Tenontosaurus - Facts and Figures

Tenontosaurus - Facts and Figures Name: Tenontosaurus (Greek for ligament reptile); articulated ten-NON-toe-SORE-us Territory: Forests of North America Verifiable Period: Center Cretaceous (120-100 million years prior) Size and Weight: Around 20 feet in length and two tons Diet: Plants Recognizing Characteristics: Tight head; strangely long tail About Tenontosaurus A few dinosaurs are more acclaimed for how they got eaten than for how they really lived. That’s the case with Tenontosaurus, a medium-sized ornithopod that was on the lunch menu of the decently measured raptor Deinonychus (we know this from the disclosure of a Tenontosaurus skeleton encompassed by various Deinonychus bones; obviously predators and prey were totally killed simultaneously by a characteristic disturbance). Since a grown-up Tenontosaurus could tip the scales at a few tons, littler raptors like Deinonychus more likely than not needed to chase in packs to cut it down. Other than its job as ancient lunch meat, the center Cretaceous Tenontosaurus was generally intriguing for its abnormally long tail, which was suspended off the ground by a system of specific ligaments (thus this dinosaurs name, which is Greek for ligament reptile). The sort example of Tenontosaurus was found in 1903 during an American Museum of Natural History campaign to Montana drove by the well known scientist Barnum Brown; decades later, John H. Ostrom did a closer examination of this ornithopod, conclusion to his concentrated investigation of Deinonychus (which he finished up was hereditary to present day flying creatures). Strangely, Tenontosaurus is the most rich plant-eating dinosaur to be spoken to in a huge stretch of the Cloverly Formation in the western U.S.; the main herbivore that is really close is the heavily clad dinosaur Sauropelta. Regardless of whether this relates to the genuine environment of center Cretaceous North America, or is only an eccentricity of the fossilization procedure, stays a secret.