All we have today of the mighty dinosaurs are their fossils. It is sometimes easy to forget that these were once living animals, surviving in a word of unimaginable violence. But if you know what you're looking for, the signs of life are clear. Nowhere is this clearer than with Big Al, a remarkable Allosaurus skeleton from Wyoming. From his nearly complete skeleton we can tell his size, approximate age and even the injuries that contributed to his death. In fact, it isn't a stretch to say that we know more about Big Al than just about any other dinosaur. The following text aims to decipher the sometimes cryptic nature of dinosaur fossils to unravel the story of this animal's life.