Utah Brachiosaurus

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Brachiosaurus found in Utah

(Inspired in part by the color painting by Brian Engh)

Recently a Brachiosaurus humerus was found in Southern Utah.  They also found parts of a few other bones.  This was a fossilized humerus. . . that is the upper arm bone.  The humerus was around 6 feet 7 inches or 2 meters long.  It was the front upper leg bone of a huge long neck Sauropod dinosaur named  Brachiosaurus.  It lived in the late Jurassic.  This was a rather rare animal.  We can infer that because we find many other Sauropods in the Western United States, but this is only the tenth Brachiosaurus.  

Brachiosaurus was shaped somewhat like a huge giraffe.  It had longer front legs than back legs.  When I first became obsessed with dinosaurs . . . way back in the 1960s. . . . Brachiosaurus was then the biggest known dinosaur species.  Since then both Patagotitan and Argentinosaurus have far out-matched Brachiosaurus in overall size.  However, Brachiosaurus was probably taller than them.  

Brachiosaurs had an unusual feature in that it had nostrils on the top of its head.  The nostrils faced forward.  Most dinosaurs had nostrils on their snout.  Some paleontologists (including at BYU) have wondered if Brachiosaurus had a trunk attached to those high breathing holes found in the skull.  

There were other species of  Brachioaurs.  The Brachiosaurus found in Utah was probably around 40-50 feet tall.  That is 12-15 meters tall.  There is also a species of Brachiosaur found in what is now Tanzania  named Giraffatitan.  It was possibly around 44 feet tall.  That is about 13.5 meters tall.  One species, from Texas and Oklahoma, USA is called Sauroposeidon.  It was 60 feet tall!  That is over 18 meters tall.  The first Brachiosaurus was found near Grand Junction, Colorado, USA.  It was a sub-adult and so was the African find of Giraffatitan.  So it is possible that Brachiosaurus and Giraffatitan grew to be even larger.  By the way...some evidence is saying that maybe Sauroposeidon was possibly a type of Titanosaur.  I'm sure that not everyone agrees on this.  Sauroposeidon had the longest neck bones ever found. 

The humerus of the Utah Brachiosaurus can be found in the Utah Field Museum of Natural History in Vernal Utah.  The paleontologists are keeping the exact site of the find a secret because they hope to find more of the fossilized skeleton.  

NOTE:  To find the printable versions of the drawings click on the top buttons labeled either . . . . 

. . . . . .Paleontology. . . . . or. . . . . All Printables. . . . Below are some other Brachiosaur species that I have drawn over the last 4 years.  To get to the printable Brachiosaur from Utah... because it is a new drawing. . . you need to scroll down to the bottom of the list.  The new drawings, below, will be found further up on the lists.  By the way, this new drawing up top is done in pencil only.  

Finally, when I was a kid they taught that Sauropods hid in the water to avoid predators.  It was thought that Brachiosaurus had high nostrils in order to use them as a snorkel.  That theory has now been disproved.  It would have been impossible for a Brachiosaurus to breathe because of the water pressure on its lungs. Brachiosaurs, and all the Sauropods, were land animals and lived much like our modern African elephants.  The Sauropods lived in herds, probably migrated, and were the biggest LAND animals to ever live on Earth.  Yes, they probably COULD wade into a lake or wade across a river, but they did not LIVE in the water.  

Sauropod Old Theory

Brachiosaurus feeding on a Cycad Tree

Sauroposeidon and Ornithocheirus

Sauroposeidon protelus the Tallest Dinosaur

Brachiosaurus for small children to color

Moabosaurus close up
(This was a Sauropod but not a Brachiosaur, but it may have had a trunk.)

Moabosaurus near the Forest