Brachiosaurus
(brack-ee-oh-saw-us)
Dinosaur Quick Facts:
- Named after the large bones of its foreleg
- Head to tail 22m (72 feet)
- Long neck enables it to browse in treetops
- Peg-like teeth were used to strip leaves from the high branches
- Weighed around 80 tonnes
Named for the large bones of its foreleg, Brachiosaurus was an enormous sauropod, one of the largest dinosaurs known from a complete skeleton. Brachiosaurus stood over ten metres high, was twenty-two metres long and weighed around eighty tonnes.
Brachiosaurus was adapted to live on land, with similarities to a giraffe, browsing in treetops. Its peg-like teeth were used to strip leaves from the high branches. Unlike many of its sauropod relatives, Brachiosaurus had very long forelegs, indicating that its neck was held in a more vertical position.
Some paleontologists have suggested that the most well known species, Brachiosaurus brancai, is actually a separate genus, Giraffatitan. Whatever its name, this giant was feeding almost constantly to sustain its enormous bulk.
