Brachiosaurus Facts
The Brachiosaurus is a sauropod or member of the lizard-hipped family, and one of the largest land animals that walked the planet. Its name means ‘arm reptile’ in Greek, so called because the front legs were larger than the rear. Here are some Brachiosaurus facts: |
When it stood, it had a rather giraffe-like stance with its long neck held at an angle of forty-five degrees, at the end of which was a relatively small head. It had large nasal opening suggesting a sharp sense of smell. The brachiosaurus was a herbivore that stood around 40 feet tall at the highest point, was 85 feet long and weighed upto 80 tonnes. With its long neck and fore legs it had an astounding reach with the ability to access the highest trees from which it consumed vast amounts of vegetation off the tops. It had long spatulate teeth that enabled it to masticate tougher plant food than other sauropods of the period. Its short stumpy tail and relatively short hind legs would have placed its centre of gravity too far forward to have allowed the animal to rear up on its hind legs. So paleontologists conclude the animal walked on all fours.
The Brachiosaurus lived from 165 to 145 million years ago during the Jurassic period, and is believed to have been native to the east coast of Africa, more especially Tanzania where complete skeletons were found. Some fossil evidence has also been unearthed in North America, Europe and some parts of Asia but these are restricted to a few teeth or the odd limb.
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