Table of Contents
- 1 What caused the sauropod dinosaurs to get so big?
- 2 Did sauropods increase in size over time?
- 3 What were sauropods predators?
- 4 How did different species of sauropods differ from each other?
- 5 What animals are related to sauropods?
- 6 How did different species of sauropods differ from each other answer?
- 7 How did Brachiosaurus support its weight?
- 8 What are the characteristics of a sauropods?
- 9 What happened to the sauropods in the Cretaceous?
What caused the sauropod dinosaurs to get so big?
The analysis of the model revealed that the most likely reason for the evolution of very large size would be the improved quality and availability of food plants in the Mesozoic era and morphological traits allowing fast juvenile growth. There are also additional benefits of predator avoidance.
Did sauropods increase in size over time?
The bones of sauropods indicate that they experienced a sharp slowdown in growth with maturity. But it is possible that the larger examples were still putting on some weight when they died, in the same way that bull elephants often continue to grow throughout life.
What were sauropods predators?
Saurischian dinosaurs come in two flavors. There’s the sauropodomorphs – long-necked, hefty dinosaurs such as Brachiosaurus and their archaic predecessors – and the theropods, a group best known because of predators like Allosaurus but which also includes birds.
What caused sauropods to be small?
Sauropods didn’t grow so large because of reduced gravity, greater oxygen content in the prehistoric atmosphere, or because of an overabundance of food, the paleontologists concluded.
How did sauropods defend themselves?
Only very large predators (tyrannosauria-like predators) would have any chance of hurting such large animals. And the sauropods would defend themselves by swinging their massive tails, if the predator was dumb enough to attack them.
How did different species of sauropods differ from each other?
How did different species of sauropods differ from each other? They differed in size from species to species.
Sauropods and theropods were saurischian dinosaurs. The sauropods evolved into several major subgroups: Cetiosauridae, Brachiosauridae (including Brachiosaurus), Camarasauridae (including Camarasaurus), Diplodocidae (including Diplodocus and Apatosaurus), and Titanosauridae.
How did different species of sauropods differ from each other answer?
Is an Allosaurus bigger than a T Rex?
T. Rex adults were a significantly larger compared with allosaurus adults. An allosaurus adult was between 8.5 and 12m in length (28-39 ft), while the average T. Rex adult was about 12-15m long (40-50 ft).
Did T Rex eat sauropods?
Tyrannosaurus almost certainly preyed on titanic sauropods. Even though sauropods were the dominant herbivores in North America during the Late Jurassic, and though various forms persisted through the Early Cretaceous, the entire group vanished from the continent about 100 million years ago.
How did Brachiosaurus support its weight?
The huge size of brachiosaurs led some researchers to suggest that they spent most of their time submerged in water, which would have served to buoy up their great weight. The location of the nasal openings—on top of the head and above the eyes—lent additional support to this idea.
What are the characteristics of a sauropods?
Many near-complete specimens lack heads, tail tips and limbs. Sauropods were herbivorous (plant-eating), usually quite long-necked quadrupeds (four-legged), often with spatulate (spatula-shaped: broad at the tip, narrow at the neck) teeth. They had tiny heads, massive bodies, and most had long tails.
What happened to the sauropods in the Cretaceous?
By the Late Cretaceous, one group of sauropods, the titanosaurs, had replaced all others and had a near-global distribution. However, as with all other non-avian dinosaurs alive at the time, the titanosaurs died out in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.
When did Sauropods first appear?
Sauropods first appeared in the late Triassic Period, where they somewhat resembled the closely related (and possibly ancestral) group “Prosauropoda”. By the Late Jurassic (150 million years ago), sauropods had become widespread (especially the diplodocids and brachiosaurids).
What is the scientific name for sauropod?
Sauropoda. Sauropoda ( /sɔːˈrɒpədə/ or /ˌsɔːrəˈpoʊdə/ ), or the sauropods ( /ˈsɔːrəpɒdz/; sauro- + -pod, “lizard-footed”), are a clade of saurischian (“lizard-hipped”) dinosaurs. They had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their body), and four thick, pillar-like legs.