60 Interesting Facts About Apatosaurus

Facts About Apatosaurus: Apatosaurus is an extinct genus of giant sauropod herbivorous dinosaurs in the family Diplodocidae. It lived in North America in the Upper Jurassic, approximately between 156.3 and 146.8 M (millions of years) ago. Their fossil remains have been discovered in the western and central states of the United States in the Morrison Formation.

Interesting Facts About Apatosaurus

The Apatosaurus lived in North America.
The name Apatosaurus means: “Deceptive Lizard”.
Apatosaurus was a close relative of Diplodocus.
Allosaurus was the natural enemy of Apatosaurus.
They belonged to the Sauropod group of dinosaurs.
The average lifespan of an Apatosaurus was 30 years.
The Apatosaurus is a member of the Diplodocid family.
Apatosaurus’s egg was as large as a basketball in size.
The name Apatosaurus is pronounced: “ah-PAT-uh-SAWR-us”.
Apatosaurus is an official logo of Sinclair oil company.
The Apatosaurus was quadrupedal, meaning it walked on four legs.
These dinosaurs could reach full size in approximately 10 years.
Their head was very small as compared to the size of their body.
The Apatosaurus was part of a group of dinosaurs known as sauropods.
They reached up to a length of 75 feet and weighed about 25 to 40 tons.
The estimated lifespan of an Apatosaurus is believed to be around 100 years.
Apatosaurus was able to reach length of 75 feet and weight of 25 to 40 tons.
Apatosaurus had to consume 880 pounds of plants per day in order to survive.
They lived in the Late Jurassic Period between 151 and 152 million years ago.
Paleontologists estimate the egg of an Apatosaurus was around 12 inches wide.

Amazing Facts About Apatosaurus

The average length of an Apatosaurus is estimated to be between 69 and 75 feet.
The average weight of an Apatosaurus is estimated to be between 18 and 25 tons.
The Apatosaurus was a very large dinosaur, with a long neck and a whip-like tail.
These dinosaurs had to consume 880 pounds of plants every day in order to survive.
Apatosaurus is the second most common sauropod dinosaurs found in the Morrison Formation.
Apatosaurus "played" pet dinosaur called "Dino" in popular movie and cartoon Flintstones.
The Apatosaurus was a high browsing herbivore and ate foliage at the top of tree canopies.
Apatosaurus were rapid growers and could achieve full adult size in as little as 10 years.
It may have held its head high with an S-curve like a swan with the help of its flexible neck.
Apatosaurus fossils have been found in Morrison Formation in Colorado, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming.
Apatosaurus traveled 16 to 25 miles per day, at the speed of 12 to 19 miles per hour, to find food.
Natural enemy of Apatosaurus was Allosaurus. Long tail of Apatosaurus was used to intimidate predators.
Apatosaurus was fully grown at the age of 10 to 15 years and it probably lived until the age of 31 years.
They had a short snout filled with weak peg like teeth. It used its teeth to rake the leaves off of trees.

Scientific Facts About Apatosaurus

Othniel Charles Marsh first described the Apatosaurus in 1877 and gave it the scientific name Apatosaurus ajax.
Paleontologists believe the Apatosaurus had to eat about 800 pounds of food a day to meet their energy demands.
There are two recognized species of Apatosaurus, the Apatosaurus ajax (type species) and the Apatosaurus louisae.
It’s believe the Apatosaurus would sometimes swallow food whole and have to swallow rocks to aid their digestion.
Apatosaurus was a herbivore. Its diet was based on low-lying plants and potentially on the soft leaves from the tall trees.
Apatosaurus had chisel-like teeth, but it didn't use them for chewing. Instead, it consumed stones along with plants to facilitate grinding of food in the stomach.
Based on the footprint found in 2008, scientists concluded that hatchlings and young apatosauruses were able to run on the hind legs to keep the pace with the rest of the herd and escape from the predators.
Apatosaurus had very thick neck which was relatively "light" thanks to the system of air sacs in it. Flexibility and actual position of Apatosaurus neck (parallel to the ground or upright?) are still a mystery.
An adult Apatosaurus probably didn’t have to worry about predators due to its large size. Only a group of large apex predators, like an Allosaurs hunting group, could attempt to takedown a full-grown Apatosaurus.
Name "Apatosaurus" is reserved for the scientific community. It means "deceptive lizard" and it refers to the morphological similarities with aquatic reptile called Mosasaurus and false assumption that Apatosaurus was partially aquatic creature.
Apatosaurus had very small head (compared to the rest of the body), long, wide neck and 50-feet-long, whip-like tail. It had sturdy legs with a single claw on the front feet and three claws on the hind feet. Its front legs were slightly shorter than hind legs.
Due to large amount of swallowed food, Apatosaurus was producing huge amount of methane (greenhouse gas) each day. With approximately 520 million tons of methane produced each year, Apatosaurus and other herbivorous dinosaurs had significant effect on the global climate.
In 1997, two paleontologists published a research report stating the Apatosaurus tail would have resembled a bullwhip. They theorized an Apatosaurus could whip its tail and create a whip like cracking sound that could surpass 200 decibels. That is comparable to the decibels produced when a cannon is fired.
Shortly after discovery of Apatosaurus, archaeologists have found set of very large bones and officially named this "newly-discovered" species of dinosaur as "Brontosaurus". After thorough investigation of bones, it was discovered that Brontosaurus is actually adult Apatosaurus. However, term "Brontosaurus" became widely accepted by dinosaur fans before "two species" were declared as one.

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