Glowing Dinosaursby Firoiu Dan Nicolae Reserve a copy
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Brachiosaurus in pink and blue with a bone-white skull, neck raised

N° 054 · III. Giants

Brachiosaurus

The Treetop Giant

Say it: BRAK-ee-oh-SORE-us

Species
Brachiosaurus altithorax, Riggs 1903
Name means
Arm lizard
Lived
Late Jurassic, about 150 million years ago
Found
Colorado, United States
Length
About 22 m
Weight
About 28 to 47 tonnes
Diet
Herbivore

Three things to know

Arms longer than legs

Its name means arm lizard: its front legs were longer than its back legs, raising its shoulders and neck towards the tallest trees.

A borrowed body

No complete skeleton has been found. Most models are based on an African relative, Giraffatitan; a 2009 study showed Brachiosaurus had a longer, deeper body.

The largest, for a while

Elmer Riggs dug it up in Colorado in 1900 and named it in 1903 as the largest known dinosaur. Argentinosaurus is now known to have been far heavier.

Every fact on this page is traced to a published source, listed at the back of the book.

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Brachiosaurus in the book

The real spread of N° 054 from the atlas: the text page with the facts, notes and six signs on the left, the plate on the right.

Brachiosaurus in the book: the left-hand text pageBrachiosaurus in the book: the right-hand plate page

When and where Brachiosaurus lived

Brachiosaurus lived about 150 million years ago, in the Late Jurassic, in what is now the western United States. Its bones come from the Morrison Formation, a great spread of river and floodplain rocks that also holds Diplodocus, Stegosaurus and the hunter Allosaurus. The land was warm and seasonal, with conifers, cycads, ginkgos and ferns, and huge long-necked plant-eaters were its largest animals.

How Brachiosaurus was discovered and named

Elmer Riggs of the Field Columbian Museum in Chicago found the first skeleton near Grand Junction, Colorado, in 1900, and named it in 1903. A related giant from Tanzania was long called Brachiosaurus too and filled many museum halls and books; in 2009 it was given its own name, Giraffatitan, leaving the American animal as the true Brachiosaurus, still known from only a few partial skeletons.

How Brachiosaurus lived

With front legs longer than its back legs and a neck held high, Brachiosaurus could reach leaves far above the heads of other plant-eaters, a little like a giraffe on a giant scale. It would have spent most of its day eating, swallowing plants with little chewing. Its great size was its best defence; only the largest hunters of its day could have threatened a full-grown adult.

Brachiosaurus in Glowing Dinosaurs

Brachiosaurus is entry N° 054 of the atlas, in the chapter III. Giants. Its spread follows the same layout as every other dinosaur in the book: on the left, its name and how to say it, the epithet The Treetop Giant, the three facts above, field notes and the six signs that show when it lived, how big it was, how dangerous it would have been, where it was found, what it ate and how it fought. On the right is the full glowing plate: brachiosaurus in pink and blue with a bone-white skull, neck raised. Two more plates of Brachiosaurus appear elsewhere in the book, and each can also be ordered as a signed work for the wall, printed on wood or acrylic under glass. In the same chapter you will also find Diplodocus.

Why Brachiosaurus glows

No dinosaur is known to have glowed, and the book says so plainly. The light is the artist’s way of seeing inside the animal: in the plate of Brachiosaurus, bones, muscles and outline shine through a dark ground, so the shape of the skull, the length of the neck and tail and the build of the legs can be read at once, the way a fossil skeleton is read in a museum hall. The colours are chosen to separate bone from muscle and to make each animal recognisable across the whole atlas, while every fact printed beside the picture is checked against published research.

Questions about Brachiosaurus

How big was Brachiosaurus?

Brachiosaurus measured about 22 m from nose to tail and weighed about 28 to 47 tonnes. The size panel on its spread in the book draws it beside a person, so its scale can be seen at a glance.

When did Brachiosaurus live?

It lived in the Late Jurassic, about 150 million years ago. On the timeline in the book, its place is marked between the first dinosaurs, about 230 million years ago, and the end of the age of dinosaurs, 66 million years ago.

Where have Brachiosaurus fossils been found?

Its fossils have been found in Colorado, United States. The map on its spread in the book marks the places where its bones were dug up.

What did Brachiosaurus eat?

Its diet: herbivore. The diet sign in the book shows this with a simple symbol, so young readers can sort the plant-eaters from the meat-eaters.

What does the name Brachiosaurus mean?

The name means “arm lizard”. The full scientific name is Brachiosaurus altithorax, Riggs 1903: the genus, the species and the scientist who named it, with the year. It is pronounced BRAK-ee-oh-SORE-us.

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