Scientists set to reanalyze bones of Wyoming’s celebrity dinosaur dubbed  ‘Big Al’ that lived 150 million years ago to uncover more about its prehistoric life

Ancient Wyoming superstar, Big Al, is once again undergoing surgery to create detailed ‘bone tissue’ to reveal more about the lives of terrifying dinosaurs 150 million years ago.

The nearly intact skeleton of a teenage Allosaurus was discovered in 1991 Scientists have learned more than they ever expected about the complex life and immune system of a dinosaur called the Jurassic lion.

Described by paleontologists as “one of the most complete large theropods yet recovered” — with 95 percent of its fossilized skeleton recovered — Big Al’s 19 bone injuries have helped researchers explore the dinosaur’s rough-and-tumble life.

“We’re looking at different things, and it’s a new chapter that goes beyond injuries,” said a curator at the Museum of the Rockies at Al’s home.

On Christmas Day 2000, the BBC produced a computer-generated dramatic special called “The Ballad of Big Al” (above), using paleontologists’ research to tell the story of a teenage Allosaurus. The half-hour special won two Emmy Awards, making Big Al one of Wyoming’s biggest and oldest celebrities

“You can learn a lot from the outside of dinosaur bones,” said paleontologist Dr. John Scannella, a curator at the museum in Bozeman, Montana.

“The size, the shape, how big the animal was, did it eat meat or plants. By looking inside the bones, there’s a lot we can discover. We can get into the details of paleontology by looking inside.”

Dr. Scannella hopes that thin slices and cross-sections of Big Al’s bones, not unlike the rings on an old-growth tree, will help scientists fully map the dinosaur’s dramatic life in Shell, Wyoming, 150 million years ago.

The paleontologist is keeping mum about what a new ‘bone tissue’ study might reveal.

The hope is in part to study Big Al’s evolution and the growth of his bones to better understand how he interacts with his environment.

“It depends on what we find,” Scannella told the Wyoming Journal. Cowboy State Daily.

“The more different types of studies we can apply to a particular dinosaur, applying different techniques and analyses, the more we can learn about the life of that animal and the world around it.”

Previous studies by the University of Exeter in the UK and others explored the anomalies of Big Al’s (or officially MOR 693’s) bones, and found evidence that dinosaurs had an “immune system that isolates and identifies infections” similar to modern birds.

This work built on what Scannella called the “pivotal” study of Big Al published by paleontologist Rebecca Hanna in 2002.

Hannah spilled over on Big Al’s 19 injuries, everything from cracked ribs to particularly helpful information A pus-filled growth on the middle toe of the dinosaur’s right foot.

Growth has been proven Osteomyelitis – Inflammation caused by an infection within the bone, which some scientists now say “may have contributed to the animal’s death.”

A “pivotal” 2002 study on Big Al published by Rebecca Hanna focused on the 19 bone injuries the dinosaur sustained, including a pus-filled growth on its right foot. The growth proved to be osteomyelitis, an infection caused by an infection in the bone, which could have led to his death

But as one of the most intact dinosaurs ever, a celebrity like Big Al is used to this kind of intense and somewhat embarrassing scrutiny in their private lives.

Two years before Hannah’s study, on Christmas 2000, The BBC produced a CGI drama special called “The Ballad of Big Al” highlighting Hanna’s initial research to tell the life story of the teenage Allosaur.

The half-hour special won two Emmy Awards, making Big Al one of them The largest and oldest celebrity in Wyoming.

“Big Al has been featured in a BBC documentary and elsewhere looking into the life of this animal because of its life record and the times found in its bones,” Dr Scannella said.

“But this study will help clarify the details of the life of this famous dinosaur.”