An epic battle ensues...
It has been a minute since the release of our last model: "Apex Rex". Today, I am thrilled to bring you the result of tremendous work and collaboration with Lana Time Shop. Originally planned to be a Lana release, I worked for months with Lana on honing in the concept, composition, sizing, and orientation. With the help of some focus groups, we went through many different iterations. All things were considered including available space (in a collector's home), overall height vs. length ( can it fit on a shelf? Should we make the suaro's head tall, or low and long, etc.) While I do feel like I made some sacrifices for marketability, I think we landed on something pretty special.
In the end, Lana and I decided it best that Ancient Era release this piece as a print-to-order as opposed to a traditionally molded and liquid-cast urethane kit. So, here we are today with the official release of "Don't Count Your Chickens".
This diorama depicts the moment when a serene walk along the beachside is interrupted by the violent assault of two young adult acrocanthosaurs. "Baby Girl", the juvenile Saurposeidon finds herself flanked by two ravenous theropods attempting to strafe her. One goes for the leg, while the other tries a second go at her shoulders. Baby Girl kicks out, pushing the one away from her body, which causes her to begin to lose balance. She may fall to her right, jeopardizing the other offender's life. Even if he can escape, Baby Girl's mother has been alerted to her daughter's plight. Maybe these two have bitten off more than they can chew... and it might be a lesson not to count their chickens before they hatch!
This kit is a unique portrayal of paleontologists' belief (based on fossilized trackways) that the acroncanthosaurs would flank and attack young saurposeidons in an attempt to injure them. They might have tried to injure the suaroposeidons enough so that they would succumb to their injuries over a short amount of time. They would do this because it would have been nearly impossible for them to have taken down the giant prey. Paleontologists suspect that the acros would then track the wounded sauros until they died from blood loss and exhaustion.
This model features a juvenile Sauroposeidon. Sauroposeidon (SOR-o-po-SY-dən) means "lizard earthquake god", after the Greek god Poseidon. It is a genus of sauropod dinosaur known from several incomplete specimens, including a bone bed and fossilized trackways found in the U.S. states of Oklahoma, Wyoming, and Texas.
Our Sauroposeidon sports a highly speculative wattle. A wattle is a fleshy caruncle hanging from various parts of the head or neck in several groups of birds and mammals. Caruncles in birds include those found on the face, wattles, dewlaps, snoods, and earlobes. While only the male of most bird species sport wattles, there are several bird species within which the female also has a wattle. Examples are the Helmeted Guineafowl, the Greater Prairie Chicken, and the Long-Wattled Umbrella Bird. Although believed to be used for sexual display, large bare patches of flapping skin may also be used to thermoregulate a bird, especially in warm climates. So, it stands to reason that such a gigantic creature as a sauropod might have employed such a structure in its effort to thermoregulate.
While admittedly highly speculative, no evidence exists to the contrary, and this idea is no more speculative than some other ideas out there... including the portrayal of large inflatable neck bubbles on the Dreadnaughtus in the beloved Apple TV series Prehistoric Planet.
Baby Girl's wattle is close to the skin- not hanging off of her. I did this to represent the immature version of the wattle... since she is young, it has not grown in yet. An older, adult saurposeidon will sport a much more impressive wattle. You will have a chance to witness this when part II of "Don't Count Your Chickens" is released. Part II is about Baby Girl's furious full grown adult mother. The mother and base will be designed to fit up against the original diorama, and it will be able to stand alone. I won't be making concessions for marketability on this one... just "Latifah", Baby Girl's mother in all of her glory.
"Don't Count Your Chickens" diorama below:
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