World of Dinosaurs/Brachiosaurus

Basics
Brachiosaurus means "Arm Lizard".

Brachiosaurus lived during the Jurassic Period.

Anatomy
Brachiosaurus is a large plant-eating dinosaur.

Brachiosaurus had its nostrils on the top of its head.

Unusually, Brachiosaurus had longer front legs than back legs, causing its body to incline.

It had spoon shaped teeth.

Phylogeny
Brachiosaurus is a sauropod.

All sauropods are dinosaurs.

All dinosaurs are amniotes and all dinosaurs are tetrapods.

Biomechanics
Unlike most other sauropods, Brachiosaurus had much longer front legs than back legs. This caused its body to incline upwards.

Fossil Record
Brachiosaurus can be found in Utah.

Ecology
Ferns, shrubs, and trees would have been common, but flowering plants, fruit trees, or grass were NOT around yet!

Brachiosaurus co-existed with Allosaurus as well as other sauropods.

Biogeography
Rocks from the Jurassic period indicate hotter, wetter conditions than we experience on Earth today.

Rocks do not show signs of ice caps near the poles, of traveling ice-bergs, or other signs of "ice house" conditions.

Brachiosaurus lived in a semi-arid, seasonal floodplain. The super-continent Pangea was splitting up throughout the Jurassic Period, adding volcanic activity, particularly along the west coast, and warm, seasonally-variable habitats.