Fun Suuwassea Facts For Kids

Suuwassea is a primitive form of dinosaur species and was found in North America and South America. This dinosaur species is believed to have developed characteristics similar to clades of diplodocids and dicreaosaurids. It is even called the new diplodocoid sauropod dinosaur from the Upper Jurassic era.

These dinosaur fossils recovered are huge in size and can be categorized as large herbivore dinosaurs. They were described by Harris and Dodson in 2004. This North American land dinosaur had a herbivorous diet and mostly fed on low-lying ferns, small grasses, green plants, and shrubs.

Despite their huge size, Suuwassea is still not categorized among the largest dinosaurs in the world. So you can imagine how big the dinosaurs were from this Jurassic strata!

Learn some interesting and surprising facts about other dinosaurs from the Early and Late Cretaceous periods, such as Angaturama and Ajkaceratops.

How do you pronounce 'Suuwassea'?

The pronunciation of the generic name Suuwassea is very easy and can be pronounced 'soo-wah-see-ah'. The word Suuwassea means 'ancient thunder'.

What type of dinosaur was a Suuwassea?

The Suuwassea is a form of large herbivore dinosaur that clade within the Dinosauria, Saurischia, Sauropodomorpha, Sauropoda. They belong to the family of Dicraeosauridae and the genus Suuwassea. These dinosaurs' scientific name is Suuwassea emilieae. These dinosaurs were very primitive and the fossil remains recovered are of a partial Suuwassea skeleton, which included partial vertebral and limb bones. Their fossils were not recovered together but in a number of expeditions between 1999-2000. In 2004, Peter Dodson and J.D. Harris described this ancient primitive form of basal dinosaur.

In which geological period did the Suuwassea roam the earth?

The sauropods Suuwassea roamed the world during the Upper Jurassic period.

When did the Suuwassea become extinct?

The Sauropoda dinosaurs, Suuwassea emilieae, became extinct around 145 million years ago.

Where did Suuwassea live?

Suuwassea remains were recovered from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of southern Montana, USA. There is evidence of them being around the seawater resources in the north, but more remains have been found in the south, which makes them appear as basal diplodocid sauropod dinosaurs. The Morrison Formation is located in the southern Carbon Country of Montana in America.

What was a Suuwassea's habitat?

According to the strata, these ancient herbivores were acquainted with living in both dry and wet areas. However, from the number of fossils recovered of their partial skulls and other body parts, these sauropods were more accustomed to living in dry climatic regions. It is also thought through some fossil remains that they lived near the Middle Jurassic Sundance Sea.

Who did Suuwassea live with?

There is no exact information available regarding their group size, but most of the sauropods live in mixed-age groups, including juveniles and adults.

How long did a Suuwassea live?

The Suuwassea lived around 145 million years ago. They lived in the Upper Jurassic strata period and lived until the Late Tithonian age.

How did they reproduce?

Most sauropods are believed to reproduce by mating and laying eggs. It is assumed that these dinosaurs dug big holes in the ground and hid their eggs for safety from predators, but there is no specific information available in the context of these ancient thunder species.

What did a Suuwassea look like?

The Suuwassea is a new diplodocid sauropod dinosaur from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Montana, USA. These sauropods were distinguished by their skull and axial skeleton, which were closely related in character to the clades of Diplodocid and Dicraeosaurid. Though Suuwassea is very primitive, it has similarities with two other dinosaur species.

How many bones did a Suuwassea have?

The exact number of bones in these Suuwassea dinosaur fossils from North American land has not been evaluated and is unknown to the world.

How did they communicate?

There is no specific information available in regard to their communication, but most sauropods are believed to communicate using their vocals. They used to make different sounds in different situations.

How big was a Suuwassea?

The Suuwassea, as described by Harris and Dodson, was 46-49 ft (14-14.9 m) in length.

How fast could a Suuwassea move?

The exact speed of these Suuwassea sauropods is unknown.

How much did a Suuwassea weigh?

The Suuwassea weighed around 5.4 tons (5,400 kg).

What were the male and female names of the species?

The male and the female of these species do not have any specific names and are known by their generic names.

What would you call a baby Suuwassea?

The babies of Suuwassea are called hatchlings.

What did they eat?

These dinosaurs were herbivores and they fed on low vegetation such as shrubs, ferns, and green plants.

How aggressive were they?

Like most of the other dinosaurs, there is not much information available regarding how aggressive these sauropods were.

Did you know...

These Suuwassea are believed to be long-necked, small-headed, and long-tailed dinosaurs. According to Montana USA Acta Palaeontologica, the fossil of shoulder blades measured around 43 in (109 cm) and the rib was 53 in (135 cm). They are also believed to have a single hole in their skull, which is still a mystery to many scientists.

This new diplodocoid sauropod dinosaur was found in the ground of the Morrison Formation of Montana USA. They lived near the Middle Jurassic Sundance Sea.

How strong were their teeth?

It is assumed that these species did not have strong teeth in comparison to other sauropods because their skull roofing lacked the rostral end of the frontals, basipterygoid process, and parasphenoid rostrum.

How did they get their name?

The word Suuwassea means 'ancient thunder'. The root 'Suu' means 'thunder' and 'wassa' means 'ancient'. Therefore, it is sometimes referred to as the thunder lizard, which is often used for sauropods.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly dinosaur facts for everyone to discover! Learn more about some other creatures from our Tanycolagreus facts and Scolosaurus fun facts for kids.

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

Main image by Fred Wierum.

Second image ДиБгд.

*We've been unable to source an image of Suuwassea and have used an image of Diplodocus carnegii instead as the main image. If you are able to provide us with a royalty-free image of Suuwassea, we would be happy to credit you. Please contact us at [email protected].