Sauropoda Dinosaur

Sauropoda is among the most diverse and widespread dinosaur lineages, having attained a near-global distribution by the Middle Jurassic that was built on throughout the Cretaceous. These gigantic herbivores are characterized by numerous skeletal specializations that accrued over a 140 million-year history. This fascinating evolutionary history has fuelled interest for more than a century, yet aspects of sauropod interrelationships remain unresolved.

Sauropods were the largest terrestrial vertebrates –their estimated body mass exceeds that of other large dinosaurs by an order of magnitude. Despite the potential biomechanical constraints at this extreme body size, sauropods were the dominant mega herbivorous group throughout 140 million years of the Mesozoic, constituting approximately one-fourth of known dinosaur genera

Description

Sauropods have a distinct, easily recognizable morphology: a long, slender neck and tail at either end of a large body supported by four columnar limbs. The anatomical details of this architecture are unique to sauropods and have furnished the basic evidence of their monophyly

Size

The most central feature was their size. Even the dwarf sauropods like Europasaurus (perhaps 5 to 6 metres) were counted among the biggest animals in their ecosystem. Their only real competitors in terms of size are the Blue Whale. But, sauropods were mainly land-based animals.

Diet

Sauropods were herbivorous (plant-eating)