Fun Barapasaurus Facts For Kids

The Barapasaurus - quite fascinating name, isn’t it? This genus of dinosaurs is of a basal sauropod type. It is said that this giant animal roamed around the earth during the times of the early Jurassic period. The remains of this dinosaur were found in India.

Only a single species comes under this genus, the Barapasaurus taogeri. Interested in knowing how the name 'barapasaurus' came into existence? Keep reading to know how it got named!

This big dinosaur fossil remains came from the Lower Member of the Indian Kota Formation. It is said that these remains date back to the early Jurassic days, between the Sinemurian and Pliensbachian stages.

The Barapasaurus environment was entirely terrestrial, living in areas with good flora. The diet of this dinosaur constitutes vegetation, making it one of the largest herbivore specimens.

This dinosaur specimen is one of the earliest sauropods known to mankind. Thankfully, almost the entire skeleton has been assembled of this dinosaur belonging to the Sauropodomorpha clade. The only part missing is the skull, though a few teeth have been derived.

Join us to know much more interesting information on other dinosaurs, such as the Crichtonsaurus and Homalocephale.

Barapasaurus Interesting Facts

How do you pronounce 'Barapasaurus'?

Barapasaurus pronunciation is 'bə-RAH-pə-SAWR-əs'.

What type of dinosaur was a Barapasaurus?

The Barapasaurus is a type of basal sauropod dinosaur that belongs to the Cetiosauridae family.

In which geological period did the Barapasaurus roam the earth?

These sauropods roamed around the earth during the Pliensbachian and Sinemurian stages of the early Jurassic.

When did the Barapasaurus become extinct?

These sauropods, the Barapasaurus, became extinct about 183 million years ago.

Where did a Barapasaurus live?

The remains of this sauropod dinosaur have been found in modern-day India.

What was a Barapasaurus's habitat?

These big-legged sauropod dinosaurs came from sandstone and clay that belongs to the Lower Member of the Kota Formation, which dates from the Early to Middle Jurassic. Other vertebrates that belonged to the region around Kota Formation include the sauropod dinosaur Kotasaurus, and other mammals such as the Indozostrodon, Indotherium, and Kotatherium.

The Upper Member of the Indian Kota Formation contained additional remains of a Lepidosaur, a Pterosaur, two Rhynchocephalians, a turtle, and other mammals.

Who did a Barapasaurus live with?

Ooops, we do not have much information on who these sauropods lived with.

How long did a Barapasaurus live?

Sorry, we have no known information on how long these large sauropods in the Cetiosauridae family lived.

How did they reproduce?

Unfortunately, there is not much information known on the reproductive history of the Barapasaurus, meaning 'big-legged lizard'.

Barapasaurus Fun Facts

What did a Barapasaurus look like?

The Barapasaurus, meaning 'big-legged lizard', is one of the earliest and unspecialized specimens of sauropods. Yet, this specimen shows the anatomy of more derived sauropods.

The cervical vertebrae of the Barapasaurus were more elongated, resulting in a pretty long neck. The sauropod has a short trunk that holds columnar limbs. This indicates a more obligate quadrupedal posture attained by these specimens.

The vertebral column also showed developed traits which allowed these dinosaurs to attain their large sizes. The central and neural spines were said to be hollow, which is a great weight-saving measure for their large bodies.

The dorsal vertebrae are properly supported with hyposphene-hypantrum articulations, projection which help the vertebrae to be linked with one another. This dinosaur’s sacrum is well supported with the presence of an extra fourth sacral vertebra.

From the Barapasaurus skull, only three crowns and three whole teeth have been derived. Believe it or not, the largest Barapasaurus tooth was about 2.28 in (5.8 cm) in height! The teeth are all spoon-shaped, displaying wrinkled enamel.

How many bones did a Barapasaurus have?

The Barapasaurus skeleton from the early Jurassic times has been described from almost 300 bones, derived from about six different individuals. The skeleton of this sauropod is almost entirely formed except for the remains of the skull as well as the anterior cervical vertebrae.

