#Sauroposeidon proteles

[dinodorks]

[ Some of the approximately 75 dinosaur tracks discovered at the site. Photo courtesy of Paul Baker / Friends of Dinosaur Valley State Park. ]

"Drought has dried up part of a river in central Texas, revealing 113-million-year-old dinosaur tracks. The prehistoric footprints emerged at Dinosaur Valley State Park, which is located in the town of Glen Rose, southwest of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. As the name suggests, the park already protects other dinosaur footprints. But the tracks that recently emerged are usually hidden under the mud, silt and waters of the Paluxy River. This summer, however, water levels have dipped so low that the prehistoric indentations are now visible. So far, volunteers have counted 75 newly exposed footprints in the parched riverbed. “It has been another very hot, very dry year, so our researchers are trying to take advantage of the drought,” says park superintendent Jeff Davis to the Dallas Morning News’ Sarah Bahari. Two different types of dinosaurs likely made the footprints, according to park officials. One was Acrocanthosaurus, a 15-foot-tall carnivore that weighed approximately 14,000 pounds. As the gargantuan reptile walked around the area on two legs, it left behind the outline of its three-toed feet. The other was Sauroposeidon proteles, which has been the official state dinosaur of Texas since 2009. This long-necked behemoth may have measured up to 100 feet long and weighed closer to 88,000 pounds. It left behind larger, bulbous-shaped tracks that are similar to elephant footprints."

Read more: "Drought Reveals 113-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Tracks in Texas" by Sarah Kuta.

#palaeoblr #Dinosaur Valley State Park #Texas #Acrocanthosaurus #Sauroposeidon #Dinosaurs #Cretaceous #Mesozoic #Prehistoric #Extinct #Theropod #Sauropod #Sauroposeidon proteles #Trace fossil #Article #Photo

[tyrannoninja]

Deinonychus Attack

These Deinonychus antirrhopus have their hungry eyes on a juvenile Sauroposeidon proteles deep in the forest of North America around 115 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous Period. If the young sauropod is able to shake the feathered predators off and reach adulthood, it will become one of the largest dinosaurs of all time, with a length ranging between 89 and 112 feet and a mass of 44 to 66 tons.

#sauroposeidon #deinonychus #dinosaurs #prehistoric #mesozoic #cretaceous #illustration #digital art #art #paleoart

[infinitemachine]

Sauroposeidon proteles by Antresoll

#dinosaur #dinosaurs #antresoll #sauroposeidon proteles #sauroposeidon #sauropods

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Sauroposeidon proteles

Source: http://green-mamba.deviantart.com/art/057-SAUROPOSEIDON-PROTELES-316078526

Name: Sauroposeidon proteles

Name Meaning; Earthquake God Reptile

First Described: 2000

Described By: Wedel, Cifelli & Sanders

Classification: Dinosauria, Saurischia, Eusaurischia, Sauropodomorpha, Plateosauria, Massopoda, Sauropodiformes, Anchisauria, Sauropoda, Gravisauria, Eusauropoda, Neosauropoda, Macronaria, Titanosauriformes, Somphospondyli

Sauroposeidon was a sauropod from the Albian age of the Early Cretaceous, about 112 million years ago. It was found in the Antlers Formation in Atoka county, Oklahoma, and other fossils from other areas have been assigned to this genus, including trackways from Paluxy River in Texas, and fossils from the Glen Rose Formation. Thus it is known from quite a few bones, and in an ironic twist of fate, remains that have been called petrified wood have been reassigned to this genus (as opposed to the quite a few actual pieces of petrified wood that have been called sauropods in the past. In fact, the actual fossils were originally thought to be tree trunks because they were too large to be the remains of an animal, however, they were then described as a sauropod upon closer examination. Oh paleontology. 

