This is the guy that did Dinotopia, basically everything he did was dino themed. In the book they use dinosaurs in their society so I guess he was just coming up with ways different species could be used.

I read the Silmarillion when I was a kid and started rereading it now that I'm older, I definitely understand a lot more, hah. Ungoliant is too cool, she's definitely my favorite villian in the Silmarillion still. I mean, she went toe-to-toe with the lord of evil and and would have won if he wasn't cheating with those balrogs, lol.