In 1979, under towering cumulus clouds, two hikers in the Ojito Wilderness Area northwest of Albuquerque made a colossal find. Surrounded by pinion pines and ancient petroglyphs, four, huge, largely intact fossilized dinosaur tailbones were found partially exposed in a sandstone ledge. The size of the bones created enormous excitement, nothing like this had been found!
For the next twenty-five years the mystery of Seismosaurus unraveled. The discovery had a significant impact on our understanding of dinosaurs -- at 120 feet "Sam" was perhaps the longest dinosaur ever discovered! In 2005 "Sam" made his public debut in a new Jurassic exhibit created at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History. In addition, the use of new technology from the Los Alamos National Laboratories took paleontology to a new level by pioneering new techniques to find and analyze dinosaur bones. From the thrill of discovery to the grand unveiling, this COLORES! tells "Sam's" fantastic story. Featured are the key players in Sam's story and through the magic of special 3-D animation we get a glimpse of what Seismosaurus looked like a 150 million years ago.
Originally broadcast on New Mexico PBS station KNME.