|
| Giraffatitan Temporal range: Upper Jurassic 150–145 mya | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Mounted skeleton, Natural History Museum, Berlin | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Unrecognized taxon (fix): | Giraffatitan |
| Type species | |
| †Brachiosaurus brancai (Janensch, 1914) | |
| Synonyms | |
Giraffatitan ("giraffe titan") is a genus of sauropod dinosaurs. It lived during the Upper Jurassic, about 140 million years ago. It was related to Brachiosaurus, and was one of the largest animals known to have walked the Earth.
Giraffatitans were about 23-metre (75 ft) long and weighed about 40 tonnes (88,000 lb). They had very long necks. They were obviously adapted for feeding on tall conifers. These were the main trees in the Jurassic forests. They lived in what is now Tanzania.
The specimen was first named as an African species of Brachiosaurus (B. brancai) in 1914. In 1991, George Olshevsky said there were enough differences to make its own genus, creating Giraffatitan. view more...
 |
|
