Name meaning: Arm lizard
Height: 30 feet (9 meters)
Length: 90 feet (27 meters)
Weight: 30 tons
Brachiosaurus is one of the most spectacular dinosaurs ever seen, or imagined. It gets its name from the great height of its humerus, or upper arm bone - which is longer than most humans are tall! For almost a century, the plant-eating Brachiosaurus was considered the tallest of all dinosaurs. It was over 9 meters (30 feet) tall, and no other animal ever came close.
Originally discovered in 1900 in Colorado, the sauropodian Brachiosaurus was named in 1903 by Elmer Riggs of the Field Museum in Chicago. Brachiosaurus lived in both the United States and Africa (Tanzania) in the Jurassic. Scientists believe that Africa and North America were connected during the Jurassic.
New studies by computer specialists suggest that Brachiosaurus may not have carried its neck angle up as high as was thought once. It may have carried the neck more at a 45 - 60 degree angle. Although this changes its height, it does not change its length - or our wonder at this gigantic, graceful dinosaur.
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