Agathaumas

       Today, most argue that Agathaumas is simply a mislabeled Triceratops.

     Agathaumas is now displayed at the Field Museum in Chicago. It was given its name, which refers to its huge size, by paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope in 1872. It is a nomen dubium, however, and some debate exists to what Agathaumas is. Cope himself originally supposed it to be a type of hadrosaur until O. Marsh described Triceratops in 1889.

      Artist Charles R. Knight painted the dinosaur for Cope, creating a fantastic-looking beast, which blended the lengthy facial horns of Triceratops with the spiked frill of the Styracosaurus Dinosaur.

       The artwork was exposed years later by stop-motion animator Willis O'Brien, who used the Agathaumas in the 1925 film The Lost World. The Agathaumas has appeared in a variety of forms since then, and if those who doubt its existence are correct, it is one of the more successful imaginary dinosaurs.
 
Agathaumas facts:

Name:              Agathaumas Dinosaur ("great wonder")
Size:                 Huge
Main Facts:     Agathaumas is non-diagnostic relative to Chasmosaurus, a plant eating dinosaurs from the
                          late Cretaceous period

Diplodocus

        Diplodocus (Greek: "double-beam") is a kind of dinosaur of subgroup Sauropoda. Diplodocus lived during the Jurassic period. Scientists gave the dinosaur its name due to the way part of its skeleton was shaped.

        The first Diplodocus skeleton was establish at Como Bluff, Wyoming in 1878 and was named Diplodocus longus ("long double-beam") by paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh. Other types include D. carnegiei (named after Andrew Carnegie) and D. hayi.

      Diplodocus remains have been established in the Western United States of Colorado, Utah, Montana and Wyoming. Fossils of this animal are common, except for the skull, which is often missing from or else complete skeletons.

   
      The skull was very small compared to the huge size of the animal, which could reach up to 27 m. Instead of the way Diplodocidae were previously portrayed, with their necks high up in the air, it is now believed by some that the animal might only keep its head very low to the ground (for grazing), and that the very long tail served as a offset for the long neck. Others think the animal could stand on its hind legs.
Diplodocus is a 25 meter long, 25 tonne sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic time period (155 - 145 MYA) that lived on the territory of the modern US.

      Diplodocus was one of the longest animals ever to live. Seismosaurus, a species of Diplodocus, was 33.7-53.9 meters long and 34 tonnes in weight. In fact, it was so large that even a pack of Allosaurus wasn't able to hunt fully grown specimens (though Allosaurus can attack individuals which are weak, sick, old, injured and young). They lived in huge herds, sometimes up to 100 Diplodocus, led by a matriarch, like elephants.

      Diplodocus may had a long lifespan sometimes up to 120 years (it could be shorter lifespan if it is a warm-blooded animal like most dinosaurs).

     Diplodocus hatchlings ate 2-3 kilograms(4-6 pounds) per day, until they reached young adulthood.
Diplodocus probably lives in a symbiotic relationship with a small pterosaur called Anurognathus who cleans ticks and other parasites that live on skin of Diplodocus.
It should be noted that while it doesn't appear in
Juvenile Diplodocus from Walking with Dinosaurs
AustralopithecusmanAdded by Australopithecusman
      Prehistoric Park, a stylized drawing of this animal is on logo of Prehistoric Park. However, this sauropod dinosaur was featured only in the second episode of Walking with Dinosaurs and in Walking with Dinosaurs Allosaurus, a Walking with Dinosaurs special. It was also featured in cameos in the beginning of Walking with Beasts and the

Alamosaurus

       Alamosaurus Dinosaurs, (meaning "alamo lizard"), was a quadruped herbivore, and was named after Fort Alamo, Texas. Alamosaurus, measured to be one of the last of the sauropods, lived 80 million years ago through the late Cretaceous period.

      Gilmore named it in 1922 after partial skeletons were established and it was the first sauropod of the family Titanosaurus Dinosaurs that were found in North America.

      Alamosaurus Dinosaurs fossils were further have been improved from Montana, New Mexico, Texas and Utah. Till today no complete skulls have been found. The animal had a long neck, and a whip-like tail, probably used to protect itself against predators. Although little evidence has been found, some scientists say Alamosaurus may have had body Armour, like other sauropods at the time.

       It is estimated that Alamosaurus dinosaurs was over 69 feet long, and it was first discovered in 1922 by Charles Gilmore. The most recent major Alamosaurus discovery consists of two huge bones, a shoulder bone and a humerus was found at Big Bend National Park, in the 1970's.

      Alamosaurus was a large quadrupedal herbivore, measuring in at 100 ft (30.5 m) in length and probably weighing over 50 tons (45,360 kg).  It was a genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur and like other sauropods, had a long neck and a long tail, which may have ended in a 'whiplash' structure.  No skull material is known, except for a few slender teeth.  The Teas specimens are from are from the Javelina Formation where possibly three individuals, one adult and two juveniles, (half the adult size) were found.  The Alamosaurus is believed to be a re-entrant" into North America from South America.

