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While some people outside the scientific community still refer toApatosaurusasBrontosaurus , the nameBrontosauruswas actually the final result of a fossil mix - up .
American paleontologist Othniel C. Marsh named one of his fogy discoveries — an incomplete set of the stiff of a adolescent dinosaur — Apatosaurusajaxin 1877 . Two year later , in 1879 , he discovered another sauropod ( dinosaurs best know for their fantastically farseeing necks ) specimen that was larger and more arrant . Marsh believed the fresh discovery represented an entirely dissimilar genus of dinosaur , and decided to name itBrontosaurusexcelsus .
Apatosaurus
In 1903 , fossilist Elmer Riggs re - examined Marsh ’s fossil and concluded that they were alike enough to belong to to the same genus ( most fossilist today underpin his conclusions ) . consort to name conventions , the older name takes precedence , mean thatBrontosaurusexcelsusshould actually beApatosaurus excelsus . However , Riggs issue his examination in a relatively obscure daybook , so his findings were mostly unknown to people at the time . Additionally , by this clock time , the nameBrontosaurushad gained a fortune of public exposure by various non - scientific place , such as the Sinclair oil troupe , which used the animal as its logo , consort topaleontologist Michael Taylor .
Today , Brontosaurusis still a well - know moniker and persist in popular consumption until a few tenner ago . The Flintstones ' pet dinosaur , Dino , was name as aBrontosaurus . Fred Flintstone was also have sex to eat Bronto - Burger . The U.S. Postal Service even used the name in 1989 when it write out a series of dinosaur stamps , struggle that the name was more conversant to the oecumenical public thanApatosaurus , according to theNew York Times .
And still , thenaming contestation go forward . A 2015 study suggest that there are enough divergence between twoApatosaurusspecimens that one of them should be in a different genus and reclassifiedBrontosaurus .
Artwork by Scott Hartman reveals the bone structure of Apatosaurus.
Anatomy of a giant
Apatosauruswas an herbivoroussauropod dinosaurthat lived from about 155.7 to 150.8 million years ago , during the Kimmeridgian and former Tithonian eld of the Jurassic Period . The termApatosauruscomes from the Greek wordsapate / apatelos , meaning " deceptive , " andsauro , think of " lounge lizard . " Marsh grant it this name because some of its bones resembled those of some mosasaurs , a type of large aquatic reptile .
It ’s believed to be one of the biggest acres brute to have roamed the Earth . Fossils ofA. louisae(the largest knownApatosaurusspecies ) indicate the dinosaur reached68.9to74.8 feet(21 to 22.8 meters ) in length . In the past , Apatosauruswas estimated to count up to 39 tons ( 35 metrical oodles , or 35,000 kilograms ) , butmodern clay sculpture techniquesputs its average exercising weight nigh to 19.8 short ton ( 18 metric tons ) , according to a 2009 report in the Journal of Zoology .
Like other sauropod dinosaur , the vertebra were made up of partner off spines , producing a very wide and thick cervix . But its cervix was not as heavy as it might have been , thanks to a organization of air pouch that save it relatively light for its size of it .
Learn about the Jurassic-era plant eating dinosaur Apatosaurus.
The cervix posture and neck flexibility ofApatosaurusand other sauropod is highly debated . computing gadget fashion model in the nineties suggested thatApatosaurushadlittle neck flexibilityand probably maintain its capitulum horizontally ( it would n’t have been able to wipe out from the tops of trees and then bend its head all the way down to the ground to tope H2O ) . But found on comparison with animals alive today , Apatosaurusmay haveheld its brain highwith a swan - similar S - curve to its flexible neck , a 2009 study in the daybook Acta Palaeontologica Polonica argued .
However , a 2013 study in the daybook PLOS ONE bet at the neck opening flexibleness of ostriches ( the closest tenacious - neck sauropod relative ) , and concluded that previous neck opening - flexibility simulation , which do n’t take into explanation the effect of soft tissue , cannot truly figure the flexibleness of sauropod neck — what this means for the existent posture and flexibleness ofApatosaurusnecks is unclear .
