Episode 569: A Spiky Hadrosaur and Paleoartist Tara Tassone. A new hadrosaur mummy includes “cutaneous spikes” that would have given its skin a thorny texture. Plus Tara Tassone joins to discuss making our Dinosaur Rookie Cards and designing our new logo (and I Know Paleo logo).

News:

• There’s a new hadrosaur mummy featuring the prickliest skin of any dinosaur found to date—the new species Haolong dongi source

Interview:

Tara Tassone, a graphic designer and illustrator. She’s a graphic designer for the Mariners’ Museum and Park in Virginia. She also designed our new Dinosaur Rookie Cards. Follow her on instagram @t.n.t.design and check out her etsy shop Feather and Fang Studio.

Sponsors:

Our collectible cards are available now to commemorate the biggest new dinosaurs discoveries of the last year! Get yours now at iknowdino.com/cards and choose from cards, stickers, keychains and even a brand new custom enamel pin! Get yours soon, because they are only available for a limited time. www.iknowdino.com/cards

The dinosaur of the day: Atacamatitan

• Titanosaur that lived in the Late Cretaceous in what is now Chile (Tolar Formation)
• As a titanosaur, walked on all fours, had a long, upright neck, small head, and long tail
• Estimated to weigh between 8 and 16 tons
• Type and only species is Atacamatitan chilensis
• Genus name means “Atacama Desert titan”
• Genus name refers to the Atacama Desert where the fossils were found
• Species name refers to Chile
• Fossils found in 2001 by Chilean and Brazilian researchers
• Fossils from one individual
• Found near Conchi Viejo town, in the Atacama Desert
• Only Atacamatitan and indeterminate dinosaur fossils have been found there so far
• Atacama Desert is the driest non-polar desert in the world, and is the largest fog desert (fog gives most of the moisture plants and animals need to survive)
• Happens because of hot humid air interacting with the two mountain chains around it (the Andes and the Chilean Coast Range)
• Average rainfall each year is about 15 mm (0.6 in)
• Great place to see the stars (almost no light pollution), so there are a few major observatories there
• Soil has been compared to Mars, and that’s where Mars scenes have been shot for some films
• Femur first found, eroding on the surface
• Named by Alexander Kellner and others in 2011
• One of the most complete titanosaurs found in Chile
• Holotype is a right femur (thigh bone), part of an upper arm bone (humerus), two back bones (dorsal vertebrae), some tail bones (caudal vertebrae), parts of the ribs and chest, and other incomplete bones
• Most of the fossils are a little distorted, reddish, and heavy because of lots of permineralization (mineral rich water seeps into the bones, water evaporates, and the minerals form an internal cast)
• Unique features in the bones, like having rounded pleurocoels (hollow depressions to make the bone lighter)
• Had a gracile thigh bone
• Arms, or forelimbs, were stronger than its legs

Fun Fact:

Dinosaurs may have originated 10 million years earlier than we previously thought source

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