Barosaurus Temporal range: Upper Jurassic
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A view from below of the rearing Barosaurus mounted in the American Museum of Natural History, New York | |
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Genus: | Barosaurus
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Barosaurus was a large, long-necked, plant-eating dinosaur. It lived about 156 to 145 million years ago in the later Jurassic period. The name Barosaurus means "heavy lizard". It was named by Othniel C. Marsh in 1890. Barosaurus fossils have been found in western North America and East Africa.
The skeleton as set up here suggests the animal could strip leaves or fronds from the tallest trees. Barosaurus was differently proportioned to its close relative Diplodocus. It had a longer neck and shorter tail, but was about the same length overall. It was longer than Apatosaurus or Brontosaurus, and its skeleton was slimmer.[1]
Sauropod skulls are rarely preserved, and no Barosaurus skull has yet been found.