Austroposeidon (Southern Poseidon, specifically referring to the ancient Greek god's aspect as the lord of earthquakes rather than as the sovereign of the sea) is a genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur that lived in the Presidente Prudente Formation, São Paulo, Brazil, 72 million years ago, during the Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period.
Austroposeidon is known from a few remains of the neck, back, and hip. These fossils are enough for paleontologists to determine that the only known specimen is an adult titanosaur with a length of 25 meters (82 feet).[1][DN 2] As titanosaurs, they had tall shoulders and a neck held in a more vertical orientation, allowing them to reach a height of around 12 meters (40 feet).[DN 1]
In the year 2000, the findings regarding "Sauroposeidon" (Lizard Poseidon) were officially published. The North American sauropod, which lived in Oklahoma, Wyoming, and Texas, USA, around 118 - 110 million years ago, was named for its massive size, capable of making the ground shake with every step; while Poseidon is the ancient Greek god of the sea, storms, and horses, the sauropod is named after him because he is also the god of earthquakes (hence his cult title, "Ennosigaios" or "Enosikhthōn", which both mean "earth shaker"). In 2007, Xenoposeidon (Strange Poseidon) of Early Cretaceous England was named in the same manner by paleontologist Michael Paul Taylor (who described it in 2007 along with Dr. Darren Naish, Prehistoric Planet's lead consultant), and, in 2016, the describers of Austroposeidon (Southern Poseidon) followed the same trend, with its name referring to both its South American origin and its earth-shaking size.
On Prehistoric Planet, Austroposeidon is depicted with a long row of spines that runs from the head to the the whip-like tail, making it resemble the diplodocids, an unrelated group of long-bodied sauropods that went extinct in the Early Cretaceous Period. Austroposeidon is also reconstructed with mottled, velvet-esque chestnut brown skin covered in darker brown splotches.
Austroposeidon makes a brief appearance in the sixth and final segment of Freshwater, watching elasmosaurs as they travel down a river into the sea. A whole herd of them serves as the focus of the first segment of Forests, mowing down large areas of the forest as they feed, creating gaps in the forest that are soon quickly covered up by plants taking advantage of the large, open areas. As with most of the sauropods in the series, Austroposeidon makes an appearance in the Uncovered segment, "How Did Dinosaurs Get So Big?", which is focused on how the largest of dinosaurs exceeded the size limits of modern-day land animals.
Paleoecology[]
Paleoenvironment[]
“ The forests in South America contain some of the world's tallest trees. They can grow to a height of over 300 feet. But there are animal giants here too. ”
Austroposeidon lived 72 million years ago in the Presidente Prudente Formation, São Paulo, Brazil. Not much is known about the area, though it is believed that the animal, found preserved in fine sandstone, inhabited a floodplain. It is likely that, as the show suggests, the region also had its fair share of forests.[DN 3] Unfortunately, parts of the Presidente Prudente Formation, including the area where Austroposeidon was discovered in, have been lost to urban development.
Social Behavior[]
As with most sauropod depictions, Prehistoric Planet depicts Austroposeidon as a herding animal, traveling in herds of up to 20 members, with juveniles living in groups separate from the adults.[DN 4]
Feeding Preferences and Keystone Species Status[]
“ Their teeth are used not to chew, but simply to cut. A herd like this one can consume ten tonnes of vegetation every day. They prefer the tender young leaves that grow on the tips of the branches. But if they find trees that are even taller than they are, they're not defeated. They use their great weight and their eight inch-thick breastbone to simply push the trees over. ”
With teeth that contacted each other tip to tip, Austroposeidon merely snipped and swallowed leaves rather than chewing them. Instead, food was processed within the gut (similar to most herbivorous lizards, birds, and large mammals), likely with the help of gastroliths, stones to help mash up food. Dr. Darren Naish brings up research that estimates that giant sauropods consumed around 500 kilograms of plant material a day (hence, assuming there are at least 20 members in the herd, they would consume around ten metric tons a day, as the show states).[DN 5] The sauropods are shown to prefer young leaves, since they tend to not be as tough or as toxic as other vegetation.[DN 6]
In knocking down trees and opening new spaces for the forest to reclaim with new plant life, the actions of Austroposeidons essentially reshape their habitat, indicating that they are keystone species, creatures that play a great effect on their natural environment.