However, the Barapasaurus is still one of the most completely formed sauropods of the early Jurassic.

How did they communicate?

Sorry, we have no additional information on how sauropods (Barapasaurus of Saurischia division) communicated.

How big was a Barapasaurus?

The estimated Barapasaurus size is said to have a length of about 39.37-45.93 ft (12-14 m). We are not aware of the Barapasaurus height.

This size makes them almost four times the size of the Europasaurus.

How fast could a Barapasaurus move?

Oops, we do not have information on how fast the big-legged lizard could move!

How much did a Barapasaurus weigh?

It is said that the Barapasaurus weight was about 7.71 short tons (7 tonnes).

What were the male and female names of the species?

A female big-legged lizard can be called a Barapasaura, while a male specimen is known as Barapasaur.

What would you call a baby Barapasaurus?

A baby dinosaur in general is known as a hatchling.

What did they eat?

These dinosaurs were said to have an herbivore diet. We can assume that the sauropod diet consisted of vegetation and plants which existed around that time. The long neck length of this herbivore would help them pluck out leaves from all treetops, and the design of the teeth helped them to chew well.

How aggressive were they?

Sorry, there is not much information known on the Barapasaurus behavior.

Did you know...

The relationship of the Barapasaurus genus within the Sauropoda clade is often a topic of debate. When the genus was first described in 1975, it was not assigned to any specific group, although many basal, prosauropod-like features were present and noted.

Since 1984, the Barapasaurus found a new partner with which it was united, the Vulcanodon in another family called Vulcanodontidae. However, the Vulcanodontidae family was announced as an invalid one in 1995 by Paul Upchurch, as it was identified as polyphyletic.

Upchurch later introduced a different clade called the Eusauropoda which included almost all the known sauropods, except a few basal forms. The Vulcanodon was classified outside this clade, but the Barapasaurus was in it, showing the derivation between the two.

Though this classification was accepted by most, recent studies by Bandyopadhyay and other colleagues suggested that the Barapasaurus is actually more basal in comparison to the Vulcanodon, and removed it from the Eusauropoda clade.

The Barapasaurus was said to be almost as large as the Diplodocus.

Planning to go to the Kota Formation? You can search for fossils of other dinosaurs, such as the Campylognathoides, and Kotasaurus.

Where was the Barapasaurus found?

All the fossil remains of this genus were derived from a single locality itself. This region is located close to the village of Pochampally, which borders the Indian state of Telangana. The exact location is the Pochampally Sironcha Taluka located in the Gadchiroli District of Vidarbha in the central Indian state of Maharashtra.

The very first bones of this animal were discovered back in 1958. However, most of the specimens were unearthed later in 1960 and 1961. Indian paleontologist Sohan Jain along with his colleagues later described these findings in 1975. A more intense osteological description of this specimen was later published by Bandyopadhyay and colleagues in 2010.

The material is safely preserved in the paleontological archived collection of the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI). However, a majority of the bones are kept at the Geological Museum of the ISI.

What was unique about the Barapasaurus?

You must be wondering why the name 'Barapasaurus' is so different and suitable for this dinosaur, isn’t it? The Barapasaurus name means ‘the big-legged lizard’. This is derived from the words ‘bara’, which translates to ‘big’, and ‘pa’ which simply means ‘leg’ in multiple native languages of India. ‘Saurus’ is the Greek terminology that translates to ‘lizard’.

This name was chosen as a nomen nudum for the sauropod. The key reason being the extraction of a large femur, measuring over 5.57 ft (1.7 m), being unearthed in 1961.

The specific name of this species, ‘tagorei’, means 'of Tagore/Tagore’s'. This was named in honor of the famous Bengali writer, musician, poet and painter, Rabindranath Tagore. The first year of intense fieldwork behind the Barapasaurus took place in the centenary year of Rabindranath Tagore’s birth.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly dinosaur facts for everyone to discover! For more relatable content, check out these Metriorhynchus facts and Harpactognathus facts for kids.

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

Main image by Ghedo

Second image by Dmitry Bogdanov