Brachiosaurus altithorax
Brachiosaurus for kids
Brachiosaurus was a huge sauropod with longer front legs and shoulders that rose very high.
The essentials
What should you know about this dinosaur?
- Length: 22 m long
- Height: 9 m tall
- Weight: about 46.9 tonnes
- Food: Plant eater
- Time: Jurassic
- Region: North America
How large was Brachiosaurus
The height line shows high shoulders and the rising neck. Full length also includes the back and tail.
Compare in the toolLook a little closer
More about Brachiosaurus
Short chapters for curious children and grown-ups who want to read along.
Brachiosaurus
Brachiosaurus looks different from other long-necks right away. Its front legs were longer than its back legs, lifting the shoulders high and letting the neck reach upward. The name means arm lizard. It lived in Jurassic North America, in the Morrison Formation. Picture a plant eater that was not just long, but tall at the front: a dinosaur built to reach high feeding spots.
Size
Brachiosaurus was about twenty-two meters long, but height is the great surprise. The front legs were longer than the hind legs. That made the back slope and lifted the shoulders far above the ground. Many long-necks look stretched and low. Brachiosaurus raised the front of the body, almost as if nature gave it walking stilts for arms.
22 m long9 m talllong front legs
Food
Brachiosaurus ate plants. With its long neck and high shoulders, it could reach greenery that lower plant eaters missed. Twigs, needles, and leaves from taller plants all fit the job. The teeth gathered plant material, and the big gut did the slow work later. With a body this large, eating was not a snack break; it was a daily mission.
plant eaterhigh browselong neck
Habitat
Brachiosaurus lived in Late Jurassic North America. The Morrison Formation preserves many famous dinosaurs: Allosaurus, Stegosaurus, Diplodocus, and Apatosaurus belong to the same broad rock record. Around river channels and planty patches, a high feeder could use different food than lower neighbors. Many giants shared the land without doing the exact same thing.
Morrison FormationNorth AmericaLate Jurassic
Defense
Brachiosaurus had no tail club and no spiky armor. Protection began with size. A grown animal stood so high and heavy that smaller predators had little to work with. The long neck gave a wide view, and the massive legs held the body steady. Stand beside a sauropod like this and the first thought is simple: so much animal.
huge bodyhigh shoulderssteady legs
Speed
Walking Brachiosaurus had to move a strange body. The front legs carried a high chest, the hind legs pushed along, and the neck rose forward and upward. This was not a sprinting style. It was a powerful, slow stride. Each step shifted many tonnes while the tail balanced the animal from behind.
four legssloping backslow stride
Did you know?
Brachiosaurus had nose openings high on the skull. That looks odd and once led to watery ideas. The real head detail is cool enough: nose region high, neck long, shoulders lifted. Put those together and you get a long-neck built much more upward than Diplodocus or Apatosaurus.
arm lizardhigh noseunlike Diplodocus
about 9 m tall
Beside a child, Brachiosaurus shows its special power: height. The shoulders sit far up, the neck rises even farther, and the longer front legs lift the whole animal into tower-mode.