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ZoomDinosaurs.com Dinosaur News

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Sauroposeidon November 3, 1999

Sauroposeidon was a brachiosaurid sauropod, related to Brachiosaurus. "The neck on our creature is about a third longer than that of the Brachiosaurus," said Mathew Wedel, a graduate student in paleontology at the University of Oklahoma, who examined Sauroposeidon with Cifelli. "It's a lot longer and a lot more specialized."

Sauroposeidon, a huge, long-necked sauropod, was recently found in Oklahoma, USA. It may be the biggest dinosaur yet found. The name Sauroposeidon means "Lizard Earthquake God," because this behemoth probably shook the ground when it walked.

Size: This giant plant-eater weighed about 60 tons and was about 60 feet tall. It has the longest neck in the fossil record, beating even the enormous dinosaur Mamenchisaurus. Individual vertebrae (neck bones) are up to 4 feet (1.2 m) long. A single bone looks more like a tree trunk than part of an animal's neck.

When Sauroposeidon Lived: Sauroposeidon lived about 110 million years ago, during the mid-Cretaceous period. Other dinosaurs that lived in North America during that time were the meat-eating Deinonychus, the armored plant-eaters Sauropelta and Nodosaurus, and the sail-backed meat-eater Acrocanthosaurus.

Fossils: This huge fossilized dinosaur was found in southeastern Oklahoma in 1994 by a dog handler at a state prison in Atoka County. Paleontologist Richard Cifelli of the University of Oklahoma led the team that studied these fossils. The find will be be described in the March, 2000, issue of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

Habit and Diet
Sauroposeidon lived in what was then a river delta. It was a plant-eater that probably ate leaves from the tops of trees, perhaps conifers and early flowering trees like magnolias, palms, and sycamores (which evolved early in the Cretaceous period).

RELATED LINKS
Information about sauropod dinosaurs, the biggest dinosaurs.

More about the mid-Cretaceous period

Plants from the Cretaceous period

Information on dinosaur diets

Other extreme dinosaurs - biggest, smallest, fastest, smartest, etc.

A Geologic Time Chart.

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