Super Size It

©Raul Martin

One of the largest sauropods ever, and a good reason to leave the Triassic for the Jurassic again!, Supersaurus has, quite possibly, one of the most mundane names ever. It is an adequate description, it is pretty darn super, but it sounds like something we could have all come up with when we were playing with dinosaurs in my limestone driveway as a little kid. I digress, but, I loved that driveway because I was always finding some little bit of a seashell here and there and it was kind of like being a paleontologist if only a little bit. Anyhow, Supersaurus was a giant. Measuring in at about 112 feet long and around 40 tons, Supersaurus was almost thirty feet longer and about fifteen tons heavier than Apatosaurus.

Supersaurus also heralds a return to North America after all of our time spent in South America. Supersaurus is, or was, a denizen of the Colorado to Wyoming area during the time of the Morrison Formation. As far as most sauropods go Supersaurus is fairly basic, but there are certainly things which set it apart, which we shall see.