ABOUT APATOSAURUS. A huge, plant-eating Sauropod of the Late Jurassic Period, Apatosaurus (“deceptive reptile”) lived on the forested plains of what we know today as Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and Oklahoma (USA) about 150 million years ago.
Apatosaurus in ground. Its large, heavily-built body - complete with long, stocky legs and a whip-like tail - weighed in at 25-40 tons.
As an adult, this Jurassic dinosaur typically measured from 75-90 feet in length from the head to the end of its 82-caudal vertebrae tail.
(Left) This Apatosaurus femur (upper back leg bone) measures about 5.5 feet long.
Articulated Apatosaurus hind foot bones. Apatosaurus foot bones and claws have been found at the digsite. This dinosaur, like most Sauropods, had a large, single claw on the “thumb” of its forelimbs and a claw on each of the first three toes of its hind limbs.
Apatosaurus' pencil-shaped teeth. The head and mouth of this dinosaur were disproportionately small as compared to its large body. Apatosaurus had 56 pencil-shaped teeth used for raking and swallowing leaves and vegetation whole. Digestion was aided by gastroliths--small gizzard stones swallowed by the dinosaur.
