Fun Apatosaurus Facts For Kids

Apatosaurus, also known as Brontosaurus (junior synonym) formerly, was a sauropod discovered in the American west world. Othniel C Marsh was the one to name Apatosaurus as the new breed of sauropods.

He first described the Brontosaurs and the Apatosaurus skeleton differently and later realized that they belonged to the same genus but were distinct from each other.

The Apatosaurus meaning 'a deceptive lizard' was given this name for its sleek and thin reptile-like design. They are mid-sized when compared to other sauropods but have relatively more weight.

The food habits were more or less the same as the sauropod lineage, the main food being plants that it consumed in large quantities every day.

The article cast is now found in various parts of the world in Carnegie Museum, American Museum of Natural History, and the Yale Peabody Museum. The world museum article related to the sauropod suggests they were about 75.4 ft (23 m) long in length.

For more relatable content, check out these Supersaurus facts and Giraffatitan facts for kids.

Apatosaurus Interesting Facts

How do you pronounce 'Apatosaurus'?

The name Apatosaurus is pronounced 'A-pat-oh-sore-us'. They are also known as the Brontosaurus occasionally.

What type of dinosaur was an Apatosaurus?

Paleontologists say that the Apatosaurus is from the genus sauropod, mainly herbivorous in nature and found in North America during the Late Jurassic period.

In which geological period did the Apatosaurus roam the Earth?

The skeleton remains of the family of this Apatosaurus belong to the Kimmeridgian to early Tithonian of the Jurassic period, 161.2 million years ago.

When did the Apatosaurus become extinct?

According to their fossil skeleton discovery, it has been approximated that the Apatosaurus was last recorded in the Tithonian Age. It is believed to have gone extinct during the K/T Mass Extinction.

Where did Apatosaurus live?

According to the discovery of Apatosaurus fossils, this club-tailed species are found in Canada, Alberta-Horseshoe Canyon Formation, Scollard Formation, USA, Montana-Hell Creek Formation, New Mexico-Kirtland Formation, Wyoming-Ferris Formation, Lance Formation region in the world, where the armored body remains have been discovered.

What was the Apatosaurus' habitat?

The Apatosaurus dinosaur had a life during the Jurassic period in a terrestrial habitat in southern US and Mexico regions. According to much research accomplished so far on this dinosaur species, historic rivers and streams are located to be the preferential regions for their habituation.

The Apatosaurus resided in natural forested floodplains and densely vegetated form, swamps, seasides, wooded area segments, and lakes.

Who did the Apatosaurus live with?

The Apatosaurus could have lived through the Middle to Late Jurassic period with other dinosaur species like Oviraptor, Segnosaurus, Khaan, and Tarbosaurus. It is possibly lthey ived in the same region as other dinosaurs.

How long did an Apatosaurus live?

The Apatosaurus dinosaur is believed to have existed from 161.2 million years ago to the Tithonian Age, mainly in the Jurassic period. The estimated lifespan of an Apatosaurus is estimated to be around 100 years and went extinct during the K/T Mass Extinction.

How did they reproduce?

Based on the natural armored group features, the reproduction of this Apatosaurus dinosaur is believed to be oviparous. This means that such an animal is thought reproduce by laying eggs.

Apatosaurus Fun Facts

What did Apatosaurus look like?

The Apatosaurus group of dinosaurs had an extended neck with smaller skull size. It was a large species, quadrupedal, and had a long tail like a whip.

The legs at the front were shorter than the legs at the back. It had peg-like teeth that seemed very small for such a large creature, like the other members of this group. Even though the Apatosaurus had a long neck, it was smaller and thicker when compared to the Diplodocus neck.

Its whip-like tail could have been used for defense. It could create high-pitched sounds up to 200 decibels with its tail that scared most of its predators away.

How many bones did an Apatosaurus have?

Partial remains of many different Jurassic-dated Apatosaurus sauropod individuals have been found. There are as many as 51 other specimens discovered to date.

Paleontologists concluded that the Apatosaurus skull specimen was found to be of a smaller than average size, vertebrae extending from the long neck up to its tail. Limb bones have also been discovered for some of them.

How did they communicate?

It is unknown exactly how the Apatosaurus dinosaur communicated with each other or with dinosaurs of different species.

In the review of prehistoric animal sounds, Philip J. Senter, an American paleontologist and a professor of Zoology at Fayetteville State University known for his researches that specialize in dinosaur paleobiology, believed that dinosaurs used to communicate by hissing, clapping their jaws together, grinding mandibles against upper jaws, rubbing scales together, and by the use of environmental materials like splashing water.

Dinosaurs are also believed to have communicate dvocally and visually.

These two types of communication were most commonly used during the defensive posture, courtship, and territorial fighting.

How big was the Apatosaurus?

The exact measurements regarding the Apatosaurus size, height, and length are unknown. However, an Apatosaurus individual ranged roughly between 68.9-75.4 ft (21-‬23‭ ‬m). They are considered to be one of the biggest animals on land.

How fast could an Apatosaurus move?

Apatosaurus dinosaurs were giant deceptive lizards and actively mobile.

How much did an Apatosaurus weigh?

The weight of an Early Jurassic Apatosaurus based on the classification of the specimen collected is estimated to have had a body mass of approximately 35,274-44,092.4 lb (16,000-20,000 kg).

What were the male and female names of the species?

Females and males of Apatosaurus sauropods are not given any different names.

What would you call a baby Apatosaurus?

Since the Apatosaurus is believed to have reproduced by laying eggs, the young ones would have hatched from eggs. A baby Apatosaurus can be called hatchling or nestling. This generalized term can be used for all dinosaurs since they were all hatched from eggs.

What did they eat?

The fossils suggest that these Brontosaurus dinosaurs were herbivores. They used to eat small plants as their main food source.

How aggressive were they?

The Brontosaurus was moderately aggressive and only resorted to combats if hunted by predators.

Did you know...

Apatosaurus dinosaurs could extend less than the Diplodocus in history. The length ranged up to an average of 75.4 ft (23 m).

The fossils suggest that the Apatosaurus did not spend much time on land and mostly stayed underwater or inside marshes like Diplodocus and Brachiosaurus. They held their neck and small head out of the surface. However, the design of its neck makes it difficult to understand how they were able to lift it so high!

The Apatosaurus is even suggested by paleontologists to have mated underwater like the Diplodocus and Brachiosaurus, using the buoyancy of the water to stay afloat.

They protected themselves by swinging their tail from side to side and by stomping.

Why are they called Apatosaurus?

Apatosaurus, meaning 'deceptive lizard', was initially described by Marsh and was given the name Brontosaurus. Two years later, new pieces of evidence came to light, and they were given the name Apatosaurus.

The long necks of sauropods, though a unique feature, are not reflected in its name. The chevron bones of the Apatosaurus showed similarities with Mosasaurs. The holotype of the Apatosaurus was described as Atlantosaurus immanis.

Does the Apatosaurus have teeth?

The skull of these sauropod animals is small in size. They are primarily plant-feeding.

The snout of a Apatosaurus is squared like the Diplodocus, and smaller than the Nigersaurus. Scientists have a well-preserved braincase, which is similar to the Diplodocus. Some skulls are found in articulation with jaws lined with spatula-shaped teeth and exhibit a sugary external layer along with less wear and tear.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly animal facts for everyone to discover! Learn more about some other dinosaurs from our Jobaria interesting facts and Seismosaurus surprising facts pages.

You can even occupy yourself at home by coloring in one of our free printable swimming dinosaur coloring pages.

Main image by Durbed

Second image by Tadek Kurpaski