Sonorasaurus officially named Arizona’s state dinosaur
Apr 11, 2018, 4:00 AM
(Creative Commons Photo)
(Creative Commons Photo)
PHOENIX — The Arizona ridge-nosed rattlesnake, Apache trout and now, the Sonorasaurus.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed a bill Tuesday, giving the Copper State its first official state dinosaur.
The Sonorasaurus, which stands for “Sonora lizard,” was first unearthed in 1994 and is related to the Brachiosaurus.
The bill was first brought to the Arizona State Senate back in January after 11-year-old Jax Weldon sent a letter to Ducey’s office about the Sonorasaurus, of which fossils had been found in southeastern Arizona.
Ducey thought designating an official dinosaur for Arizona was a great idea so his team put together the bill that received bipartisan support in the Arizona Legislature.
The Sonorasaurus was estimated to have lived in the middle Cretaceous, meaning between 112 million and 93 million years ago.
It was the first known brachiosaur to have lived in North America during that time period.
The animal was believed to have been about 50 feet long and 27 feet tall.
