113 Million Years ago, a large male Acrocanthosaurus atokensis roars out its call on the flat plains that range from the east coast of the Central Seaway splitting the two halves of what would later become North America. Like its avian relatives, the call of the theropod is intended both to warn off other males and to attract potential female mates.
Already the largest theropod on the continent at this time (midway in time between the earlier Allosaurus and Saurophaganax, and the later Tyrannosaurus), its size is enhanced by the fleshy dorsal ridge extending from its head to midway down its tail, supported by elongated neural spines on its vertebrae; and it appears even more impressive due to a row of lizardlike spines cresting the ridge, further magnifying its apparent size. In February 2007, I learned that the Museum of the Red River in Idabel, Oklahoma, was sponsoring a contest for imagery featuring Oklahoma's Official State Dinosaur, Acrocanthosaurus atokensis ("High-Spined Reptile from Atoka County"). I was curious to see whether I could actually create a brand new figure in the month remaining before the submission deadline, and whether this would support my promotional claim that my dinosaur models were truly 'museum-quality'... After working feverishly to create my 3D model, I produced and submitted three different images (the maximum allowable in the contest). I was delighted to learn after the judging was complete, that one of my images was selected as one of the ten total images to be licensed by the museum! Because I assigned them the licensing rights to the image, I cannot reproduce the image here on my own website; however, as it turns out, this image was my favourite, although it was not the one they selected!
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