Ah, the Brontosaurus - the gentle (assumed of course), long-necked giant we all grew up knowing… only to be told later it never really existed. Though actually, it did all along?! Confusing!
For over a century, scientists thought Brontosaurus was just a mistaken identity. In 1879, palaeontologist Othniel Charles Marsh described this massive sauropod and named it Brontosaurus, but later research decided it was actually the same animal as Apatosaurus, which had been named first, so following the 'rules of naming things' “Brontosaurus” was dropped in favour of “Apatosaurus.”
That didn't stop media using the original name for it though, and due to the dino's unique size and shape, it quickly became the one most people thought of when asked to name a long necked dinosaur. It's even up for debate if the character 'Littlefoot' from the land before time film was Brontosaurus or Apatosaurus.
But in 2015, a huge new study compared dozens of fossils in crazy detail… and the result? Brontosaurus is different enough to be its own dinosaur after all!
The likely hood is that most people didn't even know this was even in question, but it's an interesting tale about this long necked loveable giant!
Brontosaurus roamed the Late Jurassic, about 150 million years ago, in what’s now North America. It could grow over 20 metres long, weighing as much as 15 tonnes, yet it was a plant-eater, using its long neck to reach it's green and crunchy food both high and low.
Fun fact: “Brontosaurus” means “thunder lizard,” a nod to the earth-shaking sound its footsteps might have made. To go back to the film reference, and to add to the species debate, the character Littlefoot was originally planned to be called Thunder foot, but the name was already taken.
