sickle-Claw Dinosaur (Plateau: Land and People of the Colorado Plateau

Dedication by David D. Gillette, Ph.D. - Colbert Chair of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Museum of Northern Arizona. Director's Message, by Robert G. Breunig, Ph.D. "Discovering the Therizinosaur from The Moon of Big Water", by David D. Gillette, Ph.D. Some discoveries are almost too surprising to imagine-defying a paleontologist's most imaginative wish list. This story about a new species of dinosaur represents one such discovery. By David D. Gillette "Life and Times of the Therizinosaur", by David D. Gillette, Ph.D. Although land-dwelling, the therizinosaur from The Moon of Big Water lived near an inland sea rich in marine biodiversity-from invertebrates and sea turtles not unlike those found today to strange predatory fish, plesiosaurs and other predators long extinct. "A Day in the Life of the Therizinosaur", by David D. Gillette, Ph.D. Imaginary scenarios, enlightened by science, describe how this terrestrial therizinosaur came to be buried some 60 miles from shore, in the muddy bottom of a shallow Cretaceous inland sea. "Musings on the Evolution of the Therizinosaurs", by David D. Gillette, Ph.D. At its most basic level, this scientific investigation is a snapshot of evolution of life on Earth and evolution of the Earth, and the intersection of these two subjects in the desert of southern Utah. Poem: by David D. Gillette