Bajadasaurus pronuspinax
(This is a new drawing so its found at bottom of printables lists via buttons up top.)
Bajadasaurus prospinax is a relatively newly discovered dinosaur from South America. It was found in Northern Patagonia in Argentina. Patagonia is where the biggest Sauropod dinosaurs were found. But Bajadasaurus was from the much earlier Jurassic time period, not the Cretaceous time period of Argentinosaurus and Patagotitan. Another spiny sauropod called Amargosaurus was also found years before. It was from 15 million years after Bajadsaurus. The big difference between these two armored Sauropods is Amargosaurus had spines facing back and the new dinosaur, Bajadasaurus, had spines facing forward.
There is much speculation on the use of these spines. Were they used for sexual display? Were they used defense. To me they would be for both. The spines on the neck would have interfered with a predator trying to snap their neck with a powerful bite. But some paleontologists think that the spines were too thin to be a good defense.
On the other hand, the spines faced forward and we don't know if they had a hard sheath of keratin with menacing sharp points. If they did, then the spines would be a formidable defense against Theropod predators. In fact those spines, with the keratin sheath, would have been well over a meter long.
As far as size, the Bajadasaurus is estimated to have been up to 43 feet or 13 meters long. This is big, but way smaller than the gigantic Patagotitan and Argentinosaurus that lived in Patagonia millions of years later.
Amargosaurus vs Ceratosaurus
(Note: Some reconstructions put the spines ONLY on the neck.)
(All of these drawings, except the first one on today's post, are older drawings so they
are found in the lists... but not at the bottom of the lists. The lists
are found by clicking on the buttons at the top of the page.)
Argentinosaurus and Argentinadraco
Argentinosaurus at Nesting Site
Patagotitan mayorum the Biggest Dinosaur
Patagotitan
No comments:
Post a Comment