Dinosaur Spaghetti

The dinosaur I am currently working on (Corythosaurus) has a mass of spaghetti-like strands running along the tops of the back, hips, and tail vertebrae. They are known as ossified or bony tendons that form within the animal during life to buttress the skeleton very much like the cables on a bridge. One reason for them in this case is to help hold the tail up off the ground. I must say they are a real bugger to prepare though. There are tendons on top of tendons crisscrossing back and forth. I have finished preparing the tendons on one side of the back vertebrae and am now preparing the tendons on the other side.








Finished Tendons

Other side-Tendons still need a lot of preparation because rock (tan color) needs to be removed from between the tendons.