Big Al

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Big Al at the Museum of the Rockies

As "Big Al" which is substantially completely fossil obtained skeletal MOR 693 a Allosaurus (a oberjurassischer theropod ) from the Morrison Formation at Shell referred to in the state of Wyoming. The exceptionally complete fossil record with more than 95% of the bones led to the naming, although the animal was not fully grown when it died.

The injuries and inflammations documented in the bone material as well as other fossil finds provide numerous indications of the environment, behavior and physiology of an Allosaurus like "Big Al". One possible course of his life story was filmed by the BBC with the collaboration of Alexandra Freeman as a special for the series Dinosaurier - In the realm of the giants under the name The story of Big Al ("The Ballad of Big Al"). It is an attempt to exemplarily illustrate the life of a carnivorous dinosaur from egg to death.

Individual evidence

  1. Hanna, RR 2002. "Multiple injury and infection in a sub-adult theropod dinosaur Allosaurus fragilis with comparisons to allosaur pathology in the Cleveland Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry collection". In: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 22 (1): 76-90. items

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