The Bad Dinosaur

An angry Apatosaurus assassinates an audacious Allosaurus.

While Pixar´s "The Good Dinosaur" is going to feature a protagonist sauropod that will make Dino from the Flintstones look creative, the real world Apatosaurus is getting more interesting than ever. According to an upcoming study by Mike Taylor and Matt Wedel the robust cervical vertebrae of apatosaurines are built to withstand strong impacts, implying that the sauropods used their muscular necks for combat. Ventral processes on their cervical ribs might have supported bosses or even spikes. Most likely those necks were built for battling rivals of the same species, but why shouldn´t an Apatosaurus utilize its powerful neck against theropods, too? So here it managed to catch an Allosaurus off-guard and squeezes the life out of it.

Note: I am nevertheless planning to watch Pixar´s "The Good Dinosaur". While I am still no fan of the simplified cartoony design (anyone remember the fish from Finding Nemo, which apart from their cartoony faces still kept realistic body proportions?), everything else seems to point to another emotionally touching, beautifully animated Pixar movie with some funny characters.