Brachiosaurus
What do you already know about this sauropod dinosaur?
Can you say...
brack - ee - ow - saw - rus
The name Brachiosaurus means ‘arm lizard’.
Brachiosaurus was a sauropod that lived in the late Jurassic Period. They actually lived at the same time as Diplodocus and in the same place.
They were quite like Diplodocus and looked similar in lots of ways. However, Brachiosaurus stood more upright than Diplodocus. They were about 16 metres tall, about the same height as two double decker buses stacked on top of each other. It had a much shorter tail than Diplodocus but it was still about 26 metres long from it’s head to the end of its tail. Brachiosaurus stood on all four legs but unlike other sauropods its front legs were longer than it’s back legs.
Brachiosaurus had a bump on the top of its head. This bump was its nostrils! Years and years ago this actually made people think Brachiosaurus lived under water, with its head sticking out of the water and its nose right at the top. This was not true however, no dinosaurs lived in the water at all, they only walked on land.
Brachiosaurus was a herbivore which means it only ate plants. Like the other sauropods it would have swallowed stones to help grind up all the leaves up in its stomach. It would have had to travel long distances to find enough food to eat as it was such a big dinosaur and leaves aren’t very filling! But it was lucky enough to be able to reach the tops of the trees so could eat leaves lots of other dinosaurs wouldn’t have been able to reach.
Brachiosaurus dinosaurs would have lived in herds for their own protection against theropod dinosaurs. Although as they were so big theropod dinosaurs probably would have left them alone. If they had a chance theropods would have tried to attack smaller baby Brachiosaurus’ though. They were protected by the herd.
Fossils of Brachiosaurus have been found in what is now America. But in fact only about ten have been found, and those aren’t complete skeletons.
What we've learnt...
The name Brachiosaurus means ‘arm lizard’.
People pronounce its name brack – ee – ow – saw – rus
Brachiosaurus lived in the late Jurassic Period at the same time as Diplodocus.
Brachiosaurus was a sauropod. It had a long neck but much shorter tail than other sauropods.
Brachiosaurus had longer front legs and shorter back legs. It stood up tall with its neck sticking up.
Brachiosaurus was a gentle herbivore that lived in herds.
Test your knowledge...
Brachiosaurus Quiz
If you click the correct answer the box will turn green. If its the wrong answer it will turn red and then show you what the correct answer was. Make sure you read/listen to the questions carefully!
#1. Did Brachiosaurus live in herds?
#2. When did Brachiosaurus live?
#3. On a Brachiosaurus what was longer?
#4. Did Brachiosaurus live in water?
#5. What was shorter on a Brachiosaurus compared to the other sauropods?
Results
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The photos on this page are of dinosaur models and computer generated images. They are used to give you an idea of what the dinosaurs would have looked like, but I can’t guarantee they are 100% accurate!
Creative Commons Images, used with thanks…
Brachiosaurus Mount by Matt Wedel – CC BY 3.0
Brachiosaurus by Syed Ahmad Fathi – CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
Brachiosaurus Model by Jynus – CC BY-SA 4.0 (edited to remove people in photo)
Brachiosaurus young by HombreDHojalata – CC BY-SA 3.0 (background editited slightly)
Other photos and illustrations on this page are Whizzbots or Public Domain Images.