Brachiosaurus

About Brachiosaurus

Brachiosaurus was a gigantic plant-eater with front legs longer than its back legs. It held its neck up high like a giraffe to munch on treetops.

Brachiosaurus altithorax was a brachiosaurid sauropod from the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation of western North America. Its long forelimbs and steeply sloping back let it browse higher than almost any other animal of its time, and it is known from fewer bones than many famous mounts suggest.

Did you know?

1. Brachiosaurus could peek into a window on the fourth floor of a building!
2. Its front legs were longer than its back legs, so its back sloped down like a slide.
3. It may have eaten hundreds of kilograms of leaves every single day.
4. Many of its bones were full of air pockets, which made its huge body a bit lighter.

1. The type specimen was found by Elmer Riggs's Field Museum team near Grand Junction, Colorado in 1900 and named in 1903; it remains one of the most complete Brachiosaurus skeletons, yet it lacks a skull.
2. The famous mounted skeleton in Berlin belongs to Giraffatitan brancai from Tanzania, which was moved out of Brachiosaurus into its own genus in 2009 after detailed comparisons of the vertebrae.
3. Mass estimates vary widely, from under 30 tonnes to over 55 tonnes, because the skeleton is incomplete and scientists use different methods, such as limb-bone scaling or 3D volume models.
4. Researchers still debate how vertically it held its neck; the neck joints and tall shoulders suggest a raised posture, but blood pressure needed to pump blood to a head 12 m up would have been enormous.

Myth or fact?