Orodromeus makelai - Mountain Runner

[I made a soundtrack for this painting, which can be heard at my SoundCloud page, here.]

Montana, sunrise in the Campanian Age of the Late Cretaceous:

Sol's rays illuminate morning fog and low clouds over the ancient Cordilleran highlands, and an Orodromeus, Mountain Runner, makes its way east towards the Late Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway that bisects the continent. Recent volcanism has startled and scattered the herd, and covered a swath of local vegetation in ash; a consequence of orogenesis, mountain building, the collision of tectonic plates causing upthrust that will eventually become known as the modern Rocky Mountains in 75 million years. Instinct drives the runner to the ancestral nesting grounds at Egg Mountain, closer to the prehistoric sea's shores.

The journey east holds the potential for a new mate, and dangers, too: A group of large, hungry Daspletosaurus has been prowling these foothills and would surely devour the Mountain Runner in a few bites if they get the chance - but the runner's senses are keen, and strong hind limbs swiftly propel its light 2.5 meter body. Troodon also prove threatening, with their sharp eyes, grasping claws, wounding teeth and relatively large brains. Mountain Runner narrowly escaped a Troodon two days ago, with a swift lash of its tail, lodging a quill in the Troodon's snout and leaving it stunned long enough to accelerate away.

Egg Mountain will provide some safety: large, herbivorous Maiasaura make their nests there, too, and the nimble Mountain Runner will find staying out from underfoot easy enough compared to fleeing swift and toothy predators. With luck, the runner will be reunited with the herd, and find a mate...

In deep time, fossils of Orodromeus, Maiasaura, and their eggs and young will give paleontologists clues to dinosaur behavior. The grand cycles of the world continue with theme and variation, driving the evolution and extinction of whole clades of life, our shared natural history as organisms of Earth.

[Some speculation above, but hopefully within the realm of possibility. Please don’t use or reproduce the image or words without permission, and thanks for viewing, reading and listening!]

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Little ornithopods like Orodromeus don't seem to get nearly enough attention in paleoart – they're often just shown as prey for theropods, despite being pretty fascinating in their own right. Recently-discovered Kulindadromeus , an older relative of Orodromeus from Jurassic strata of Siberia, had some remarkably well-preserved, fuzzy-looking, feather-like fossilized integument. Dr. Dave Hone wrote a great article about it, and included some amazing images of the fossils and really excellent artistic reconstructions, which can be seen here.

Kulindadromeus is more closely related to Triceratops than to birds: the implications are quite intriguing, and this discovery will have artists seriously rethinking how Ornithischians are depicted from now on (including Orodromeus). Kulindadromeus gets my vote for the #1 spot on any lists featuring top dinosaur discoveries of 2014 (with a lot of strong competition – what a great year for dinosaurs!).

Check out Andrey Atuchin's wonderful version of Kulindadromeus here; Tom Parker's great fuzzy Orodromeus here; and Scott Hartman's excellent skeletal drawing of Orodromeus at his page, here. Brian Franczak did a beautiful painting of Orodromeus, featured in The Audubon Society Pocket Guide to Familiar Dinosaurs (1993) which sits on my desk to this day. These artists (and many others – James Gurney and Wayne Barlowe come to mind), as well as the many paleontologists making discoveries in the field, helped inspire my painting of Orodromeus.