About the Big Brachiosaurus

The Brachiosaurus is indeed one of the most popular dinosaur that ever lived. It was as long as a tennis court, almost as high as a three-storey building and weighed around 35 to 45 metric tons. Brachiosaurus means an 'arm lizard'. Its size was up to 23 meters long and 12 meters in height. It lived about 150 - 145 million years ago in the late Jurassic period and its habitat was in Tanzania and Algeria and also in the western part of North America.

The Brachiosaurus was one of the largest and heaviest dinosaurs among many other dinosaurs. If an average man was standing next to the dinosaur the head of the man would have only reached to the knees. It had a massive body, a very long neck, small head and long tail.

The Brachiosaurus had a large powerful heart which pumped blood all the way up to the neck and to its small sized brain it possessed. Experts think it may even have had several hearts to pump and circulate the blood around its entire huge body. The Brachiosaurus had strong muscles along the neck bones which helped to hold up its head. Compared to many other dinosaurs, the front legs of the this dinosaur were longer than its back legs. Those long front legs were believed to have helped the dinosaur to support the weight of its long neck.

With its extraordinary long neck measuring about 10 meters long and consisting of around 12 bones, the Brachiosaurus searched among the tree tops that were out of reach for other herbivores. With the use of its long neck, it could pluck the highest possible leaves, pretty similar to the way giraffes feed. Brachiosaurus had strong jaws teeth shaped rather like sharp-edged spoons for nipping off twigs and shoots.

The legs of the Brachiosaurus ended in short and thick toes. Beneath the bones of each foot was a pad attached to cushion the legs against the violent shock of its weight. It held its legs straight underneath its huge body, and this assisted to support its body weight. Just like elephants, they also hold their legs very straight beneath their bodies too. The appetite of this dinosaur was big and needed to eat large quantities of food to supply energy for its massive body to grow and move around. An elephant for instance eats roughly 140-160 kilograms of food daily, but a Brachiosaurus may have eaten as much as 1,500 kilograms of food daily. It probably roamed around in herds and also over large areas of land every day to search for new trees.

The dinosaur is believed to have been safe from attack by predators. Maybe because it was so heavy and that it resided in lakes and rivers, plus the water would support its heavy weight. Experts think that is legs would sink deep into the ground as it walked on land. The nostrils of the Brachiosaurus were situated on the top of its head so it could keep its head above the water for inhalation. The Brachiosaurus would have been safe from attack by fierce carnivores if it remained in the water as experts believe.

However, scientists nowadays believe that the Brachiosaurus lived only on land. That's because the pressure of the water would have crushed its ribs and squashing its lungs. Scientists also know that its legs were tough and strong enough to carry the weight of its heavy body as it wandered through the forests, and along rivers and lakes.