Snarl’s Dino Facts: Diplodocus

I decided to post this week’s Dino fact earlier because there’s something special I have planned for tomorrow…But I won’t tell you anything right now….

Diplodocus is one of the longest land animals that has ever lived on Earth. As it moved slowly on its four trunk-like legs, it searched the landscape for food. This massive herbivore must have needed to eat a vast amount of vegetation every day to survive. When eating, Diplodocus clamped its peg-like teeth around conifers, gingkoes, ferns, cycads, club mosses and horsetails. Then, as it pulled it head backwards, its teeth tugged on the foliage and combed their way through it, stripping off a mouthful of food, which it swallowed whole. Once inside its stomach, gastroliths (stomach stones) rolled around and knocked against the food, crushing it to a pulp and making it easier to digest. Diplodocus may have lived in herds, travelling from one feeding place to the next.

Diplodocus was a giant sauropod dinosaur that lived in North America during the late Jurassic period, between approximately 155 million and 145 million years ago. The animal was typically around 85 feet (26 meters) long, but some grew as large as 100 feet (31 meters) long.
The first Diplodocus bones where found in 1877 in Colorado, western USA, by fossil hunter Samuel Williston. The skeleton was not complete, but enough of it had survived to show that it was a new dinosaur. In 1878 the great American palaeontologist, Othniel Marsh, named it Diplodocus. He gave it this name – meaning “double beam” – because some of its bones reminded him of the shape of a beam. The first complete skeleton was found in 1899, in Wyoming. Since then, Diplodocus has become one of the world’s best known dinosaurs.

Other Interesting Facts:

#1. Most Diplodocus museum specimens are gifts from Andrew Carnegie.
#2. Diplodocus wasn’t the smartest dinosaur on the Jurassic block.
#3. The name Diplodocus means “double beam.”
#4. Diplodocus’ front limbs were shorter than its hind limbs.

That’s it for Diplo! Expect a special post tomorrow…about a very Special Person!

~Snarl~