Source: http://paleoguy.deviantart.com/art/Sauroposeidon-Acrocanthosaurus-523981012

Sauroposeidon is probably the tallest known dinosaur, but it is not the longest nor the most massive. It had very elongated vertebrae, which are honeycombed with tiny air cells to make them lighter and easier to lift, like that of a bird. It would have had a neck about 11.25 to 12 meters long, and was probably able to raise its head 17 to 18 meters above the ground, as high as a six story building. Giraffatitan, on the other hand, could only raise its head 13.5 meters into the air. Its shoulders would have been about 6 to 7 meters high, and its total length could have been anywhere between 28 and 34 meters. It may have been between 50 and 60 tonnes, and while it had a larger body than Giraffatitan, it was smaller in comparison to the size of its neck than Giraffatitan, so it would not have weighed as much as a scaled up one. Given that its neck is much more gracile than that of Giraffatitan, if more fossils are found of it that are similarly slender, these weight estimates might still be too high. This is a similar situation to how Diplodocus is longer than Apatosaurus, but is much slimmer, and thus, weighs less. 

Source: http://alonsopaleo.com/new-page-3/ (Juan Carlos Alonso)

Sauroposeidon was a fairly rare organism in that it was a specialized sauropod in the Early Cretaceous - most highly specified members of this group come from the late Jurassic or late Cretaceous. It lived along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, which at the time was a vast river delta. This large floodplain would drain into the Western Interior Seaway, and it probably lived in a tropical or sub-tropical forest and river delta area , with coastal swamps, bayous and lagoons, like modern-day Louisiana. There were probably no predators which could attack a full grown Sauroposeidon, but juveniles would have been vulnerable to Acrocanthosaurus and even Deinonychus. It also lived along the sauropod Astrodon, but the most common dinosaur in the area was Tenontosaurus. 

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sauroposeidon

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[samnoblemuseum]

Discovery Channel

Last Friday the museum hosted a film crew working on a new program for the Discovery Channel. The show will focus on Prehistoric Predators, and one of the predators being showcased is Deinonychus, the little "kick-boxing" raptor showcased in our Coastal Cretaceous diorama. Deinonychus was not a big dinosaur, but seems to have packed a powerful "punch." Its name means "terrible claw," after the wicked-looking cocked-back claw on its feet. Scientists think it likely hunted in packs, based on teeth and other remains of Deinonychus found among the remains of tenontosaurs. A grouping like that was found by our curator of vertebrate paleontology Rich Cifelli and his team down in southeastern Oklahoma: tenontosaurs with teeth of Deinonychus scattered among the remains and even embedded in the bone, plus the broken remains of one unfortunate Deinonychus that looks like it had an unfortunate encounter with a Tenontosaurus' powerful tail. It looks like they likely came at in groups and attacked feet-first, ripping with those mighty hind claws. The crew interviewed Dr. Cifelli in the vert. paleo collection during the afternoon, and then spent hours Friday night lighting and shooting the exhibit. The shoot turned out to be quite a to-do. The director wanted the mounted specimens to appear in a black-box type of environment, with no visible murals or diorama details. This meant that the crew, assisted by our own fossil preparator, Kyle Davies, had to climb into the diorama and use a pipe and drape set-up to mask off the entire back of the exhibit, then lay black fabric (okay, they were really table cloths lent to us by the events department) over every visible bit of ground form under the critters' feet. The results were stunning. With help from some very dramatic lighting, the fossils take on a wonderful eerie and dangerous aspect. Kudos to Marc Miller, who was handling the lighting and camera work. I'm not sure when the program will air. "Sometime next year" is the closest guess the crew could give me at this juncture, but we'll keep you updated. Meanwhile, I'm also working with another Discovery Channel team, providing images of Sauroposeidon proteles (the world's tallest dinosaur and also an Oklahoma critter) for possible inclusion in yet another program on extreme dinosaurs. More about that in the future, as well.

#Deinonychus #Dinosaurs #Discovery Channel #Rich Cifelli #Sauroposeidon Proteles