Apatosaurus

Apatosaurus is one of the most famous of the giant Jurassic plant-eaters. It was a huge, long-necked dinosaur, longer than two school buses and weighing as much as 7 elephants! If you look at older dinosaur books, you might not find Apatosaurus, but you will see Brontosaurus. This was the name that was used for this dinosaur when the wrong head was mistakenly put on its body! For years an Apatosaurus body stood with the head of Camarasaurus on the end of its neck. This was named Brontosaurus and was one of the most popular dinosaurs for many years.

Apatosaurus is a fairly typical member of the diplodocid family - long neck, pillar like legs, long tapering tail and enormous size. It had, like the other family members, peg-like teeth in a head that seemed very small for such a large creature. Compared to Diplodocus, Apatosaurus has a shorter, thicker neck and a larger, heavier body. There is much speculation about how much these creatures needed to eat and how such a small head could ingest enough food to fuel such a large body. Some scientists have stated that these huge, small-headed creatures would have needed to eat every waking moment in order to provide enough food to keep such a large body alive. Apatosaurus seemed to have every adaptation needed for continuous eating, including having nostrils on the top of its head, so breathing would not interfere with eating.

In order to facilitate the processing of food, which it could not chew with its teeth. Apatosaurus probably swallowed stones that it kept in a gizzard similar to that found in a chicken. The tough plant fibers would spend time in the gizzard stewing and being ground up by the stones.

Download the Jurassic Park Institute Apatosaurus fact card

More real-life information: Apatosaurus at Wikipedia.

Jurassic Park Franchise
Apatosaurus is often seen in both novels, but in the movies the only evidence for their existance are the bones seen in the the Raptor Nest and near the Worker Village in The Lost World: Jurassic Park, however a live individual is yet to be seen in the Films.

Jurassic Park novel
After Dr. Alan Grant and his companions arrive at Isla Nublar they are brought to the Apatosaurus terrain. These dinosaurs are the first dinosaurs the group encounters.The herd of Apatosaurs consists of 17 members.

The Lost World novel
By the time of the events of The Lost World the Apatosaurs also have regained the ability to reproduce. A herd of Apatosaurs roams in the river valley at the center of Isla Sorna.

The Apatosaurus herd lives in symbiosis with a herd of Parasaurolophus, which stays close to the Apatosaurus herd for protection. The Parasaurolophus have larger brains, and therefore a much better sight than the Apatosaurs. They can spot predators much easier.

This kind of symbiosis between large and smaller herbivores did indeed existed in the dinosaur age. If this behaviour was genetically determined it is understandable that this behavior evolved so rapidly on the island. However, Apatosaurs and Parasaurolophus originate from different era.

Jurassic Park film
According to the description of scene 49 in the film script, Apatosaurus is one of the species of which Dennis Nedry steals the embryos.

In The Lost World: Jurassic Park, there are the bones, primarily vertebrae, of Apatosaurs seen in the Velociraptor nest, and Ian, Kelly, and Sarah pass a carcass of an Apatosaurus on their way into the Worker Village. Despite these remains, there is yet for a live animal to be seen in the films.

Jurassic Park inspired games

 * Apatosaurus was planned to appear in the game Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis, but was scrapped. Its name still appears in the in-game files, can be done with a modified Camarasaurus.
 * Apatosaurus is nr. 052 of the Herbivore Threes that can be created in Jurassic Park III: Park Builder.
 * Apatosaurus is one of the available dinosaurs in the IOS application, Jurassic Park: Builder. It is listed under the synonym Brontosaurus.

Brontosaurus
Brontosaurus is an old but still popular synonym of Apatosaurus. In 1877, Othniel Charles Marsh published the name of the type species Apatosaurus ajax. In 1879 he descripted of another, more complete skeleton. He thought it represented a new genus and species, so he named it Brontosaurus excelsus. However, in 1903 Elmer Riggs re-examined the fossils. While he agreed with Marsh that Brontosaurus excelsus was likely a distinct species, he also noted many similarities between B. excelsus and A. ajax, and decided that both should be placed in the same genus. Because the name Apatosaurus was older, that name was chosen. However, until this day the name Brontosaurus is more popular under the public.

Brontosaurus in Jurassic Park
The name Brontosaurus is mentioned in the Jurassic Park movie. In the Treetop scene Tim calls:


 * "Hey! Those are brontosauruses - - I mean, those are brachiosauruses.".

In the Jurassic Park Film Script the name was mentioned more frequently.

In Scene 15 the large Brachiosaurus that the group encounters is described as follows:


 * Technically, it's a brachiosaur, of the sauropod family, but we've always called it brontosaurus.

David Koepp, the script writer, had mixed Apatosaurus and Brachiosaurus. Brachiosaurus was never known as Brontosaurus. He also distinguished it by saying it was a sauropod, even though both animals were sauropods.

Later, in the Treetop scene, Tim accidentally calls the sauropods Brontosauruses. But he quickly corrects himself. Alan Grant responds:


 * GRANT: It's okay to call them brontosaurs, Tim. It's a great name. It's a romantic name. It means "thunder lizard".


 * TIM (digging that) "Thunder lizard!"