Mamenchisaurus

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Mamenchisaurus
Temporal range: Upper JurassicLower Cretaceous 161–114.4 mya
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Mamenchisaurus

Mamenchisaurus was a long-necked, plant-eating sauropod dinosaur.[1] It had the longest necks of any known dinosaur.[2] Mamenchisaurus was first discovered in 1952 on the construction site of the Yitang Highway in Sichuan Province of China. There are a number of species.[3]

Its neck was about 46 feet (14 m). It had 19 vertebrae in its neck, more than any other known dinosaur. Mamenchisaurus was about 70 to 80 feet (21 to 25 m) long and weighed roughly 12 tons (11 tonnes).

Its hind legs were longer than the front legs; these hind legs were similar to the legs of Diplodocus. Its skull however, was box-shaped, unlike Diplodocus' elongated snout.

References[change | change source]

  1. Sues, Hans-Dieter (1997). "Sauropods". In James Orville Farlow; M.K. Brett-Surman (eds) The Complete Dinosaur. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. pp. 274. ISBN 0-253-33349-0
  2. BBC tv. New fossil shows dinosaur with longest neck ever. BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/64977770
  3. Upchurch, Paul; Barrett, Paul M.; Dodson, Peter 2004. "Sauropoda" in The Dinosauria. Weishampel, David B., Dodson, Peter., Osmólska, Halszka. (2nd ed). Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-94143-4