Brachiosaurus
PALAEONTOLOGICAL RECORD
Brachiosaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived in North America during the Late Jurassic, about 155.6 to 145.5 million years ago. It was first described by American paleontologist Elmer S. Riggs in 1903 from fossils found in the Colorado River valley in western Colorado, United States. Riggs named the dinosaur Brachiosaurus altithorax; the generic name is Greek for "arm lizard", in reference to its proportionately long arms, and the specific name means "deep chest". Brachiosaurus is estimated to have been between 18 and 22 meters long; body mass estimates of the subadult holotype specimen range from 28.3 to 46.9 metric tons. It had a disproportionately long neck, small skull, and large overall size, all of which are typical for sauropods. Atypically, Brachiosaurus had longer forelimbs than hindlimbs, which resulted in a steeply inclined trunk, and a proportionally shorter tail.
DISCOVERY
Discovered by Elmer Riggs in 1900, Colorado.
DIETARY PROFILE
Strict canopy browser, capable of eating hundreds of pounds of leaves daily.
NOTABLE PALAEONTOLOGY FACTS
- It had proportionally massive front legs, sloping its massive back steeply downwards.
- Unlike depictions in early cinema, it physically couldn't rear up on its hind legs without breaking its own spine.
HOLLYWOOD INACCURACIES
- Often depicted chewing like a cow, which sauropods could not physically do.
- Rearing on hind legs is debated due to immense weight.
