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Description
70 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous period in what is now the Lecho Formation of Argentina, a large adult Saltasaurus loricatus arrives at the edge of the water and wades into the shallows, where it finds that large flocks of waterbirds have gathered. The flocks have not gone unnoticed by the small predatory dinosaur Noasaurus leali, which sprints into the water in attempt to prey on a bird, sending many Lectavis bretincola flying off and a Yungavolucris brevipedalis diving for water.

Drawing for Day 5 of the Maysozoic art prompt list, with the prompt for this day being Saltasaurus. I know, I already lagged a day behind and now I lag by 2 or 3 depending on the time zone, but unfortunately these drawings take time to make and I have a life outside the internet. It's looking likely that this prompt list will end up being done over the course of 2 months rather than one.

Anyways here's Saltasaurus loricatus, a medium-sized sauropod probably under 10 meters long (or only slightly more, I haven't paid close attention to recent estimates and different sources say different things) belonging to the Titanosauria clade. What makes this species notable is that it was the first titanosaur in which fossilized osteoderms (bony plates embedded in the skin) were found, and while originally thought to be unique to Saltasaurus, osteoderms would later be found in more titanosaurs, suggesting the feature was widespread within the group. These osteoderms may have provided some defence against predators, along with the size of the sauropod itself (some titanosaurs would have been the largest land animals ever, though Saltasaurus itself is nowhere close to claiming that title). Remains of Saltasaurus loricatus are known only from the Lecho Formation of Argentina, and while a second species from elsewhere in the country was formerly placed in this genus, that species has now been moved to Neuquensaurus.

As far as I can tell, few other non-avian dinosaurs are known from the Lecho Formation, with the small abelisaurian theropod Noasaurus being one of the few (if not the only other, I'm tired and can't be bothered to properly check). However, Lecho has yielded many remains of enantiornithines, an extinct group of birds that died out at the end of the Cretaceous period and formed a separate clade from the group comprising all living birds. Interestingly, some of Lecho's enantiornithine species seem to have been waterbirds: Lectavis and Yungavolucris are each known only from leg bones, but the former had long legs like those of a wading bird, while the latter had short yet wide legs with asymmetrical feet which may indicate foot-propelled swimming or even diving. Of course this is somewhat speculative since they are so fragmentary and any reconstructions should be taken with a grain of salt.

The scene depicted here was inspired by pictures of hyenas hunting flamingos (Google it) and this photo of an elephant approaching a flock of flamingos. I drew the one Yungavolucris in this foreground diving underwater as a defence mechanism based on what coots and some other birds do, while the Lectavis all just fly away like most birds. Colors of the Lectavis are mixed from various wading birds like redshanks, sandpipers and plovers. I drew Saltasaurus once years ago but it had a single boring shade of color all over so I spiced it up a bit (in this piece from 4 years ago , my first digital paleoart ever, except Saltasaurusdidn't actually live with Carnotaurus so womp womp).

Description
70 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous period in what is now the Lecho Formation of Argentina, a large adult Saltasaurus loricatus arrives at the edge of the water and wades into the shallows, where it finds that large flocks of waterbirds have gathered. The flocks have not gone unnoticed by the small predatory dinosaur Noasaurus leali, which sprints into the water in attempt to prey on a bird, sending many Lectavis bretincola flying off and a Yungavolucris brevipedalis diving for water.

Drawing for Day 5 of the Maysozoic art prompt list, with the prompt for this day being Saltasaurus. I know, I already lagged a day behind and now I lag by 2 or 3 depending on the time zone, but unfortunately these drawings take time to make and I have a life outside the internet. It's looking likely that this prompt list will end up being done over the course of 2 months rather than one.

Anyways here's Saltasaurus loricatus, a medium-sized sauropod probably under 10 meters long (or only slightly more, I haven't paid close attention to recent estimates and different sources say different things) belonging to the Titanosauria clade. What makes this species notable is that it was the first titanosaur in which fossilized osteoderms (bony plates embedded in the skin) were found, and while originally thought to be unique to Saltasaurus, osteoderms would later be found in more titanosaurs, suggesting the feature was widespread within the group. These osteoderms may have provided some defence against predators, along with the size of the sauropod itself (some titanosaurs would have been the largest land animals ever, though Saltasaurus itself is nowhere close to claiming that title). Remains of Saltasaurus loricatus are known only from the Lecho Formation of Argentina, and while a second species from elsewhere in the country was formerly placed in this genus, that species has now been moved to Neuquensaurus.

As far as I can tell, few other non-avian dinosaurs are known from the Lecho Formation, with the small abelisaurian theropod Noasaurus being one of the few (if not the only other, I'm tired and can't be bothered to properly check). However, Lecho has yielded many remains of enantiornithines, an extinct group of birds that died out at the end of the Cretaceous period and formed a separate clade from the group comprising all living birds. Interestingly, some of Lecho's enantiornithine species seem to have been waterbirds: Lectavis and Yungavolucris are each known only from leg bones, but the former had long legs like those of a wading bird, while the latter had short yet wide legs with asymmetrical feet which may indicate foot-propelled swimming or even diving. Of course this is somewhat speculative since they are so fragmentary and any reconstructions should be taken with a grain of salt.

The scene depicted here was inspired by pictures of hyenas hunting flamingos (Google it) and this photo of an elephant approaching a flock of flamingos. I drew the one Yungavolucris in this foreground diving underwater as a defence mechanism based on what coots and some other birds do, while the Lectavis all just fly away like most birds. Colors of the Lectavis are mixed from various wading birds like redshanks, sandpipers and plovers. I drew Saltasaurus once years ago but it had a single boring shade of color all over so I spiced it up a bit (in this piece from 4 years ago , my first digital paleoart ever, except Saltasaurusdidn't actually live with Carnotaurus so womp womp).