Sauropods of the Mighty Morrison, whichgives the best picture of a Late
Jurassic environment. We get a more detailed picture of life in Jurassic
than anywhere in the world.
Jurassic Diorama
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Use the menus above to find Diorama of Jurassic fauna
Small dinosaurs seem to be very rare in the fossil record of the Morrison
Formation. This could be an aspect of fossil preservation or may well
represent some environmental factor that favored large size and worked against
smaller dinosaurs. We have huge adult and good sized young sauropods but
have not found nest sites or very young animals. More recently
examination of the fossils has led to the idea that many of the supposed
adolescent sauropods were actually adult members of smaller related
species. The supposition is that sauropods found somewhere else to lay their eggs and act as nurseries for small
off spring. Size difference likely made parental care impractical. It
is thought based on the track record that young sauropods formed age specific
groups for safety until they were big enough to join adult groups.
Bullyland older European style Brachiosaurus, Stegosaurus and Apatosaurus. Bullyland has been seriously upgrading its figures for a more American style
look.
Diplodocus is relatively common, Apatosaurus and Brachiosaurus are less common.
Bullyland Micro Tier Apatosaurus, Brachiosaurusand Betta diplodocid. Back ground from AllDinos.com Giants of the Jurassic set.
Sauropod egg sites from South America in the Cretaceous indicated sauropods
laid nests of of a dozen or so eggs. The teenage sauropods would
have been an important food source for the Allosaurus packs in the Morrison.
They would have been much safer prey than the giant adults.
Use scroll bar to view entire diorama. There are two
blue young SchleichApatosaurus, The current an older version of the Carnegie
Safari young green Apatosaurus. Center is the Play Vision ANHM series Allosaurus, while in the back is the Toyway Walking with dinosaurs Big Al.
The red Apatosaurus is from an unnamed series made in China sold
in Europe.
Hidden behind the Allosaurus and the Schleich Apatosaurus is an old Safari back
ward looking Apatosaurus with a different older gray green paint job.
There
is some speculation that Ceratosaurus had a more flexible tail making it a
better swimmer than its competitor Allosaurus. There is fossil evidence
that Allosaurus dined on Ceratosaurus which is rare except in the swampier parts
of the Morrison. Allosaurus may have killed off other predators much like
the lions of today kill off cheetahs, hyenas and leopards found in their
territories.
New Bullyland Allosaurus, then a crouching Schleich Ceratosaurus. A a Toyway Walking with DinosaursStegosaurus.
Camarasaurus (chambered lizard") are the most common of the giant sauropods to be found in North America,with an average in size, of 60 feet in length as adults, and weighing up to 31 tons. Similar looking animals are still found in the Cretaceous.
Schleich Allosaurus and Carnegie Safari Camarasaurus.
Ceratosaurus is regarded as a primitive carnosaur a relic of the first large
predator of the Mesozoic. Smaller than the more common Allosaurus it
could still have been dangerous to smaller plant eaters.
Stegosaurus and Ceratosaurus from Bandai in Japan. Apatosaurus from the Schleich Junior series.
Allosaurus was the lion of the Morrison. The is growing consensus that
their were Allosaurus fossils represent two different but related animals.
While Archaeopteryx has not been found in the Morrison but in Germany it is
reasonable that some of its relatives were present. We get very few of the
smaller creatures preserved in the Morrison strata. There is a
preservation bias towards the larger animals which were characteristic of the
formation.
Bullyland Archaeopteryx, Allosaurus from large Museum line these are part of
Bullyland's modernizing of the Stuttgart Museum series. Both these models
are considered to the best among kind. The Stegosaurus is from the Egg series and no loner in production. It represents
the idea that stegosaurus used a the back legs a tail to form a tripod when
browsing higher.