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Description
In 2016, some very large fossilized scratch marks were uncovered in the Dakota Sandstone of Colorado that were named Ostenichnus bilobatus and were diagnosed as being part of a very large theropod's mating display. While it's hard to confidently match a trace fossil with a trace-maker, Acrocanthosaurus is a good bet, since it matches the time, place, and size. This dinosaur could weigh up to 6 tonnes, so I couldn't give him a full fluffy coat, but since it presumably engaged in lekking behavior, I wanted to give him some flashy feathers to go along with his ritual ground-scraping. The feathers, of course, are inspired by the golden-collared manakin, a sub-one-ounce bird from Panama. I just thought the raisable/lowerable beard crest that's sort of the inverse of a jay's head crest, was really interesting.

Description
In 2016, some very large fossilized scratch marks were uncovered in the Dakota Sandstone of Colorado that were named Ostenichnus bilobatus and were diagnosed as being part of a very large theropod's mating display. While it's hard to confidently match a trace fossil with a trace-maker, Acrocanthosaurus is a good bet, since it matches the time, place, and size. This dinosaur could weigh up to 6 tonnes, so I couldn't give him a full fluffy coat, but since it presumably engaged in lekking behavior, I wanted to give him some flashy feathers to go along with his ritual ground-scraping. The feathers, of course, are inspired by the golden-collared manakin, a sub-one-ounce bird from Panama. I just thought the raisable/lowerable beard crest that's sort of the inverse of a jay's head crest, was really interesting.