Apatosaurushad leg that were sturdy and not as elongate as other sauropods , such asBrachiosaurus , and its hind branch were larger than its forelimb . Like most sauropods , Apatosaurushad only a unmarried large claw on each forelimb , with the first three toe on the hind limb possess chela .
Its tail was long and unusually slim , resemble a bullwhip . A information processing system modelling detail in a 1997 Discover magazine article institute that thecrack of the tail end tip would have produced a " cannonlike boom"heard for miles . However , the lissom crown ofApatosaurus ' can would plausibly be unable to ache any predators , negating its enjoyment as a weapon .
Apatosaurus , like its airless relativeSupersaurus , had unusually tall sticker on its vertebrae , which make up more than half the height of the case-by-case bones .
The vertebral spines chop-chop diminish in height the farther they are from the hip , giving the tail its lissome anatomy .
Apatosaurushad a skull that was rather small for its body sizing . It turn back chisel - like teeth , suited to an herbivorous diet .
What did Apatosaurus eat?
It ’s believed thatApatosaurusprimarily fertilize on low - lie plants , but its long neck may have enabled this sauropod to eat soft farewell on high tree , if its neck was flexible enough . Apatosauruslikely swallowed bombastic ball of plant life without chewing and ingested stones to help with digestion . Like other declamatory sauropods , Apatosaurusprobably had toeat up to 400 kilograms(880 pounds ) of food every day to survive , according to a 2008 study in the Proceeding of the Royal Society B.
In the early 2000s , some scientists suggestedApatosaurusand other declamatory sauropods make to be so huge because of their food supplying . That is , their intellectual nourishment was so low in nitrogen — which is necessary for protein shaping and vigor — that they had to eat a set of it to go , increasing their organic structure size of it . Subsequent research , which analyzed the full energy in modern works , discarded this musical theme .
" But the idea is n’t base on push , it ’s establish on carbon - to - nitrogen proportion , " Wilkinson secernate LiveScience . In a 2012 study in the daybook Functional Ecology , Wilkinson and his colleagues took another look at the theory , and conclude that itshouldn’t be written off just yet . " Our primal spot is that the idea is still a contender . "
However , some inquiry suggests other factors may have been more of import in drive up sauropods ' body sizes , such asswallowing big amounts of food without chewing .
Dinosaur farts
Like the big herbivore of today , Apatosaurusprobably trust on gut microbe to facilitate them stand works matter , resulting in the production of the nursery gas methane . In a 2012 bailiwick in the journal Current Biology , researchers calculated thatApatosaurusand other sauropods produced about520 million tons of methane per year , which is not so unlike from the amount of methane presently produced by both born and manmade sources .
" They produced enough methane to have a venial butmeasurable effect on the global mood , " enunciate work lead investigator David Wilkinson , a life scientist at Liverpool John Moores University in the United Kingdom . " In theory , they could have produced enough methane to toy a part in sustaining the warm climate of the Mesozoic era . "
Fossil finds
Apatosaurusfossils have been unearthed in Nine Mile Quarry and Bone Cabin Quarry in Wyoming as well as in area of Colorado , Oklahoma and Utah .
Apatosauruslouisaewas name by William Holland in 1915 inhonor of Louise Carnegie , wife of Andrew Carnegie who funded domain enquiry to find accomplished dinosaur skeletons in the American West . Apatosauruslouisaeis known from one nearly over skeleton in the cupboard , which was found in Utah .
In 2008 , footmark of a juvenileApatosauruswere found in Quarry Five in Morrison , Colo. divulge by Matthew Mossbrucker , these footprints indicated thatjuveniles could run on their hind legs , concord to Smithsonian Magazine .
In 2013 , Mossbrucker identified thefirstA. ajaxsnout ever chance upon , which may help paleontologist better sympathise how the dinosaur is have-to doe with to other sauropods .
extra reportage by Kim Ann Zimmermann , Live Science Contributor
Related pages
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Time periods
Precambrian : Facts About the first of Time
Paleozoic epoch : fact & Information
Mesozoic Era : Age of the Dinosaurs
Cenozoic geological era : Facts About Climate , Animals & industrial plant
Quaternary Period : Climate , Animals & Other fact
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