Image: Diplodocus sp. fossil dinosaur skin (Morrison Formation, Upper Jurassic; Mother's Day site, Carbon County, Montana, USA) 2

Description: Diplodocus sp. fossil sauropod dinosaur skin from the Jurassic of Montana, USA. (CMC VP 10659, Cincinnati Museum of Natural History and Science, Cincinnati Museum Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA) Sauropod dinosaurs were the largest terrestrial animals ever. They all have the same basic body plan: large body with four walking legs, very long neck & tail, and a small head relative to body size. Sauropods were herbivores, and are often perceived as holding their heads & necks up high to reach vegetation normally out of reach to other organisms. Modern reconstructions of many sauropod species depict them with heads and necks held close to the horizontal, or at low angles above the horizontal. Museum info.: "We know very little about the skin texture of dinosaurs and almost nothing about their color. Luckily, we have found several well-preserved impressions of the skin of this dinosaur. This individual probably became desiccated after death during a drought and, when the rains reappeared, the body was pressed against the mud, preserving the skin impression." Classification: Animalia, Chordata, Vertebrata, Dinosauria, Sauropodomorpha, Diplodocidae Stratigraphy: Morrison Formation, Upper Jurassic Locality: Mother's Day Site, Carbon County, southern Montana, USA
Title: Diplodocus sp. fossil dinosaur skin (Morrison Formation, Upper Jurassic; Mother's Day site, Carbon County, Montana, USA) 2
Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jsjgeology/27822609182/
Author: James St. John
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0
License: CC BY 2.0
License Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0
Attribution Required?: Yes