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Alamosaurus Dinosaur of the Day
>> YOUR LINK HERE: ___ http://youtube.com/watch?v=hYmLTmtSJ8Q
Alamosaurus: Dinosaur of the Day • I Know Dino: The big dinosaur podcast. News, interviews, and discussions about dinosaurs. Are you a dinosaur enthusiast? Learn more at / iknowdino . • You can also visit http://www.IknowDino.com for more information including a link to dinosaur sites near you. • Alamosaurus • Name means “Ojo Alamo lizard” • Only one species: Alamosaurus sanjuanensis • Holotype found in June 1921, by Charles Gilmore, John Reeside and Charles Sternberg in the Ojo Alamo Formation of New Mexico (some call it the Kirtland Formation); other bones since found in Utah and Texas (juvenile found in Texas) • Gilmore described the species in 1922 and named it (NOT named after the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, or after the battle there); when it was named, Alamosaurus bones had not yet been found in Texas • Name comes from Ojo Alamo, the geologic formation where the bones were found (which was named after the Ojo Alamo trading post); some debate though over whether to reclassify the area as the Kirtland Formation or stay the Ojo Alamo Formation • In Spanish the word alamo means “poplar”, which is the local cottonwood tree • Sanjuanensis is named after San Juan County, New Mexico where the bones were found • Gilmore posthumously described a more complete Alamosaurus in 1946, that was found in 1937 (in Utah, by George Pearce); found a complete tail, right forelimb (no fingers) • Since then, hundreds of pieces of fossils found in Texas, New Mexico and Utah have been referred to as Alamosaurus • Fossils have been found of a juvenile and three fragmentary specimens • Not any really complete specimens have been found (tends to be more common to find juveniles because sediment covers smaller bodies more easily) • Most complete specimen is the juvenile found in Texas • Bits of Alamosaurus skeletons are some of the most common finds of late Cretaceous fossils in the southwest of the U.S., and are used to help define the fauna from then, called the “Alamosaurus fauna” • Found vertebrae and limb bones, which show it was around the same size as Argentinosaurus and Puertasaurus (may be the largest known dinosaur in North America); may have weighed as much as 73 tons • Dana Biasetti, a grad student from the University of Texas in Dallas, found pelvic bones and ten articulated cervical vertebrae of an adult Alamosaurus in 1999 in the Javelina Formation of Big Bend National Park (“Big Bend Alamosaurus“); may have been up to 100 ft long and weighing over 50 tons • Before, estimate was about 65 ft or 20 m long (based on juvenile skeleton and partial adult skeletons) • The bones were so large and the area so remote that Big Bend National Park issued a permit to remove the bones via helicopter, and in 2001 it was the first “dinosaur airlift” • Holly Woodward in 2009 found that the femur of an Alamosaurus bone was still growing, so researchers knew it got bigger • Alamosaurus lived in the Cretaceous in North America • There’s a 30 million year gap where sauropods seem to have died out in North America and when Alamosaurus appeared • Sauropods seem to have been more common at the end of the Jurassic (instead of Cretaceous); but could be we just haven’t found the fossils of more sauropods yet (some sauropods from the Cretaceous in North America include Astrodon, Sauroposeidon and Cedarosaurus • Alamosaurus may prove immigration from South America (appears and is dominant in North America abruptly). Some scientists think it emigrated from Asia, but it’s not likely they crossed bodies of water. May have descended from North American relatives, since there were early Cretaceous titanosaurs in the area • To learn more about dinosaurs and I Know Dino, connect with us on the following sites: • Facebook: / iknowdino • Twitter: / iknowdino • Tumblr: / iknowdino • Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/100785970... • Pinterest: / dinosauria • LinkedIn: / i-know-dino • Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list... • iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/i... • Sound Cloud: / iknowdino • Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/i-kno... • For more I Know Dino videos, subscribe to our YouTube channel at / @iknowdino
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