Apatosaurus “Einstein” on Display

The most complete fossilised skeleton of an Apatosaurus ever found is going on display in Mexico.  The dinosaur nick-named “Einstein” as it was found with most of its skull material intact, rare indeed for a sauropod, is on display at the Lewis Hall in Fundidora Park, Monterrey, northern Mexico.

Apatosaurus Skeleton

An article was written in 2007 by Everything Dinosaur team members describing the discovery at the small town of Ten Sleep in Wyoming.  It seems that this unfortunate sauropod fell into a “predator trap” some 140 million years ago and this led to the exceptional state of preservation and to almost 80% of the entire skeleton being found.  The “predator trap” occurred as volcanic eruption covered a depression with a fine layer of ash, herbivores and other animals stumbled into it and their dead and dying bodies attracted predators such as Allosaurus and these too also became stuck in the mixture of mud and ash.

To read the original article: Exciting New Find of Apatosaurus.

A Sauropod Skeleton on Display

A sauropod (diplodocid) skeleton exhibit on display at the Frankfurt Natural History Museum (Naturmuseum Senckenberg). Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Photographs released show “Einstein” in all its glory.  The 23 metre skeleton weighs over 4,000 kilogrammes and visitors can get a excellent impression of what this giant Jurassic sauropod looked like.  Remarkably, the skull of this dinosaur was found almost intact.  Skull material in sauropod dig sites is exceptionally rare and very few fossil skulls and skull material are known from the existing fossil record.  The neck is held in a more horizontal position, the pose now favoured by palaeontologists as compared to the “swan-neck” stance that was still popular in the 1980s.  The tail is held off the ground.  The tiny head is over 4 metres off the ground and would have permitted this huge dinosaur to graze on low trees and scrub.  Scientists have estimated that it would have needed several hundred kilogrammes of plant material a day to keep this particular Jurassic giant well fed.

Apatosaurus Dinosaur Models

The latest Apatosaurus model from Schleich of Germany is posed in the now accepted posture of a sauropod.  The earlier model had a tail drag (tail on the ground), but the new sculpt lifts the tail completely off the ground.

To view the Schleich sauropod and other prehistoric animal models and figures: Schleich Prehistoric Animal Models.