Alamosaurus facts:

Name:              Alamosaurus Dinosaurs ("alamo lizard")
Size:                  33 tons and 69 feet in length
Main Facts:     Much larger than other members of the Titanosauridae which weighed approximately 33 tons.

Apatosaurus

         
       Apatosaurus, formerly known as Brontosaurus (erroneously named Brontosaurus by Othniel Charles Marsh after he incorrectly placed the head of a Camarasaurus on the body of an Apatosaurus), is a genus of sauropod dinosaurs that lived about 140 million years ago, during the Jurassic period. They were some of the major land animals that ever existed, about 4.5 meters (15 feet) tall at the hips, with a length of up to 25m (80 feet) and a mass up to 35 metric tones (40 tons). However, the Argentinosaurus was even larger.

     The cervical vertebra and the bones in the legs were larger and heavier than that of Diplodocus, but they both had the long neck and tail. Apatosaurus skeleton which was found at the American Museum of Natural History. The skull was first recognized in 1975, a century after it got its name. The Apatosaurus had a claw on its hand, but only the thumb. Scientists have a theory about the tail being lifted perhaps a meter above the ground. It would prevent the dinosaur from stomping on it, and put the tail out of arrive at of predators.
Early on, it was believed that Apatosaurus Dinosaurs was too massive to support its own weight on dry land, so it was theorized that the sauropod must have lived partly submerged in water, perhaps in a swamp. Recent conclusion does not support this. Fossilized footprints indicate that it probably lived in herds. To aid in dispensation food, Apatosaurus may have swallowed gizzard stones (gastroliths) the same way many birds do today — its jaws alone were not sufficient to chew tough plant fibers.

        The Apatosaurs perhaps lumbered along in flocks on riverbanks with trees, eating off the top leaves. Scientists believe that these sauropods could not raise their neck to an angle of 90 degrees, as doing so would sluggish blood flow to the brain excessively; blood starting at the body proper would take two or more minutes to reach the brain. Furthermore, studies of the arrangement of the neck vertebrae have revealed that the neck was not as flexible as previously thought. No one knows how Apatosaurs ate enough food to gratify their enormous bodies. They probably ate constantly, pausing only to cool off, drink or to remove parasites. They must have slept standing upright. If attacked by a predator, it could preserve itself by swinging its tail from side to side, or stomp at the meat-eater. Because of the Apatosaurs’ slow velocity, they lived in herds, and they could "call" on each other, if one needed help.

    Classification and history of Apatosaurus Dinosaurs

     In 1877, Othniel Charles Marsh available notes on his discovery of the Apatosaurus, and then in 1879 described one more, more complete dinosaur — the Brontosaurus. In 1903, it was discovered that the apatosaur was in fact a juvenile brontosaur, and the name Apatosaurus, having been published first, was deemed to have priority as the bureaucrat name; Brontosaurus was relegated to being a synonym. The name was not formally removed from the records of paleontology until 1974.

    Fossils of this animal have been establish in Nine Mile Quarry and Bone Cabin Quarry in Wyoming, and at sites in Colorado, Oklahoma, Utah, USA.

Species

    A. Ajax is the type species of the genera, and was named by the paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh in 1877 after Ajax, the hero from Greek mythology. It is the holotype for the genera, and two partial skeletons have been found including part of a skull.

    A. Excelsus (originally Brontosaurus) was named by Marsh in 1879. It is known from six partial skeletons, including part of a skull, which have been establish in the United States, in Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyoming.
A. louisae was named by William Holland, in 1915. It is known from one incomplete skeleton, which was found in Colorado, in the United States.

    Robert T. Bakker made A. yahnahpin the type species of a new genus, Eobrontosaurus in 1998, so it is now correctly Eobrontosaurus yahnahpin. Filla, James and Redman named it in 1994. One partial skeleton   has been found in Wyoming

Apatosaurus facts:

Name:               Apatosaurus (erroneously named Brontosaurus by Othniel Charles Marsh)
Size:                  80ft long and 15ft tall
Main Facts:     Apatosaurus, a giant sauropod dinosaur, had a pointed claw on each front foot, which it   
                         may have used for defense.

Mamenchisaurus

       Mamenchisaurus (pronounced ma-MENCH-ih-SAW-rus) was first exposed in China by C. C. Young. It is a plant-eating four-legged dinosaur, known for its amazingly long neck.

     The first specimen exposed (the type specimen) was 22 meters (72 feet) long, and half of that was neck (11 meters, or 36 feet) - which made it the longest known neck any animal at the time. 19 vertebrae were exposed (another record), along with long rods that were found in the neck.
In 1987, a different species of Mamenchisaurus was exposed (M. hochuanensis) with a neck that might have reached up to 15 meters (49 feet) in length. In 1994, the Sauroposeidon was exposed in the United States, with a neck estimated to be up to 12 meters (39 feet) long; although since the Sauroposeidon is a brachiosaurid, with very long forelimbs, it is a much taller dinosaur.

