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Sauropod Dinosaurs
The Sauropoda (meaning "lizard-footed") dinosaurs
were a infraorder of the the
Saurischian.
Together with the infraorder
Prosauropods,
they form the Sauropodomorpha) suborder of
Saurischia.
Dinosaurs in the Sauropod infrarder include, among others,
Apatosaurus
(also known as "Brontosaurus"),
Brachiosaurus, and
Diplodocus.
Sauropods first appeared during the later part of
Triassic period,
and at that time resembled their sister infraorder, the
Prosauropods.
By the late
Jurassic period,
Sauropods had become extremely widespread, and they survived until
the end of the
Cretaceous period,
about 65 million years ago.
Of course during all this time, no single species survived - instead a succession
of different Sauropod lineages appeared at different times.
At the end of
Cretaceous,
the Sauropods finally became
extinct,
along with all the other non-avian dinosaurs.
Sauropod dinosaurs were herbivorous (plant-eating). They were quadrupedal
(walking on four legs), and they had thick pillar-like legs with five
toes, although only three toes had claws.
They had
long necks and small heads and usually had long tails..
Additionally, some Sauropods had armor such
bony osteoderms
(found for example in
Ampelosaurus
and
Saltasaurus),
clubs in their tails
(for example in Shunosaurus),
or spined-backs (for example in Augustinia).
Sauropods are of course well-known for being large animals.
Even the smallest dwarf species of Sauropod were 20 feet (6 meters) long,
and the largest Sauropods were at least 130 feet (40 meters) long.
There is evidence that there may have been some species that
grew to 180 to 200 feet (55 to 60 meters)
in length.
Why Sauropod evolved to become so large remains a matter of debate.
Clearly there was some evolutionary advantage to being such huge
sizes, but we can not entirely sure what it is.
Some hypotheses that have been proposed include
the relative immunity from predators that large size conveys,
longer life spans,
greater energy efficiency,
or simply the fact that large-size allows
herbivores to digest food more effectively.
There is a good evidence (for example
fossilized
trackways) that many species of Sauropods lived in herds. It is thought
that many herds were separated by age, as juvenile animals appear to
have eaten a different
diet from adults.
Sauropods first appeared during the early Jurassic period, and survived until the end of the Cretaceous period, about 65 million years ago
Types of Sauropod Dinosaur
Here is a list of some Sauropod dinosaurs:
Related Information & Resources
See Also
Sauropod Books
Here are some books from Amazon.com:
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University of California Press
Hardcover (358 pages)
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Sauropod dinosaurs were the largest animals ever to walk the earth, and they represent a substantial portion of vertebrate biomass and biodiversity during the Mesozoic Era. The story of sauropod evolution is told in an extensive fossil record of skeletons and footprints that span the globe and 150 million years of earth history. This generously illustrated volume is the first comprehensive scientific summary of sauropod evolution and paleobiology. The contributors explore sauropod anatomy, detail its variations, and question the myth that life at large size led to evolutionary stagnation and eventual replacement by more "advanced" herbivorous dinosaurs. Chapters address topics such as the evolutionary history and diversity of sauropods; methods for creating three-dimensional reconstructions of their skeletons; questions of sauropod herbivory, tracks, gigantism, locomotion, reproduction, growth rates, and more. This book, together with the recent surge in sauropod discoveries around the world and taxonomic revisions of fragmentary genera, will shed new light on "nature's greatest extravagances." |
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By Thom Holmes
Enslow Publishers
Library Binding (128 pages; 1)
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By P.M. Sander, E. Buffetaut & Sute
Elsevier
Digital
![Adaptive radiation in sauropod dinosaurs: bone histology indicates rapid evolution of giant body size through acceleration [An article from: Organisms Diversity & Evolution]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/515M437F8FL._SL160_.jpg) | List Price: $8.95*
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This digital document is a journal article from Organisms Diversity & Evolution, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Description:
The well-preserved histology of the geologically oldest sauropod dinosaur from the Late Triassic allows new insights into the timing and mechanism of the evolution of the gigantic body size of the sauropod dinosaurs. The oldest sauropods were already very large and show the same long-bone histology, laminar fibro-lamellar bone lacking growth marks, as the well-known Jurassic sauropods. This bone histology is unequivocal evidence for very fast growth. Our histologic study of growth series of the Norian Plateosaurus indicates that the sauropod sistergroup, the Late Triassic and early Jurassic Prosauropoda, reached a much more modest body size in a not much shorter ontogeny. Increase in growth rate compared to the ancestor (acceleration) is thus the underlying process in the phylogenetic size increase of sauropods. Compared to all other dinosaur lineages, sauropods were not only much larger but evolved very large body size much faster. The prerequisite for this increase in growth rate must have been a considerable increase in metabolic rate, and we speculate that a bird-like lung was important in this regard. |
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By Jeffrey A Wilson
Society of Vertebrate Paleontology
Unknown Binding (68 pages)
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By J. A. Jensen
Brigham Young University
Paperback
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By Francois Gohier
Silver Burdett Pr
Paperback
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