The Ballad of Big Al is the story of an Allosaurus, a large carnivorous dinosaur, which lived in the Late Jurassic around 145 million years ago. Big Al was found near Howe Quarry in the Morrison Formation of North America. The skeleton was unusually well preserved - over 95% of his bones were found - and they were all in the same positions as when he died. Big Al took his name from the completeness of his skeleton. The bones told a story. Big Al had many injuries which were picked up in the last few years of his life. Piecing together the evidence from his bones and those of other animals found in the Morrison Formation, we could reconstruct how Al may have lived and died.