Sauroposeidon

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Quick Sauroposeidon Facts

  • Fossils have been found in Oklahoma, Wyoming and Texas
  • Weighed as much as 10 elephants
  • As high as a 6 story building
  • Was 10 car lengths long
  • Its neck length was 40 feet long
Sauroposeidon Pictures

About Sauroposeidon

Sauroposeidon is a dinosaur which lived approximately 110 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period. It was first discovered in 1994 along the Oklahoma and Texas border by Dr. Richard Cifelli and his team from the Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. It was named “earthquake god lizard” because it was believed that when this dinosaur walked the whole Earth shook due to its size.

This dinosaur was 100 feet long, 60 feet high and weighed in excess of 60 tons. Its neck was about a third longer than that of its closest relative—Brachiosaurus. Its neck was so large, its individual vertebrae were over 4 feet long and looked more like the trunks of trees than spinal bones.

Sauroposeidon was an herbivore that probably lived off of leaves and other plant material. However, it must have required a whole lot of plant material to keep this massive dinosaur alive. It probably feasted on tons of conifers and early flowering trees.

It is also believed that there wouldn’t have been any predators big enough to have been able to take down a full size Sauroposeidon. It is believed that once these dinosaurs reached maturity, then they would have been virtually safe from all attacks from carnivores.

An interesting fact to note about this dinosaur is that there is some debate whether or not whether they could raise their heads up to eat the tops of trees. Some paleontologists say that it would be virtually impossible for this dinosaur to raise its head up because it would have put an enormous strain on its heart. Therefore, these paleontologists postulate that this dinosaur must have swung its head back and forth and used it like a vacuum to suck up plant material from the forest floor.

Sauroposeidon Pictures

Sauroposeidon by Nobu Tamura
Sauroposeidon by Alexander
Sauroposeidon by Manuel Gil Jaramillo
Sauroposeidon by Herschel Hoffmeyer
Sauroposeidon by Herschel Hoffmeyer
Sauroposeidon by James Kuether