Dinosaur: Brachiosaurus

Brachiosaurus 01
Brachiosaurus from Jurassic Park III

Introduction:

It is about time we talk about the one of the most popular sauropod dinosaur of all time, the Brachiosaurus!!! The name, Brachiosaurus, means Arm Lizard because of the long arms it had compared to the back legs. I probably don’t have to say much about Brachiosaurus because it is one of the most recognizable dinosaur. If someone says to imagine a long-necked dinosaur, 99% of the time, the image of the Brachiosaurus will come up. And the reason for its’ popularity is simple, Jurassic Park.

Jurassic Park featured this dinosaur as the first reveal of the movie dinosaur. It is also shown again for a human interaction scene with the protagonists. That is what made the Brachiosaurus stay in the minds of many. Because in the original novel, it was meant to be an Apatosaurus, like most cases because Apatosaurus was showcased more in the museums than the Brachiosaurus. It became an instant hit after the film appearance. But how much do we actually know about this dinosaur other than that. Well then, let’s go deeper into the history of this dinosaur.

Discovery:

The species, Brachiosaurus altithorax, the only Brachiosaurus species, was discovered in 1900 in the valley of the Colorado River near Fruita, Colorado. It was found in the part of the Morrison Formation. A formation famous for finding a lot of Jurassic Period dinosaurs. It was discovered by the American paleontologist, Elmer Samuel Riggs and his crew from the Field Museum of Natural History of Chicago.

Elmer Samuel Riggs
Paleontologists Elmer Samuel Riggs

Now here is the thing, Brachiosaurus is not based on a full skeleton, but rather, based on a very partial skeleton. It is very partial that the first Brachiosaurus is mainly based off some rib bones, back legs and front leg bones and later, some more scattered finds of neck, tail, feet and the skull which were found later and added to the species description. You might be wondering how did the paleontologists know how it looked like. And this is where comparison comes to help.

More Insight into the Discovery:

Well, before Brachiosaurus altithorax became the only known species, there were even more Brachiosaurus species found from Tanzania and Portugal which are now reclassified as different genera but belongs in the same family, Brachiosauridae. The Brachiosauridae is named after yours truly, Brachiosaurus. And many similar genera were found which were more complete. The basic silhouette lent itself well to create a complete image for it. I will also be making species profile for all the other Brachiosaurids. Well, now you know that the most images of Brachiosaurus are mainly inferred from other similar generas of Brachiosaurus.

Morrison Formation
Morrison Formation

Brachiosaurus altithorax is mainly found in Morrison Formation. But it was also one of the more rarer Sauropod species found in that formation. As most of the sauropod fossils were of Apatosaurus, Diplodocus, and Camarasaurus. It probably could have been due to its massive size. Fossilization is not easy at all. As it requires a lot of certain conditions to align for the fossilization to occur.

Which is why paleontology is an ever growing field of science. Because the work will never be done until the prehistoric nature is fully discovered. There might even be species which will never be found. Those could have been destroyed due to natural causes or human intervention. We are lucky for what we have. But we should always strive to learn more about the Earth’s past life and how incredible it was.

Biology:

Brachiosaurus 02 Size Comparison
Brachiosaurus Size Chart

Brachiosaurus was an immensely, huge dinosaur for the Jurassic Period. Even when it was discovered, it was considered to be the largest and tallest dinosaur of all time. Until the discovery of titanosaurs like Argentinosaurus and Dreadnoughtus. And even more larger and longer sauropods but goes to show that dinosaurs really took over the world. And evolved to immense sizes quite rapidly.

Brachiosaurids are also considered as ancestors of the Titanosaurs because during the Jurassic Period, most of the sauropods’ neck posture was more horizontal unlike the Brachiosaurids which were more vertical and later in the Cretaceous Period, that posture would become the norm for most sauropods. It has been estimated that it could grow up to 9 m (32 ft) tall and at least 22 m (70.4 ft) long and was one of the larger sauropods of Jurassic Period.

Brachiosaurus 03
Brachiosaurus altithorax Illustration by Gabriel Ugueto

Brachiosaurus has been usually depicted with an S-shaped, long neck and very skinny looking before but recent reconstruction so that it would have been a massive sauropod, with thick, long and more straighter necks. The reason for thicker necks is because of the air sacs which would have helped in breathing as well as keeping the overall body weight lighter.

The look of Brachiosaurus:

Recent estimates suggests that it would have weighed around 30 – 45 tons. The legs would have thick but the foot pads would have been softer to help minimize the damage in the elbows and knees from the immense weight but not stumpy like that of an elephant.

