Apatosaurus

Apatosaurus Herd Migration

(new drawing)

Apatosaurus is one of the first large Sauropod dinosaurs ever to be found in modern times.  This dinosaur was up to 80 feet or 24 meters long.  It weighed up to 32-72 long tons.   These weights are estimated so no precise measurement is known.   

It is thought that large Sauropods probably laid a large clutch of eggs about the size of a volleyball.  The young would probably been left to fend for themselves after hatching. . . but when they were as big as say a modern elephant they would join the herd and have the protection of the enormous adults.   Tracks in Texas, USA were found that indicated that possibly the sub-adults or young were kept in the middle of the herd when traveling or migrating.  This would give them maximum protection from predators.  So as you look at the above drawing consider that the "babies" are as big as a full grown elephant.  

 No predator. . . like Allosaurus or Torvosaurus.... would have a chance against a healthy herd with huge adult Apatosaurus.  The tail is thought to have been weaponized.  It could almost certainly be used as a formidable weapon to fight off predators

A funny thing happened.  At the American Museum of Natural History in NYC... for 80 years they had the wrong head on their Apatosaurus.  By the way, the name was changed to Apatosaurus from the name Brontosaurus.

They fixed the problem and this skeleton now has the correct head.  

We went to this amazing museum recently.  What a thrill to see this 

and other original first finds from over 100 years ago.  

The following are drawings from older posts:

Apatosaurus cracking the Whip

Apatosaurus D. Train

This drawing is inspired by the Apatosaurus from the great PBS series Dinosaur Train. 

Apatosaurus feeding on Cycad

Apatosaurus Mother and Young for Small Children

Apa