Interesting Facts About The Brachiosaurus

Brachiosaurus fossil remains that have been discovered reveal that this dinosaur was very unusual. To start with, it really had a long neck and its hind legs were shorter than the front legs and hence resembled the modern day giraffe. However, other than these two similarities, there is no relationship between the two animals at all. The dinosaur roamed the earth about 145 million years ago and up to date, there has been no solid evidence to indicate if it was cold blooded or warm-blooded. Actually, a majority of the scientists that have studied the available fossil remains agree that it might not have been either and they categorize it as a gigantotherm, an animal that lies in between being cold blooded and warm blooded. The reason for this is that its metabolism was very high when compared to reptilian animals and very slow when compared to mammalian animals.

Appearance:

If dinosaurs had a height competition back in the Jurassic era, this one would most definitely be among the top contenders as it was somewhere between 45 and 50 feet, and a length of 85 feet. This shows that it was among the most gigantic creatures of that age and had a weight of about 22.6 tonnes. It had a muzzle 52 teeth that were held in place by well fitting jaws. Each jaw had 26 teeth and they were perfectly structured to be effective in the stripping of plants as this dinosaur was a vegetarian.

With a neck that was 10 meters long, the dinosaur had an inclined back that was caused by the fact that the fore limbs were longer than the hind limbs. The exact angle at which the neck exited from the rest of its body has not been known yet but for some reason, this is one of the most debated topics as far as the dinosaur is concerned. Additionally, it is not known if the dinosaur kept its head pointing upwards all the time. If this was the case, then it must have had a very big and muscular heart to be able to pump blood all the way up to the head. Since the evidence of such a heart has not been discovered, most scientists think that when not eating, Brachiosaurus maintained a horizontal posture for purposes of blood flow.

Initially, leading paleontologists that were studying the fossils thought that the Brachiosaurus lived in an aquatic environment due to the fact that its nostrils were located at the top of the head. However, further studies refute this theory in that the dinosaur's body and small feet were not really adapted to an aquatic life.

The Brachiosaurus is thought to have a lifespan of about 100 years. There is a rule that says that if an animal is very big and slow, it may live very long. Looking at the facts about this dinosaur, there is no evidence to suggest that it lived a fast paced life as it was a herbivore. It is assumed that it only had to run when escaping predators. This has led to the deduction that when feeding normally and in absence of life threatening attacks from predators, the dinosaurs most probably clocked 100 years before succumbing to death due to age related complications. The fact that this dinosaur was very big gives ample reason to deduce that even the largest predators would stay away from it.

Its long neck indicates that dinosaur led a giraffe like life eating tree leaves such as cycads and gingkoes. The size of an adult demand that it eats about 181kgs of plants on a daily basis to be able to sustain its bulky weight. There is debate that in as much as it fed on tree leaves, it normally grazed on lower plants in the event that the tree leaves were not available. The dinosaurs are thought to live in communities and normally kept moving from one locality to another in search of food. Their teeth are not adapted for chewing but for stripping and therefore Brachiosaurus most likely swallowed its food without chewing. This in turn means that it must have had a very powerful digestive system to digest the food.