Many art from before gave sauropods elephant-like feet but the feet would have claws and a little splayed out but not like those of theropods. Let’s say a half-way point of a theropod and elephant feet. And surprisingly, the tail would have been short, like shorter than most Jurassic sauropods. This could have been an evolutionary experiment because titanosaurs would go back to have longer tail.

And the most important distinction of a Brachiosaurus, the crest-looking part on the head. This part is still a mystery because soft tissues are not preserved easily in fossil form and thus we cannot conclusively say why, it could have had small horns or maybe a huge nasal chamber with varied colors as a display feature for attracting mates and so many things. Paleontologists usually like to go with a more conservative description with a large nasal chamber rather than going too over the top with horns and bumpy scales.

Explore Cover Image
Depiction of Brachiosaurus in Walking With Dinosaurs

The Environment of Brachiosaurus:

Brachiosaurus would have lived alongside a lot of sauropods and the sauropod number would be through the roof because there are at least 6 kinds of sauropods, excluding Brachiosaurus, in the North American Jurassic like the Apatosaurus, Diplodocus, Camarasaurus, Barosaurus, Haplocanthosaurus and Supersaurus. The vegetation would be in abundance with all kinds of trees and bushes with rivers running through.

There would not be any grass fields because grass did not evolve until the extinction of dinosaurs. And let’s not forget the predators, Allosaurus, Ceratosaurus, Torvosaurus, Saurophaganax and so many smaller ones as well along with other ornithiscian herbivores like the Camptosaurus, Stegosaurus, Gargoyleosaurus, Dryosaurus and many more.

Now it might seem like there is an over abundance of sauropods but nature always balances itself out because the lives of young, baby Brachiosaurus would have been very difficult as they would be the target of many carnivores and their main goals would be to escape the carnivores, not get killed by other herbivores like Stegosaurus and keep eating a lot so that they could grow faster.

A lot would not be so lucky and even after being a teenager, it would still be a little hard as now they would have to fight against the hunters but once they reached adulthood, there were no stopping them, not until they became old and weak. That would be a life of Brachiosaurus in short.

FAQ:

Is Brachiosaurus the biggest?

With the impressive size portrayed by Brachiosaurus in many media, you will be surprised to know that Brachiosaurus is not the biggest dinosaur there is because there are even bigger than dinosaurs. The largest dinosaur with no controversies and good fossil remains would be Argentinosaurus. There is no dispute on Argentinosaurus being the biggest dinosaur ever to walk the Earth and I would give more details but I will make a detailed post about it where you will get to know all there is about Argentinosaurus.

Did Brachiosaurus eat meat?

Imagining a long-necked dinosaur eating meat is a crazy nightmare scenario but fortunately for now, there has been no evidence of Brachiosaurus being a meat-eater and it is indeed a herbivore, plant-eater but some paleontologists are debating over how some herbivores might have consumed meat but that debate is mainly going on for the Ceratopsians. But yeah, Brachiosaurus did not eat meat and it ate plants & leaves of all kinds, mainly vegetation.

Why did Brachiosaurus go extinct?

While the Brachiosaurus lived in the Jurassic Period and the dinosaurs continued existing for another 79 million years, there was a small extinction event where many iconic Jurassic dinosaurs did go extinct and among them was the Brachiosaurus. Many species like Stegosaurus and its group became fully extinct and some like the Brachiosaurus, were not completely extinct because a descendant of the same ancestor would rise up to the gap left by the Brachiosauridae dinosaurs and literally roam across the whole Earth which would be come to know an as Titanosauria. But the reason why this extinction happened is not really well known and most scientist have not been able to find any reasons why this happened but the gaps in the ecosystem left for someone else to rise up to that occasion.

Are Brachiosaurus friendly?

As a large, & long-necked dinosaur, I would be hard-pressed to think it would not be friendly and I think it would be friendly but more to the point of like that they were so big, they would just not care and have no reason to be triggered. That is an advantage of growing big that they would not be afraid of anything. If they were small and young adults, I believe they would be more active and friendly but one thing is for certain, you hurt or provoke any animal, they will get aggressive, no matter how friendly they might be. Also, they might not notice small animals when you are that big, so stay out of their way and don’t get squished under their feet or else you might start thinking of them as unfriendly.

How rare is a Brachiosaurus?

Yep, surprisingly! Finding a Brachiosaurus fossil in the Morrison Formation is very hard to find. Being one of the tallest dinosaurs to be found in America, it is quite rare and difficult to find in an area where there are abundant of other sauropod fossils like Apatosaurus, Diplodocus, Camarasaurus and many more other dinosaur fossils. Brachiosaurus is also far from complete and super fragmented but fortunately, some skull fossils have been found. It could have been due to the high concentration of sauropod genera existing in the same ecosystem could be the reason why not many Brachiosaurus fossils have been found, perhaps the population was low compared with other sauropods and this is why more expeditions should be funded in the Morrison Formation to increase the fossil materials found for Brachiosaurus.

