Word: sauropod
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...kept low, jaws open, waiting for an unsuspecting dinosaur to step into the mouth. "Modern crocs can take prey three times their size, if necessary," says Sereno - which means that the 20-ft.-long PancakeCroc could have taken down some reasonably large dinosaurs, like a multiton, long-necked sauropod, for instance. And SuperCroc, which was probably too heavy to run and likely lurked at the water's edge, could have taken even bigger ones...
...walk the earth. Dubbed Paralititan stromeri (the first name means "tidal giant"; the second refers to Ernst Stromer, a geologist who found dinosaur fossils in the area in the 1930s and took them to Germany, only to have them destroyed by Allied bombing in WWII) this long-necked, plodding sauropod munched on lush ferns and trees in an area that 90 million years ago was, according to discoverer Joshua B. Smith "dinosaur heaven...
...Europe, Africa, India and China, but no one could tell for sure what sort of dinosaur laid them. After examining the bones and distinctively shaped teeth of the fragmented embryos, some of which were close to hatching when they died, the researchers firmly identified them as a type of sauropod, kin to the familiar Brontosaurus (more accurately known as Apatosaurus) of comic-book fame. Had they survived, they would have been about 15 in. long at birth--"about the size of a small poodle," says Chiappe--but 40 ft. to 50 ft. from the tips of their giraffe-like necks...
...future researchers hope their bonanza will answer key questions about sauropod maternal behavior--whether, for example, the dinosaur moms laid their eggs haphazardly or carefully arranged their nests to protect them from meat-eating predators or the crushing feet of passing females. What seems clear, in any case, is that the herds of sauropods formed nesting groups, like the duck-billed maiasaurs ("good-mother lizards") discovered in western Montana by paleontologist John Horner of the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman. "It's a survival strategy," says Horner, adding admiringly, "it would have been quite a sight...
...taut strokes, but incorporates enough elements of personal style--distorted vocals, plodding bass or cavernous echo--that the artist cannot be misidentified. "My Beautiful Leah," in which a phlegmy and diseased voice seeks clues to track the route of an aban-doing lover, lumbers thick and ungainly as a sauropod; "The Garden," by contrast, lilts and whispers like a dryer, spindlier version of Tori Amos's piano confessionals...