Sauropods (lizard feet) were the largest, longest, and heaviest of all land animals. These giants had rib bones as long as six and a half feet and as thick as a man's upper arm. These bones formed a barrel shape around the dinosaur's lungs, heart, and other vital organs. This made their bodies massive and bulky, but their long necks topped with tiny heads and long tails were more slender. They had very strong legs that were like tree trunks. Their legs were positioned right under the heaviest part of their bodies. Their leg bones were designed more for strength than s peed.
Here is a partial list of some sauropods :
Diplodocus was one of the longest animals ever to walk the earth. It is one of the best known sauropod dinosaurs. It had a long, flexible neck, a relatively short body and a long, whip-like tail. its long head, small for a dinosaur so large, held a relatively small brain. Its length was about 90 feet and weighed about 15 tons.
Apatosaurus (formerly known as Brontosaurus) name means Deceptive lizard. It was a massive animal. The 82 bones in its tail balanced its 20 foot long neck with its small, low head. Its overall length was 76 feet, its body height was about 17 feet at the hips and 14 feet at the shoulders. With flesh and muscle on such a skeleton, scientists estimate it probably weighed about 30 to 42 tons.
Brachiosaurus was called the arm lizard because it had long forelimbs that held its shoulders higher than its hips. The shoulders of a full grown Brachiosaurus stood 16-19 feet from the ground. It was 75 feet long, 39 feet high, and can hold its head over 42 feet in the air. It probably weighed about 75 tons or more. Certainly this was the giraffe of the dinosaur world.
Camarasaurus is very well known by skeletal remains from the Morrison Formation of the western United States. This sauropod had a large, deep head and strong spoon-shaped teeth in its sturdy jaws. It walked with its back held nearly horizontally and carried its head and neck high. Its length was 59 feet and weighed about 20 tons.
For more information on sauropods go to http://www.carnegiemnh.com . The Carnegie Museum of Natural History has complete fossil skeletons of Diplodocus, Apatosaurus, and Camarasaurus in their exhibit "Dinosaurs in Their Time ".
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