WWD: Plateosaurus trossingensis
Added 2023-04-15 07:59:30 +0000 UTCAnd now the last one, the prosauropod (or technically, non-sauropod sauropodomorph) Plateosaurus. This is the only species that was not changed to an approximate equivalent. At up to ten metres in length and four metric tonnes, this was one of the largest dinosaurs of the Late Triassic, and one of the forbearers of its evolutionary successors that would some day dwarf this, many times over.
The one major difference between this and WWD's Plateosaurus is its posture; at the time of the show's production, it was believed to be a quadruped that could occasionally rear up on its hind legs, but has since been found to be an obligate biped totally incapable of quadruped movement (which would have been awkward regardless considering how short the forelimbs are compared to the back legs). There were also some minor anatomical oddities, such as its weird bird-like skull shape, rather scrawny arms, being generally a bit too hefty, and massive thunder thighs. I included little keratinous spines on its back in the revamping as a sort of nod to some speculative filaments, but this is definitely a sort of grey area. If we believe that sauropods evolved from feathered ancestors, but secondarily lost their feathers, then some early prosauropods must've had them, although Plateosaurus trossingensis was already fairly large.
Other errors, as previously noted, are that it did not live at the time and place at which the episode is set (the early Mid Norian of Arizona). The giant four-ton Plateosaurus did not appear until the Late Norian, and it lived in Europe (as previous stated, the only evidence of prosauropods from the region at the tim is only footprints). Although the two regions would have been much closer back then (Pangaea and such), it's still pretty darn far apart. So this guy is the main reason why both the time shifted a little bit forward and to Europe.
