Wednesday, April 23, 2025

What Do You Call....?

Scientists are excavating fossils from a site in Big Bend National Park. The bones are huge and so was the dinosaur, one of the long necked variety. It is believed to be the largest dinosaur to have existed in North America, certainly appropriate for upholding Texas's reputation for pride in size, and lived in the Cretaceous period, around 69 million years ago.  Similar fossils from this species have been found before in the park, but this is the most complete and well preserved.

It needed a name, of course. So, they picked a very Texas kind of name for the beast:  Alamosaurus!

Imagine how that battle might have gone if one of those was still around. I can just see that huge neck swinging back and forth knocking fighters off the walls. While I doubt somehow it moved vertically I can also visualize it's head pounding down whomping on the fighters to clear the area so it can get back to some peaceful grazing again... supposing it wasn't as arid back then. They haven't said whether it was carnivorous or not, though my uneducated impression is the long neck varieties foraged from the treetops. It comes, of course, from watching "Jurassic Park" repeatedly. I doubt a "Cretaceous Park" would be all that different in general form/function memes. The name just lacks the same punch though.

But "Alamosaurus"?  LOL

No comments: