Just want to add this real quick because it’s important.
I know it’s tempting to want to pirate this series but if you have the money then PLEASE don’t. Apple TV+ is only $5 a month so you can just pay for a month, watch the series (maybe multiple times) and then cancel. You could even just use the 1 week free trial if you need to. But please, let’s show the creators of the series (including actual paleoartists and scientists!) our support so that we can maybe see a season 2 or even a renewed interest in paleo media in general.
Like most paleonerds, you probably have a favorite type of dinosaur. Maybe you are a fan of theropods, maybe you are more into sauropods or maybe you are more of a ceratopsian person. No matter what sort of dino you prefer we’ve got you covered! Choose one of out t-shirts and let us know what you fancy.
Amargasaurus cazaui was a sauropod dinosaur with a very distinctive-looking skeleton, sporting a double row of long bony spines along its neck and back. It lived in what is now Argentina during the Early Cretaceous, about 129-122 million years ago, and was fairly small compared to many other sauropods, reaching about 10m in length (~33’) with a proportionally short neck compared to its body size.
And despite being known from fairly complete skeletal remains there’s still a lot we don’t know about this dinosaur – especially what was actually going on with those vertebral spines. While it’s sometimes been depicted with skin sails over the spines, for the last couple of decades the general opinion has trended towards them being more likely to have been covered by spiky keratinous horn-like sheaths.
But recently that’s been brought back into question. A detailed study of the microscopic bone structureofAmargasaurus’ spines shows no evidence for keratin attachment and instead found textures associated with skin coverings, along with an extensive web of ligaments connecting the spines to each other along each row.
What:Europasaurus is the smallest sauropod known. Now remember I said smallest SAUROPOD known, so we are still looking at an animal that was about 20 feet (~6 meters) long. Keep in mind though, this includes the long neck and tail - taking those out of the picture and the animal’s body length was about 6.5 feet (~ 2 meters). This length, coupled with the shoulder height of Europasaurus ( about 5 feet [~1.5 meters]), gives us a sauropod with a body that was about the size of a modern elephant. There are a number of proposed tiny sauropods out there, but I have selected Europasaurus as it is known from several almost complete skeletons, from juveniles to adults, so we can be sure this is not just a baby sauropod that would have grown much larger. Above I have included a diagram from the original description of Europasaurus rather than a reconstructed mounted skeleton to show you just how much of the skeleton is known. Why is Europasaurus so small? Its our good friend Island Dwarfism back again! The specimens have been found in Germany, on what would have been one of many islands in the area during the late Jurassic, owing to the higher sea levels.
This smallest of all sauropods is in the clade Macranaria within the sauropod family tree. This group actually contains some of the biggest sauropods (and thus dinosuars) ever known! Talk about some size diversity within a group! An adult Europasaurus could have easily walked between the legs of some of its larger cousins. The great range of ages in the recovered specimens of Europasaurushave allowed for detailed study of the microstructure of the bones, revealing how these animals grew. From this study it has been proposed that Europasaurus managed to stay small on its restricted island habitat by not stopping its growth exceptionally earlier than its relatives, but instead by dramatically slowing down its growth rate.
I hope this cute little sauropod makes up for ruining all of those childhoods with the reality (or should I say unreality) of Brontosaurus a few posts ago. ;)
the dwarf titanosaur bravasaurus attempts to scare off a larger punatitan to little effect, both of these animals are from the late cretaceous of argentina and were described back in october
The “leaf-like” profile created by the high, laterally compressed neck feature here puts me in mind of phasmid or chameleon-style camouflage….I can almost see it rocking in the breeze.
BOTTOM: Speaking of chameleons–beautifully chameleon-like color and textures applied to the anomalous short-necked sauropod Brachytrachelopan.
Another workmanlike CGI illustration of Brachiosauruses on the beach, from Josh Gregory’s imaginatively titled Brachiosaurus. I don’t know why this particular juxtaposition appeals to me so, but notably I do see it a lot in kids’ books.
