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Brachiosaurus

Explorer · ages 7 and underAdapted from Wikipedia
An illustration of Brachiosaurus altithorax, a long-necked sauropod dinosaur that lived in what is now North America about 150 million years ago.

What is Brachiosaurus?

Brachiosaurus was a big plant-eating dinosaur. It lived in North America a very, very long time ago, during the Late Jurassic time.

Its name comes from Greek and means "arm lizard." Its arms were long compared to the rest of its body.

Its Body

Brachiosaurus was very big, about 18 to 22 meters long. It had a long neck, a small head, and a large body. Its front legs were longer than its back legs, which made it look a little like a giraffe.

Scientists think Brachiosaurus ate leaves from tall plants. Its head was high up, so it could reach leaves that were far above the ground. It belongs to a family called Brachiosauridae.

Finding Brachiosaurus

In 1900, a scientist named Elmer S. Riggs found some of its bones near the Colorado River, close to Fruita, Colorado. He shared his discovery in 1903. The bones were taken to the Field Museum in Chicago.

Most of the dinosaur pictures you may have seen are actually of a close cousin called Giraffatitan. That dinosaur lived in Tanzania, far away in Africa.

Brachiosaurus in Movies

Brachiosaurus is one of the most famous dinosaurs. It was in the movie Jurassic Park in 1993. Many people were excited to see it on the big screen.

Quiz time!

3 questions about Brachiosaurus

Question 1 of 3

What kind of dinosaur was Brachiosaurus?

Pictures

Fossil bones of Brachiosaurus altithorax as they were found at Dinosaur Quarry No. 13 near Grand Junction, Colorado, including vertebrae, the sacrum, the hip bone, and ribs.
Assistant Menke lies beside the fossil humerus (upper arm bone) of Brachiosaurus altithorax, photographed in 1900 by paleontologist Elmer Riggs during a dig.
Museum staff working with Brachiosaurus fossils from Colorado in a paleontology laboratory at the Field Columbian Museum in 1894.
A fossil vertebra from the neck or back of Brachiosaurus, a huge long-necked dinosaur that lived about 150 million years ago.
A Brachiosaurus skeleton on display inside the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois.
A skeleton drawing of Brachiosaurus altithorax, a long-necked dinosaur, shown next to a human silhouette to compare their sizes.
An 1880s drawing of a Brontosaurus skeleton by paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh. Scientists later found that its head actually came from a different dinosaur, Brachiosaurus, showing how our understanding of dinosaurs has changed over time.
A fossil shoulder bone of Brachiosaurus, a giant long-necked dinosaur, on display at the Museum of Ancient Life in Utah.
A fossil ulna (lower front leg bone) of a Brachiosaurus, a long-necked dinosaur, on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.
The Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, home to a large Giraffatitan dinosaur skeleton on display.
A 1915 sketch reconstructing Brachiosaurus, one of the largest known dinosaurs, based on fossil specimens in museums in Chicago and Berlin. Some details in this old drawing have since been updated by scientists.
Photographs of middle and rear tail bones (caudal vertebrae) from the fossil dinosaur Lusotitan atalaiensis, shown from several angles. A scale bar shows their size.
A scientific drawing showing the sacrum, the fused group of bones near the hip, of a long-necked dinosaur called Brachiosaurus nougaredi. The blue areas show the parts of the bone that scientists actually have fossils for.
Size compared to a human
Fifth dorsal vertebra in front of the pelvis of the holotype, compared to the same region of a human vertebral column
Restoration showing hypothetical nasal ornamentation and eyespots
Map showing locations of brachiosaurid remains from the Morrison Formation (gray); 5 (the red dot) is the B. altithorax type locality
Child with the Potter Creek humerus, 1959

Keep exploring

Dinosaur
Reptile
North America
Late Jurassic
Ancient Greek
Giraffe

This article is a child-friendly adaptation of the Wikipedia article on Brachiosaurus, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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