Monday, February 21, 2011

Brachiosaurus

The Brachiosaurus that had a long neck, small head, and relatively short, thick tail is said to vary from other dinosaur that roamed the earth.

This difference came from the fact that Brachiosaurus was a giraffe-stanced sauropod, which means that the hind legs of the Brachiosaurus were shorter than the front legs.

This is also the reason why it is referred to as the 'arm lizard'.

Branchiosaurus

Brachiosaurus was named by Elmer S. Riggs, in 1903.

Brachiosaurus was a large plant eater.

This herbivore fed on conifers, ginkgos and cycads.

It was believed to have been between 80 and 85 feet long and weighed between 33 and 88 tons! Brachiosaurus was 23 feet tall, at the hips and stood between 40 and 50 feet tall at the head.

Like other Brachiosaurids, it had chisel-like teeth, its nostrils were on the top of its head, and it had large nasal openings indicating that it may have had a good sense of smell.

Brachiosaurus had 26 teeth on its top jaw and 26 on the bottom for a total of 52 teeth towards the front of the mouth.

The dinosaur lived during the late Jurassic period, about 156 million years ago.

The fossilized remains of the Brachiosaurus have been discovered in Colorado, USA, Tanzania and Portugal.

Brachiosaurus belonged to the phylum 'chordata', which means that the dinosaurs had a nerve chord that was hollow and ended in a brain. Brachiosaurus had socket set teeth and were lizard hipped.

Brachiosaurus was a warm-blooded animal, with large demands for energy by the body, on a daily basis, of probably more than 182 kg of food every day!

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