“Thunder-Thighs” Dinosaur Honors Professor Emeritus Jack McIntosh

The Telegraph (UK) is reporting that a recently-discovered dinosaur from the Cretaceous Period (about 110 million years ago) has been named Brontomerus mcintoshi for John S. “Jack” McIntosh, Foss Professor of Physics, emeritus.

The fossil, discovered in Utah, is marked by its large, powerful thighs which may have been used to kick predators and travel over rough terrain. The American-British team of scientists who discovered the remains named the dinosaur for McIntosh, “a lifelong avocational paleontologist.”

According to the article, it’s possible that Brontomerus mcintoshi was more athletic than most other sauropods. It is well established that far from being swamp-bound hippo-like animals, sauropods preferred drier, upland areas; so perhaps Brontomerus lived in rough, hilly terrain and the powerful leg muscles were a sort of dinosaur four-wheel drive.