Today we are going to do yet another
23-Fact Tuesday, and this time it is all about a particularly interesting
dinosaur known as
Allosaurus. But this 23-Fact Tuesday is particularly special, as it is also the birthday post of one of my personal heroes and one of the people who inspired me to take this dinosaur- and animal-oriented path, Mr. "Dino" George Blasing! Happy birthday, Mr. Blasing! Here we go!
1. On Halloween in 1879, Arthur Lakes discovered a
tooth from a dinosaur that was later identified as
Allosaurus in
Wyoming.
2. In the
United States,
Allosaurus is found in the
Morrison Formation, and lived alongside other animals such as
Stegosaurus,
Apatosaurus,
Ceratosaurus,
Camptosaurus,
Gargoyleosaurus, and many others.
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| A skeleton of Gargoyleosaurus from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science |
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| Allosaurus Vs. Camptosaurus that I saw at a traveling exhibit at the San Antonio River Walk in Texas |
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| Stegosaurus at the Utah Field House |
3. The claws on the hand of
Allosaurus could reportedly grow up to 10 inches long.
4. Some scientists believe that
Allosaurus had a very weak bite, around the strength of a
leopard. Regardless of exactly how weak of a bite it had,
Allosaurus was definitely not a heavy-biter champion, and many
paleontologists hypothesize that it instead used its skull sort of like a hatchet to kill its prey, using its razor-sharp teeth to critically injure its prey.
5. The first fossils of
Allosaurus that were ever discovered were originally thought to be petrified
horse hooves.
6.
Allosaurus is the state dinosaur of
Utah.
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| A reconstructed skeleton of Allosaurus at the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry in Utah |
7.
Allosaurus certainly didn't sit on its rump and enjoy hamburgers and tea, as their skeletons show that they suffered many injuries throughout their lives. As a matter of fact, the
Allosaurus specimen that is on display at the Smithsonian Institution has a number of broken ribs, a smashed shoulder blade, and a damaged lower jaw.
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| A crushed femur belonging to Allosaurus from the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry |
8. The lower jaw of the specimen at the Smithsonian was so damaged, in fact, that it took scientists more than 100 years to figure out that it was, in fact, an
Allosaurus jaw!
9. A predator-prey relationship between
Allosaurus and
Stegosaurus was all but confirmed with the discovery of a specimen of
Allosaurus with a hole in one of its tail vertebrae that perfectly matched the shape and size of the
thagomizer on the tail of
Stegosaurus.
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| Allosaurus Vs. Stegosaurus at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science |
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| The "thagomizer" of Stegosaurus, mounted at the DMNS. Check out THIS post to learn about how this particular part of the Stegosaurus got its name! |
10. "
Allosaurus" spelled backwards is "Suruasolla," which means absolutely nothing.
11. The small
horns above the eyes of
Allosaurus are mostly thought to have been for display, as most scientists believe them to be too weak to withstand much stress resulting from conflict with prey or other
Allosaurus.
12.
Allosaurus gives its name to the group Allosauroidea, which includes the
Chinese theropods
Yangchuanosaurus and
Sinraptor, and the carcharodontosaurids, which includes one of the largest carnivorous dinosaurs of all time,
Carcharodontosaurus, amongst other dinosaurs.
13. Some of the other scientific names that
Allosaurus fragilis has
had over the years are
Allosaurus lucaris,
Allosaurus ferox,
Labrosaurus
ferox,
Labrosaurus lucaris,
Antrodemus,
Poicilopleuron valens,
Laelaps
trihedrodon,
Epanterias amplexus,
Hypsirhophus discurus,
Hypsirhophus
partim, and
Creosaurus atrox, with a few other names under debate right
now. Specifically, some scientists think that the dinosaur known as
Saurophaganax is the same animal as
Allosaurus. However, I have talked
with a few people, including
Matthew Mossbrucker, curator of the
Morrison Natural History Museum, and he says that he has seen the remains of
Saurophaganax and believes them to be distinct from
Allosaurus.
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| A reconstructed skeleton of Saurophaganax that I saw at a traveling exhibit at the San Antonio River Walk in Texas |
14. Besides
Saurophaganax,
Allosaurus was much larger than the other known theropods from
Late Jurassic Morrison, such as
Ceratosaurus and
Torvosaurus.
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| A reconstructed skull of Saurophaganax that I saw at a traveling exhibit at the San Antonio River Walk in Texas |
15. We humans actually live closer in time to the famous
Tyrannosaurus rex,
Triceratops, and other dinosaurs from that time period than they do to
Allosaurus!
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| A Triceratops skull at the Morrison Natural History Museum |
16.
Allosaurus fragilis was first named by famous paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh in 1877.
17. The scientific name of
Allosaurus fragilis translates to "fragile
different
lizard," named such due to the fact that Marsh believed that
the vertebrae of
Allosaurus would have been quite weak, and were
different from those of other, previously discovered dinosaurs. Now we
know that vertebrae of this kind were quite common.
18. One of the most famous specimens of
Allosaurus is the approximately 95% complete specimen nicknamed "Big Al." Estimated to be only a teenager at his TOD, he is about 26 feet long, which probably helps to explain why so many of my dinosaur books list the estimated length of
Allosaurus at around 26 feet.
19.
Allosaurus lived during the Late Jurassic Period, around 155.7-150.8 MYA in the
United States (
Colorado,
New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming,
Montana,
Oklahoma, and
South Dakota),
Portugal, and possibly the Tendaguru Beds of
Tanzania, although many people believe that this is
African animal is an entirely different animal from
Allosaurus.
20. Work began at the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry in 1960, and over 40
individual specimens of
Allosaurus have been uncovered there since then.
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| Unarticulated bones of Allosaurus from the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry |
21. Due to the vast number of
Allosaurus specimens discovered in all different stages of its growth development (especially from Cleveland-Lloyd), paleontologists have been able to estimate that
Allosaurus reached full-size at around 15 years of age, and lived to around 22-28 years old.
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| A whole bunch of Allosaurus leg bones all put next to each other to show the growth of the animal, largely based upon bones found at the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry, which is where this picture was taken |
22. Fossils of
Allosaurus are still being discovered to this day, a fact which I can personally attest to. Blocks of stone are still being excavated at the Morrison Natural History Museum, and bones of
Allosaurus, as well as its teeth, are currently being cleaned.
23.
Allosaurus is the favorite dinosaur of the famous dinosaur educator, "Dino" George Blasing.
And remember, if
you have a birthday coming up, just email me the date at
cuyvaldar123946@gmail.com with the date and your favorite animal, and I
will do my best to get a post in! And remember, if you like what you're reading, make sure you
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