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Brontosaurus excelsus

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Description

Brontosaurus excelsus - the resurrected thunder stembird

Temporal range: Late Jurassic, Kimmeridgian, 152 Ma

Length: Between ~20-25 metres
Probable mass: Around ~15-20 tonnes

Etymology: Elevated/exalted thunder reptile


One of the most famed dinosaurs, Brontosaurus is a genus of giant sauropod dinosaurs that lived in North America during the late Jurassic age. Its remains were found by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1879, with the holotype specimen catalogued YPM 1980. At this time, the Morrison Formation was a central area in the Bone Wars, a fossil-collecting rivalry between Marsh and his rival Edward Drinker Cope. Due to this, publications and descriptions from both sides were rushed.

In 1903, Brontosaurus was sunk into the related genus Apatosaurus by Riggs, who decided that their differences weren't enough to warrant a new genus. However, the name Brontosaurus still lived on in popular culture, and was soon scorned by more scientific minds who favoured correcting those who used the name in favour of Apatosaurus. However, they were overlooking the differences that actually were there amidst their orthodoxy of a lumped and invalid Brontosaurus. Robert Bakker was among the first to break this mould and view Brontosaurus as a separate taxon, although this wasn't accepted by the majority of the scientific community. Bakker's view was soon vindicated when a 2015 specimen-analysis level of diplodocids found that Brontosaurus differed enough from Apatosaurus after all, and that Riggs had overlumped the taxa. After over 110 years, Brontosaurus has been resurrected into the scientific world.

And indeed, the differences between Brontosaurus and Apatosaurus are clear even from the outside. While Apatosaurus ajax is known from skeletal remains showing a more elongate and lithe form, Brontosaurus looked more like a diplodocid on steroids - stocky, bulky, robust all over. Its neck was very wide, bulky, and strongly-built, as well as sporting studs on the cervical (neck) ribs that may have supported connective tissue, bosses, or spikes in life - the neck seems to have been adapted for use as a weapon. Adult Brontosaurus probably had little to fear from predators, but juveniles and subadults were at risk from predators such as Allosaurus, the megalosauroid Torvosaurus, and the gigantic allosaur Saurophaganax. Once thought to have lived in water due to its great size, it is now known that sauropods like Brontosaurus were terrestrial animals. Far from the depictions of the 19th and 20th centuries where it was shown living in swamps, Brontosaurus' habitat would have been a dry, semiarid biome where summer temperatures could possibly have exceeded 35o C.
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Based on :iconscotthartman:'s Brontosaurus excelsus
Image size
3367x1191px 2.02 MB
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Comments3
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Evodolka's avatar
when i hear brontosaurus i think of THIS awesome dinosaur :D
when i hear Excelsus i think of Metal Gear EXCELSUS who was an amazingly fun boss fight :XD: