Perspectives - Jurassic period done! Check out #perspectives on my blog for more, I never thought I'd get this far when I started the project last year...
"Neck and Neck" Supersaurus/Harpactognathus/Diablophis Jurassic, 152 million years ago, Morrison Formation At the moment, Supersaurus is perhaps the longest known dinosaur, potentially reaching over 150 feet at maximum. One neck vertebra - BYU 9024 - hints at a monster whose neck alone was taller than a brachiosaur. Like any diplodocid, Supersaurus likely had a whiplike tail and a tiny head. The former was useful for defense, possibly - although science shows that the previous hypotheses of breaking the sound barrier would have obliterated the animal's soft tissue, this was still a tail capable of going very fast, propelled by enormous muscles! Recent research on diplodocid sauropods indicates a diverse array of scale types in a variety of shapes. The scales on these guys are inspired by the work of Tess Gallagher, who studies the skin of these types of sauropods. Diplodocus has also been found to have keratinous spikes down the back. I've chosen to give these to Supersaurus too. As some of the biggest animals of their environments, sauropods were likely ecosystem engineers, invulnerable to all but the largest of predators - maybe even stirring up insects and forcing small animals to flee in their wakes, tearing down forests, and changing the very structure of the land. For at least some sauropod species, even their *footprints* were big enough to form natural mud traps! And so, as these two sauropods meet each other - it could well be a momentous event. Harpactognathus is a pterosaur basically only known from the rostrum. From what we can tell, it probably had a toothy jaw and some sorta head crest, and was likely a rhamphorhynchid - likely one of the latest. Given the size of the remains, it was also likely one of the largest. This pair is likely after small animals fleeing from the sauropods to avoid being crushed. The snake is Diablophis! Basically only known from some jaws and vertebrae (admittedly, these are some of the more important parts of a snake), I based this reconstruction on a number of things - blindsnakes, the most basal known snakes, scaled up; as well as a number of lizards like monitors and skinks to sell the idea that this isn't your average Cenozoic snake, no no! Overall, I'd just say I wanted to sell the size of the big sauropods from the perspectives of some opportunists taking advantage of the situation - as well as some unfortunate low-to-the-ground fellas who have to live with enormous stomping neighbors.
