OBJECT DOSSIER · SMITHSONIAN OPEN ACCESS

Sauropod dinosaur — Brachiosaurus altithorax

SAGE Museum Deep Time scientific dossier

Artist / Creator

Matt Wedel

Date / Period

Late Jurassic · Late Jurassic.

Object Type

arm bone

Medium

composite_mount

About This Object

Geologic period: Late Jurassic

Age: Late Jurassic.

Feeding: Herbivorous.

Locomotion: Terrestrial quadruped.

Body plan: Very large sauropod with unusually long forelimbs, a long neck and elevated shoulder region.

Evidence: The humerus is direct fossil evidence. Whole-body posture comes from combining multiple Brachiosaurus specimens.

Why it matters: A single limb bone can reveal enormous amounts about body size, weight-bearing anatomy and proportions even when an entire skeleton is not present.

Plain Language Identity: An enormous Late Jurassic brachiosaurid sauropod represented here by a forelimb bone.

What You Are Looking At: A fossil humerus—the large upper bone of the forelimb—from Brachiosaurus altithorax.

Ecosystem: Morrison Formation ecosystem.

Formation: Morrison Formation.

Find Location: Montrose County, Colorado, United States for the documented Smithsonian humerus.

Preservation: Original fossil humerus.

Open Questions: Do not imply the visitor is seeing a complete Brachiosaurus when the display object is a single arm bone.

Source Urls: https://naturalhistory.si.edu/visit/virtual-tour/current-exhibits/deep-time-virtual-tour-fossil-list; https://www.si.edu/object/brachiosaurus-altithorax-riggs-1903:nmnhpaleobiology_3449148

Enrichment Method: SAGE curated research pass; title + scientific name + source scene matched; historic taxonomy retained where relevant; evidence separated from inference

Scientific name: Brachiosaurus altithorax

Evidence / representation: comparative_taxon_visual

Why It Is In This SAGE Exhibit

comparative_taxon_visual

Jurassic Giants: Size, Teeth, Armor and Survival.

Provenance

Smithsonian Deep Time source scene: Polar Forests

Visual source institution: Wikimedia Commons

Exhibition History

Included in the SAGE Museum Dinosaurs & Deep Time staging exhibit.

Collection & Credit

Media license: CC BY 3.0

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

Subjects & Themes

Brachiosaurus altithorax Late Jurassic arm bone Polar Forests Jurassic Giants

ORIGINAL COLLECTION SOURCE

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