Sauroposeidon proteles Sauroposeidon proteles was one of the last giant sauropods to inhabit North America. In the year 2000, it was named as a new species based on four unusually long neckbones found in Oklahoma. Little did paleontologists know that they’d met this dinosaur before! Back in the 1980’s, a trove of sauropod fossils was …
Acrocanthosaurus atokensis Acrocanthosaurus atokensis was the supersized carnivore in North America during the Aptian-Albian ages. It took Acrocanthosaurus thirty some-odd years to grow into an adult dinosaur, but once it reached its full size it measured up to heavyweights like T. rex and Giganotosaurus—some of the biggest theropods to ever walk the earth. Scientists estimate an average Acrocanthosaurus …
Deinonychus antirrhopus Deinonychus antirrhopus was a velociraptorine dinosaur that, during the early Cretaceous, prowled the two continents that now make up North America. When the first Deinonychus fossils were discovered in 1969, paleontologist John Ostrum immediately recognized that the flexible wrist bones, long legs, scythe claws, and stiff tail suggested “an animal of great agility …
Tenontosaurus tilletti Tenontosaurus tilletti is a widespread Cretaceous ornithopod with fossil evidence all over the western half of North America. This ancestor of Iguanodon stood around five feet at the shoulder, grew to exceed lengths of twenty feet, and is estimated to have weighed somewhere between one and two thousand pounds. It was able to …
Convolosaurus marri Convolosaurus marri is an early type of ornithopod, a group of dinosaurs known as “duck-bills.” The first ornithopods were plant-eaters with small bodies, slender limbs, and birdlike feet that gave them an edge to outrun predators. In 1985, a huge graveyard of these dinosaurs was discovered in Texas near Proctor Lake. From 488 …
Radiodactylus langstoni Radiodactylus langstoni was a pterosaur that lived near what is now Dinosaur Valley State Park during the early Cretaceous. The one and only bone we have from Radiodactylus, a humerus, was found during construction at the Comanche Peak Nuclear Powerplant. Hence the Radio—as in radioactive. One measly wing bone may not seem like a lot …