      Mamenchisaurus means "Mamenchi lizard", from the Chinese ma ("horse"), men ("gate") and chi ("stream"), and the Greek sauros ("lizard"). It was named for the Mamingxi Ferry in Jinshajiang, on the Yangtze River, Yibin, in the Sichuan Province of China, where it was establish.

     Most genuses lived 145 to 150 million years ago, in the Tithonian age of the late Jurassic time.

    A herd of mamenchisaurs were featured in the summary scene in Jurassic Park's sequel, The Lost World: Jurassic Park

Saltasaurus

  
      Saltasaurus was a small sauropod of the late Cretaceous, characterized by a diplodocid-type head (with blunt teeth only in the back of the mouth) and was the first exposed with small bony plates entrenched in its skin. The bony plates (osteoderms) have since been found in other titanosaurids, and a crest of scutes has also been discovered running down the back of diplodocids. When the plates of a saltosaur were at first found independently of skeletal remains, they were unspecified to be from an ankylosaurian, whose plates they resemble.
Changing perceptions

      In the Cretaceous period, sauropod dinosaurs in North America were behind the survival game to duck-billed dinosaurs, such as Edmontosaurus. However, like modern Australia, South America was an island continent and life evolved rather in a different way there. Specifically, the duck-billed dinosaurs never gained a foothold and so sauropods, purposely the titanosaurids, sustained on their own path of evolution.

     Saltasaurus (which means "lizard from Salta") was one such highly-evolved sauropod, and lived 70 to 65 million years past. When it was first discovered in 1980, it enforced palaeontologists to reconsider many of their assumptions about what was and what was not a sauropod because Saltasaurus, though clearly a sauropod, had armour plating. Previously, it had been assumed that size alone was sufficient defense for the massive sauropods.

     However, a Saltasaurus was exposed with covered with bony knobs 10 to 12 centimeters (4 to 5 inches) in diameter. Since then, palaeontologists have investigated the option that other sauropods also had armour; for example, the Argentinian Laplatasaurus.

Brachiosaurus

  
      For many decades, Brachiosaurus (brack-ee-oh-SORE-us) was the biggest dinosaurs known. It has since been exceeded in sheer mass by a number of giant titanosaurids like the Argentinosaurus and it was lastly surpassed in height by another brachiosaurid, the Sauroposeidon. It was, however, still the largest dinosaur known from a fairly complete skeleton.
However, even that may no longer be true, since the biggest known specimens are nowconsidered to be part of the new Giraffatitan genus. This new species includes the well-known mounted Brachiosaurus in the Humboldt Museum of Berlin, which is the tallest mounted skeleton in the world.

    Brachiosaurus is unsurprising to weigh from 30 to 80 tones (35 to 90 tons), to reach 13 meters (42 feet) in height, and 25 meters (82 feet) in length. Higher estimates are usually based on the Ultrasauros, which was originally measured to be an extremely large Brachiosaurus.

    However, Ultrasauros is now believed to be a chimera, calm of neck bones from a Supersaurus, and a shoulder bone (scapulacoracoid) from a Brachiosaurus smaller than the largest Giraffatitan specimens.

•  Description and environment

     Brachiosaurus had teeth like chisels (spatulate), and nostrils on the top of its head, which may indicate it, had a good sense of smell. It had a number of holes in its skull to decrease weight. The first toe on its front foot, and the first three on its hind feet had claws. They may have traveled in herds.

It used to be theorized that it used the nostrils on the top of its head like a snorkel, and spent most of its time flooded in water to help support its great mass. However, it is now believed that it was a fully earthly animal. Studies have shown that the water pressure would be too great for it to breathe while flooded, and its feet are too narrow, and would sink into the mud.

Like all of the other "long-necked" dinosaurs, the Brachiosaurus’ neck was serious and when it held it in a upright position for too long time, it would not get any blood to the brain. It might have stood at the border of the forests and waved the head up and down, while it systematically detached all the eatable food on the trees.

     If the Brachiosaurus was warm-blooded, it is predictable that it would take ten years to reach full size. If it were cold-blooded, then it would take over 100 years to do so. If it were warm-blooded, it would have to eat more than 400 lbs. (200 kg) a day, but a lot less if it were not.

•  Berlin's brancai and Chicago's high flyer

     The mounted skeleton of a B. brancai (or Giraffatitan) in the Humboldt Museum in Berlin is 4 stories tall, attainment 12 meters (39 feet) into the air, and is 23 meters (74 feet) long. It is the tallest mounted skeleton in the world, although the bones come from several different specimens.

     A Brachiosaurus is also mounted in the B Concourse of United Airlines' Terminal One in O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, politeness of the Field Museum of Chicago. It is a model, not a collection of fossils.
Classification