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| NAME: |
Meaning - Brachiosaurus means "Arm lizard"
Pronounced - BRAK-e-o-SAWR-us
Named
By - Elmer S. Riggs
When Named - 1903 |
| DIET: |
Herbivore (plant-eater) - it ate conifers, cycads, and ginkgos. |
| SIZE: |
Length - 80-85 feet (24-26 m) long
Height - 23 feet (7 m) tall at the hips, 40-50 feet
(12-16 m) tall at the head
Weight - 33-88 tons (30-80 tonnes) |
| WHEN IT LIVED: |
Late Jurassic period, about 156-145 million years ago |
| WHERE IT LIVED: |
Fossils have been found in Colorado, USA, North America and Tanzania, Africa, and perhaps Portugal, Europe. |
| FOSSILS: |
A few incomplete fossils have been found (mostly without skulls). |
| CLASSIFICATION: |
- Kingdom Animalia (animals)
- Phylum Chordata (having a hollow nerve chord ending in a brain)
- Class Archosauria (diapsids with socket-set teeth, etc.)
- Order Saurischia - lizard-hipped dinosaurs
- Suborder Sauropoda - large herbivores
- Family Brachiosauridae giraffe-stanced sauropods (with arms longer than legs)
- Genus Brachiosaurus
- Species B. altithorax (type species named by Riggs, 1903)
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INTERESTING
FACTS: |
Unlike most other dinosaurs, the front legs of Brachiosaurus were longer than the hind legs (hence its name,
"arm lizard"). |
| LINKS: |
A detailed page on Brachiosaurus.
A Brachiosaurus printout to color
A Brachiosaurus skeleton printout to color
A Brachiosaurus printout to color (simple version)
An online quiz on Brachiosaurus |
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