What is Brachiosaurus famous for?

I don’t think I need to answer this question because you already know why and you are gonna make me say it anyway. Brachiosaurus is famous for its’ appearance as the first dinosaur shown in the dinosaur-blockbuster film from the 90s, Jurassic Park. Its appearance in the film and the moments it shared in the film, cemented itself on the minds of people since then and from then on, every dinosaur media has made sure to include a Brachiosaurus in its media. Jurassic series itself has Brachiosaurus in 4 out of 6 films made.

Showcasing a large, long-necked, peaceful dinosaur was a great idea to mesmerize the audiences with dinosaurs. Since, then it has become a favorite dinosaur of many people around the world, even my Mom loves Brachiosaurus and it would be amazing to have this dinosaur as a pet but I worry about the real estate it would need. Even in the Jurassic Park novel, the film was based on this novel, had an Apatosaurus and Director Steven Spielberg opted for a larger sauropod for the grandeur and it was a massive hit. Apatosaurus did get some screen time later on Jurassic World series while Mamenchisaurus had the least. But yep, this is why Brachiosaurus is so famous.

Media:

Brachiosaurus 04 Prehistoric Kingdom
Brachiosaurus altithorax from Prehistoric Kingdom game

I did mention before how Brachiosaurus depicted in most media is actually a Giraffatitan, another genera of Brachiosauridae and you might be wondering then how do we know which one is which. It is super easy to identify, the head crest. Giraffatitan had a more taller crest than Brachiosaurus and its’ one was much shorter. I will give you the list of where the ‘Brachiosaurus’ does appear and you will have to let me know down in the comments, how many of the Brachiosaurus depiction is actually of an actual it.

  • Jurassic Park
  • Jurassic Park III
  • Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom
  • Jurassic World Dominion
  • Jurassic World Evolution
  • Jurassic World Evolution 2
  • Jurassic Park Builder
  • Jurassic World The Game
  • Jurassic World Alive
  • Dinotopia
  • The Land Before Time
  • Walking With Dinosaurs
  • Disney’s Dinosaur
  • Ice Age 3
  • Terra Nova
  • Prehistoric Kingdom

Brachiosaurus has been, for a long time, a very popular dinosaur and I hope we can learn even more about it in the future and I am thankful for you to read through this post. I also want to say that Brachiosaurus is my Mom’s favorite dinosaur. As for me, I generally find sauropods to be really cool and I just love their gigantism and how they were the largest dinosaurs of all time and to find that my Mom’s favorite dinosaur is a Brachiosaurus, well maybe it is a Giraffatitan like the most depictions, is like a cherry on top. I hope you also love it like my Mom and I hope to see you again in other species profile posts!!!

Merchandise:

I cannot leave you absolutely empty-handed! Before you go, do check out the merch links I have found for Brachiosaurus related. While most of them do like the Giraffatitan but that is besides the point. If you find anything that you fancy, please do buy from my links. Because it helps to keep this website up and running. Thank you again for checking out and I hope to see you in next posts. I am wondering what should I post next…Giraffatitan…nah! That’s too obvious!!

LEGO Jurassic Park 76960 Brachiosaurus Discovery
LEGO 76960 Jurassic Park Brachiosaurus Discovery
Schleich Brachiosaurus
Schleich Brachiosaurus
Mattel Jurassic World Fierce Changers Brachiosaurus
Jurassic World Fierce Changers Brachiosaurus
Mattel 2022 Jurassic World: Dominion Brachiosaurus
Mattel 2022 Jurassic World: Dominion Brachiosaurus
Papo Brachiosaurus
Papo Brachiosaurus
Safari Ltd. Brachiosaurus 01
Safari LTD. Brachiosaurus
Mattel 2021 Jurassic World Dino Escape Human Pack Darius & Baby Brachiosaurus
Mattel 2021 Jurassic World Dino Escape Human Pack Darius & Baby Brachiosaurus
Mattel 2023 Jurassic World Dino Trackers Hammond Collection Brachiosaurus
Mattel 2023 Jurassic World Dino Trackers Hammond Collection Brachiosaurus
Metal Earth Brachiosaurus
Metal Earth Brachiosaurus
Jurassic World Icons Statuette
Jurassic World Icons Statuette Brachiosaurus
Safari LTD. Brachiosaurus
Safari LTD. Brachiosaurus
Brachiosaurus Book
Brachiosaurus A First Look Book

 You can check out more dinosaurs or other prehistoric creatures post from the Species Profile page!!

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