Sauropods: The Biggest Dinosaurs

Sauropod Paleontology

It's one of the paradoxes of modern paleontology that the largest animals that ever lived left the most incomplete skeletons. While bite-sized dinosaurs like Microraptor tend to fossilize all in one piece, complete sauropod skeletons are rare on the ground. Further complicating matters, sauropod fossils are often found without their heads, because of an anatomical quirk in how these dinosaurs' skulls were attached to their necks (so their skeletons are easily "disarticulated," as the term goes.

The jigsaw-puzzle-like nature of sauropod fossils has tempted paleontologists into a fair number of blind alleys. Often, a gigantic tibia will be advertised as belonging to an entirely new genus of sauropod, until it's discovered (based on more complete analysis) to belong to a plain old Cetiosaurus. (This is the reason the sauropod once known as Brontosaurus is today called Apatosaurus: Apatosaurus was named first, and the dinosaur subsquently called Brontosaurus turned out to be a, well, you know.) Even today, some sauropods linger under a cloud of suspicion; many experts believe Seismosaurus was really an unusually big Diplodocus, and proposed genera like Ultrasauros have been discredited altogether.

This confusion about sauropod fossils has also resulted in some famous confusion about sauropod behavior. When the first sauropod bones were discovered, well over one hundred years ago, paleontologists believed they belonged to ancient whales--and for a few decades, it was fashionable to picture Brachiosaurus as a semi-aquatic creature that roved lake bottoms and stuck its head out of the surface to breathe!

Here's an alphabetical list of the 20 most notable sauropod genera; just click on the links for more details.

Apatosaurus The dinosaur formerly known as Brontosaurus.

Argentinosaurus Possibly the largest herbivore that ever lived.

Barapasaurus Probably the first of the giant sauropods.

Barosaurus An enormous plant-eater with a tiny head.

Brachiosaurus A giant, gentle, long-necked plant-eater.

Brachytrachelopan This sauropod had an unusually short neck.

Camarasaurus The most common sauropod of Jurassic North America.

Cetiosaurus Guess which creature this "whale lizard" was once mistaken for?

Diplodocus "Thin at one end, much thicker in the middle, and thin again at the far end."

Europasaurus The smallest sauropod ever discovered.

Mamenchisaurus The longest-necked dinosaur that ever lived.

Paralititan This huge sauropod was discovered recently in Egypt.

Rapetosaurus The only sauropod ever to be discovered on modern-day Madagascar.

Saltasaurus The first armored sauropod ever to be discovered.

Sauroposeidon One of the tallest dinosaurs ever to walk the earth.

Seismosaurus It was huge, to be sure--but might it have been a species of Diplodocus?

Shunosaurus Anatomically speaking, probably the best known of all the sauropods.

Supersaurus No, it didn't wear a cape--but this giant dino was still impressive.

Titanosaurus This sauropod may--or may not--have been a unique member of its genus.

Vulcanodon An early sauropod of the Jurassic period.