Episode 275 is all about Dicraeosaurus, the first discovered sauropod with paired spines running down its neck.

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In this episode, we discuss:

News:

A pair of noasaurid bones from Australia expand the known range to nearly all of Gondwana source

The first case of LCH (Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis) was found in a dinosaur source

The Utahraptor Project has moved their massive sandstone block to a new location source

A new article ranks the US states in order of most dinosaur fossils discoveries source

The Illinois Burpee Museum of Natural History’s PaleoFest is coming up on March 6–8 source

Mobile, Alabama celebrated Mardi Gras with a parade that included a Velociraptor puppeteer source

Giant Screen Films recently released the film Dinosaurs of Antarctica source

LucasFilm is launching Star Wars; The High Republic, and may include dinosaurs source

Jurassic World 3 is now officially Jurassic World: Dominion source

The dinosaur of the day: Dicraeosaurus

Diplodocoid sauropod that lived in the Late Jurassic in what is now Tanzania (Tendaguru Hill)

About 39 ft (12 m) long

Small for a sauropod

Estimated to weigh 8800-11000 lb (4000-5000 kg); around same weight as an elephant

Did not have a whiplash tail

Did not have has much pneumaticity in the vertebrae as other sauropods, such as Brachiosaurus

Replaced teeth quickly, around every 20 days for the prexmaillary and rostral maxillary teeth and 50 days for the rostral dentary teeth

Had a large head, and a relatively short, wide neck

Neck had 12 short vertebrae

Probably a low browser (could eat food on the ground and leaves up to about 10 ft or 3 m off the ground)

Had a double row of neural spines on its back

Spines on the vertebrae were “Y” shaped, like a fork (which led to its name)

Spines also had muscle attachment points

Type species is Dicraeosaurus hansemanni

Genus name means “bifurcated” or “double-headed” or “two forked lizard”

Described in 1914 by Werner Janensch

Second species is Dicraeosaurus sattleri

Not much info on the different species, but looks like there were both named in 1914, and may have been found in a 1909 excavation

Other dinosaurs that lived around the same time and place include Giraffatitan and Kentrosaurus (ate vegetation at different heights, so they could all live together)

Fun Fact: Dinosaurs (at least Oviraptorids) eggs hatched sporadically like some modern birds, not all at once like modern crocodiles.

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