Long-necked dinosaurs were large reptiles belonging to the Sauropsid group, which also includes modern reptiles and birds. These emerged in the Carboniferous, with the appearance of the amniote egg, differing from the Synapsids (group from which mammals derive) in the characters of the temporal region of the skull.
Although there has been a great variety of dinosaur species, which became extinct approximately 65 million years ago as a result of great natural disasters at the end of the Cretaceous, in this article on our site we will focus on the long-necked dinosaurs, their characteristics and some more well-known examples.
Characteristics of long-necked dinosaurs
Long-necked dinosaurs must have shared characteristics of reptiles, such as ectothermy, the presence of a three-chambered heart, strong jaws, limbs usually ending in five fingers, ribs with a sternum and uric acid as an excretion product. However, these are some of the characteristics that could differentiate the long-necked dinosaurs of other reptiles:
- Large body dimensions, in most cases being able to exceed 25 meters in length and 10 tons in weight.
- Big tails and thick legs.
- A small head in proportion to its large body.
- They were herbivorous dinosaurs.
- Long necks with which they reached the highest branches of the trees. This also allowed them to save energy when searching for food, because by reaching great distances with their necks, they did not have to constantly move. However, not all raised their necks to eat.
- Spoon or spatula-shaped teeth, adapted to eating vegetable matter and useless for chewing food.
- A habitual practice was the ingestion of stones to be able to crush the plants.
- Fossil remains suggest that they were gregarious animals, that is, they lived in herds.
- There are several hypotheses about the structure of the heart, since there has always been a question as to how it could pump blood to all the parts of such a huge body. Among them, the existence of a large heart or the existence of several pseudo-hearts stands out. However, all this has not been verified by the fossil record.
Diplodocus
This genus of dinosaurs, whose fossils were first discovered in 1877 in North America, was characterized by its large size, as they could reach 30 meters in length and weighing more than 10 tons In addition, it had four robust legs, a long neck made up of 15 vertebrae, a whip-shaped tailcomposed of more than 50 vertebrae and a practically horizontal posture. Thanks to the fossil remains, it has been proven that these animals were plantigrade, that is, they supported the entire plant when they walked With their movements they were able to scare other dinosaurs of smaller size, being the predators of Diplodocus quite scarce.
Camarasaurus
This genus was related to Diplodocus and its fossils were also discovered in the American continent more than 100 years ago. However, unlike these, its bones were more robust, making Camarasaurus a heavier animal. However, its vertebrae showed some chamber-shaped holes (hence the name of these dinosaurs) that compensated for the 20 tons of weight it could reach. Its skull was also somewhat larger and squarer than other long-necked dinosaurs.
Apatosaurus
This dinosaur, which had 2 described species, could weigh between 20 and 30 tons and measure more than 20 meters long. This, together with the noise generated by the great shakes of its long tail, made it very feared by other large animals despite also following a herbivorous diet. Unlike the two genera described above, Apatosaurus is considered the first sauropod whose bones were completely exposed, verifying how its vertebrae were shorter than Diplodocus or Camarasaurus and how the limb bones were somewhat longer than those of other dinosaurs.
If you want to know more about long-necked dinosaurs and other species, you may be interested in this other article on How did dinosaurs reproduce and were born?
Ultrasaurus
Its name means “ ultralizard ”, because when it was described 37 years ago, it was believed that it was the largest dinosaur until then The data suggests that it could weigh more than 40 tons and measure up to 30 meters long, but later it was found that there were other even larger specimens. This striking herbivore, whose only species inhabited the Asian continent, not only had long necks and tails, but its limbs were also somewhat larger than those of other dinosaurs. Given its size and the need to save energy for the search for food, it has always been thought that it walked very slowly.
Brachiosaurus
With only one described species, Brachiosaurus was the genus of dinosaurs known as “ arm lizard ”, since its two forelimbs exceeded in length to the posterior ones. This dinosaur, which lived in African regions and North America, could weigh more than 80 tons and be 10 meters tall, its great muscles being characteristic and the short length of its tail in proportion to the length of its neck. It is believed that Brachiosaurus was able to raise its neck to certain angles to feed on the highest leaves of trees.
Alamosaurus
Looking similar to the previous genus, the Alamosaurus dinosaurs inhabited New Mexico more than 60 million years ago. However, fossils described in North America approximately 100 years ago suggest that these reptiles were probably smaller sizes, weighing around 30 tons. Like many other dinosaur species, they featured a skull and a small head at the end of their large, strong necks.
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Argentinosaurus
Although the fossil record of Argentinosaurus does not provide enough information and today we do not have objective data on these dinosaurs originating in what is now South America, everything indicates that they could be reptiles longest and heaviest that have existed millions of years ago on our planet. It is estimated that they could exceed 80 tons in weight, 30 meters long and 15 meters high. This would give it a great advantage when it comes to feeding on the tallest trees and protecting itself against its large predators.
Other dinosaurs with long necks
In addition to the genera already described, there are other dinosaurs that were characterized by having long and strong necks. Among them we can find:
- Supersaurus.
- Amphicoelias.
- Barosaurus.
- Brontosaurus.
- Mamenchisaurus.
