Sauropods the Long Neck Dinosaurs

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 Sauropods were the biggest land animal ever to live on Earth.  They were huge!  Some were over 120 feet long and some weighed as much as 10 or more elephants!  As big as they were, they were not the smartest dinosaurs, but they were not totally stupid either.  Sauropods migrated, cared for adolescents, and could defend themselves from predators.  They had a long neck to reach up into trees or maybe to eat ferns like a lawnmower methodically cuts the grass.  In order to digest all those leaves and pine needles Sauropods swallowed stones that we call "gastroliths".  Gastroliths would help grind up the leaves and pine needles.

This is a REAL gastrolith with a Horned Lizard model for size comparison. 

Copyright Robin Lyman 2017

The above gastrolith was found in Eastern Utah and it was located within the ribs of a Sauropod dinosaur.  There is a story of one gastrolith that was actually too big for the dinosaur to swallow.  The gastrolith was found in the throat area...so the poor Sauropod chocked to death from trying to swallow a stone that was too big to swallow.

Their long tail may have been what they called "weaponized."  So,Sauropods may have used their tail like a giant whip.  Some paleontologists even think that some Sauropods could crack their tail like a whip and make loud noises...maybe enough to give carnivorous dinosaurs a headache. The tail would move so fast when they were cracking it that the end of the tail probably broke the sound barrier...it moved faster than sound.  That's 1,236 kilometers per second or 768 miles per hour!!!

Apatosaurus Defending itself from Allosaurus

There was a time when we thought Sauropod or Long Neck dinosaurs lived more like hippos in swamps and rivers.  The idea was that the Sauropods were afraid of the Theropods so Sauropods hid in the rivers and lakes etc.  Paleontologist, once thought that Sauropods would hide in deep water up to their chin and eat soft water plants off the bottom of the river or lake.

Up to their chin in swampy water, living on soft water plants..

This is NOT how Sauropods lived!

That idea, of Sauropods living in swamps, was disproved when Robert Bakker pointed out that if a Sauropod was that deep in water it would not have been able to breathe...it would not have been able to inflate its lungs due to the water pressure on its ribs.
Bakker also pointed out that Sauropods have feet like elephants for walking on dry land, not feet that spread out like a hippopotamus to walk in mud.  Sauropods have spoon-like teeth or peg like teeth for stripping leaves or/and pine needles off of  branches.  So now we think of Sauropods more like the elephants of the Mesozoic. Like modern elephants, their immense size was Sauropods' main defense.


                         

Apatosaurus, a LAND Animal, Feeding on a Cycad Tree

Apatosaurus was called Brontosaurus for a time, until it was found that this animal was named Apatosaurus first.  The first name given the animal is the one that sticks.  Apatosaurus means "deceptive lizard."  Brontosaurus meant "thunder lizard" because it was thought that the animal was so big that when its feet hit the ground it must have sounded like thunder!
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Brachiosaurus Feeding on a Cycad Tree

Sauroposeidon was the tallest Brachiosaur, 60 feet tall (18 meters)

Brachiosaurs were the largest known Animals ever to live in North America. Sauroposeidon was 92 feet long and up to 60 feet tall and weighed up to 66 short tons...not that this animal was short.  It was the tallest animal ever to walk the Earth.  That's 18 meters tall, 28 meters long and weighed 60 metric tons

Brachiosaurus for Small Children to Color

Apatosaurus for Small Children to Color

The above drawing of the mother Sauropod and young may or may not be accurate Science.  There is some evidence that Sauropods layed their eggs and abandoned them to their fate, only allowing them to join the herd when they were adolescents...say, as big as elephants.  However, footprints show that adolescents were placed in the middle of the herd for protection.  Also, it is thought that Sauropods migrated.  So, if you have not seen the kid movie Land Before Time, the original one, I would recomend that you watch it.  It was one of the first movies to depict dinosaurs as intelligent enough to care for young, migrate, and even travel in mixed herds.  (Tracks in Wyoming show that last one.)

Dipolodocus Feeding on Cycad Tree

This drawing is done without patterns or stripes and lots of open space.  This is so children can be creative by adding say, more trees, or/and a river, bushes, stripes or spots etc. By the way, some paleontologists think these types of Sauropods called Dilplodocids could possibly stand on their hind legs to reach the tallest leaves.  Diplodocids were among the longest known dinosaurs.  Supersaurus was a Diplodocid that was 120 feet long, (36.5 meters). Seismosaurus was even longer at 131 feet long, (40 meters).   

By the way, to help clarify it for you, these are the eras of life in the history of the Earth.
Mesozoic Era.  The Mesozoic is the era of dinosaurs.  Mesozoic means Middle Life.  Right before the Mesozoic Era was the Paleozoic Era.  Paleozoic means Old Life.  After the Mesozoic came the Cenozoic Era.  Cenozoic means Recent Life.

So, with most recent on top...

CENOZOIC ERA    Age of Mammals.  This is our era.        Examples:  Wooly Mammoth & Humans

MESOZOIC ERA   Age of Dinosaurs   This was the middle era of life  Examples: T. rex & Sauropods

PALEOZOIC ERA   Age of Early Life   Much of it only in seas.  Examples: Trilobites & Dimetrodon