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BRACHIOSAURUS brancai
Brachiosaurus is one of the better known sauropods, belonging to the family
Brachiosaurid. It is one of the biggest land animals yet found. Its name,
meaning "arm lizard", is derived from the prodigious length of its front
legs. First thought of as swimmers, the Brachiosaurus is now thought of as
land roaming. Brachiosaurus probably had no predators, because of its enormous size;
its defense was its size. Brachiosaurus was a herbivore, a treetop eater,
that ate the most elevated plant material (like conifers leaves and fruit).
It swallowed its food whole, without chewing it. It could graze from trees
at heights, no other sauropods could reach. This dinosaur probably
traveled in groups and may have migrated, when its food supply was depleted. Like
other sauropods, it may have hatched from eggs. This huge herbivore was twenty times heavier than an elephant. It
walked on all four legs, but unlike most dinosaurs, its front legs were
longer than its hind limbs. Standing at about 52 feet (16 m) high, it had
giraffe-like stance. Each foot had five toes with fleshy pads. Front feet
had a claw on the first toe and hind limbs had claws on the first three
toes. The purpose of large claws is unknown. Brachiosaurus had small, tiny head, chisel-like teeth, long neck and
relatively short, thick tail. It has high placed nostrils (on the top of the
head), which is believed to have increase the sense of smell or function as
a cooling surface for the blood. is
one of the better
known sauropods. Standing at about 52 feet (16m) high, this
treetop eater has high placed nostrils which is believed to have
increased the sense of smell or function as a cooling surface for
the blood. First thought of as swimmers, the Brachiosaurus
is now thought of as land roaming. It's small feet had large
claws, the purpose of which are unknown
TIME
- 156 - 145 MYA, Late Jurassic
RANGE -
Colorado, Tanzania
SIZE
- 82 feet long (25m) |
