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Another view of the Diplodocus at the Museum of Natural History.
Above the Diplodocus is a fossilized "Ray-Fin" fish - Xiphactinus, with another fossilized fish visible in its stomach. Found in Texas, late Cretaceous period, 80 - 65 million years old.
I call this digital photo, taken in March 2010:
Diplodocus was large but not heavy. It is estimated that, due to the light weight of the long tail and neck, this Diplodocus only weighed 11 tons - or about the same as 2 elephants. (This is a Smithsonian estimate - the work on Wikipedia suggests a much heavier weight. )
The most recent research suggests dinosaurs are most closely related to birds - chickens and ostriches are the examples given; if so, there may be something to the "feathered serpent" or "winged dragon" myth. Also, there is a claim that t-rex soft tissue has been extracted from fossilized bone. Soft tissue means DNA; and DNA means clones ...
Or, paraphrasing Wikipedia:
" ... In the March 2005 issue of Science, Mary Higby Schweitzer of North Carolina State University and colleagues announced the recovery of soft tissue from the marrow cavity of a fossilized leg bone, from a 68-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus. The bone had been intentionally, though reluctantly, broken for shipping and then not preserved in the normal manner, specifically because Schweitzer was hoping to test it for soft tissue. Designated as the Museum of the Rockies specimen 1125, or MOR 1125, the dinosaur was previously excavated from the Hell Creek Formation. Flexible, bifurcating blood vessels and fibrous but elastic bone matrix tissue were recognized. In addition, microstructures resembling blood cells were found inside the matrix and vessels. The structures bear resemblance to ostrich blood cells and vessels. ... "
Tyrannosaurus, Wikipedia
There is also research that suggests that dinosaurs had feathers as opposed to reptilian scales:
" ... In 2004, the scientific journal Nature published a report describing an early tyrannosauroid, Dilong paradoxus, from the famous Yixian Formation of China. As with many other theropods discovered in the Yixian, the fossil skeleton was preserved with a coat of filamentous structures which are commonly recognized as the precursors of feathers. It has also been proposed that Tyrannosaurus and other closely related tyrannosaurids had such protofeathers. However, skin impressions from large tyrannosaurid specimens show mosaic scales. While it is possible that protofeathers existed on parts of the body which have not been preserved, a lack of insulatory body covering is consistent with modern multi-ton mammals such as elephants, hippopotamus, and most species of rhinoceros. ..."
Tyrannosaurus, Wikipedia
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(Jan 13, 2017) Soft tissue of a juvenile dinosaur tail covered in primitive feathers has recently been found preserved in amber:
" ... The first known dinosaur tail preserved in a piece of amber was recently discovered by paleontologist Lida Xing while collecting samples in Myanmar last year. Dating back to the mid-Cretaceous Period some 99 million years ago, the roughly apricot-sized piece of amber contains a 1.4-inch appendage of 8 vertebrae unmistakably covered in primitive feathers. Scientists ruled out the possibility of the tail belonging to a bird, and based on its structure believe it came from a juvenile coelurosaur, a group of dinosaurs that includes tyrannosaurs. ... "Christopher Jobson, thisiscollosal.com
and:
" ... The tail of a 99-million-year-old dinosaur, including bones, soft tissue, and even feathers, has been found preserved in amber, according to a report published today in the journal Current Biology.
While individual dinosaur-era feathers have been found in amber, and evidence for feathered dinosaurs is captured in fossil impressions, this is the first time that scientists are able to clearly associate well-preserved feathers with a dinosaur, and in turn gain a better understanding of the evolution and structure of dinosaur feathers. ... "Kristin Romey, National Geographic Magazine
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Soft tissue means DNA.
DNA means live dinosaurs!
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