Apatosaurus

What is an Apatosaurus

The Apatosaurus is known as the long necked dinosaur. Well, one of the many long necks that exist. They roamed the earth during the Jurassic period. They were one of the largest Herbivores to exist during the time. The actively largest fossil is known as the Patagotitan Mayorum at the weight of 70 tons. The apatosaurus has the nickname of Gentle Giant, due to their calm nature and large size.

Apatosaurus Diet and Lifestyle

The Apatosaurus was a plant-eater, also known as an herbivore. They mainly ate leaves from tall trees, though they did eat other plants as well ferns, horsetail, cycads, and conifers. They needed to consume a lot of plants due to their large size. They also tended to live in heards for their own protection from predators. Though they didn't have many. Due to their large size they were often very slow moving and couldn't get very far very quick. To help them with digestion the apatosaurus often would eat a rock known as gastroliths, these helped break down the plants that they ate. The Apatosaurus also loved sitting in the water to cool off, as they were partially aquatic creatures.

Apatosaurus Predators

The predators of an apatosaurus were very few and many in between, they only had two, the predators usually went after the young and elderly. As the apatosaurus were very large and very good fighters, they could often defend themselves and win in any fight with a smaller dinosaur. Their long tails often acted as a whip to fight off any predator that tried to attack them. The adult Apatosaurus was always a challenge to any predator. The two main predators were the carnivores known as Allosaurus and Ceratosaurus.

Apatosaurus Size and Appearance

The apatosaurus was over 75 feet in length from head to tail, 45 tons in weight, and over 15 feet in height, almost the size of a two story house. They had a very long neck and tail to aid in balance and battle. Scientists believe that they had more than one heart to pump all the blood needed to keep them alive, as they were so big. They had very thick legs that were nearly the size of a tree stump. They had very thick skin to protect their body. It is believed that they had very rough and scaly skin, though there hasn’t been enough research to know how their bodies felt. It is believed that they had claws to help with traction while walking, they never used the claws for battle.

Cool Facts

The apatosaurus used to be mistaken for the Brontosaurus, though further research shows that they had a few different genes including a slightly thicker tail and neck. The fossils were often found in Wyoming, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Utah, which provided scientists with a lot of information to help in research. Though it was rare their fossils were also found in the northern parts of North America. In order to construct a full body they had to go through each bone and analyze them very thoroughly in order to put them in the correct spots on the dinosaur’s model.