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 7-13 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.

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 described 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. Its name is also unwisely used in Jurassic Park media much to the dismay of many of the players.

Jurassic Park Franchise
Apatosaurus is the only Sauropod seen in (both) the novels. In most of the films it's role was replaced by the larger and taller Brachiosaurus. It will probably appear in the upcoming sequel Jurassic World due to leaked info.

The Apatosaurus does appear in video games and comics.

Jurassic Park
The Apatosaurus is the first dinosaur the endorsement team encounters in the first novel. After the visitors arrive at Isla Nublar they can see a herd of Apatosaurus down in the lagoon.

The herd of Apatosaurus consists of 17 members. The herd lives in the lagoon, nicknamed Sauropod Swamp,  side by side with Hadrosaurus and Maiasaura.

When Gerry Harding, Ellie Sattler and Gennaro are driving through the lagoon to the settlement, a herd of Apatosaurus is standing on the road. Dr. Harding explains that smaller animals can be scared away with a recorded T. rex roar, but not Apatosaurus. He also says that Apatosaurus has a motion-based amphibian vision.

Only 12 apatosaurs are left at the end of the novel. The remaining are all killed in the napalm bombing along with the rest of the dinosaurs.



The Lost World
By the time of the events of The Lost World the Apatosaurus also have regained the ability to reproduce. A herd of Apatosaurus 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 Apatosaurus. They can spot predators much easier. According to Dr. Richard Levine, they use their large tails for defense, as shown when Sarah and Kelly are trying to catch the raptor that took the key to Arby's cage, and have long necks to balance out the long tails, leaning their head foreword, and therefore, do not need a large heart to pump blood to the head.

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

Although, this behavior could be learned that if the Apatosaurus knew that if the Parasaurolophus made a certain call and carnivores come up, they would be able to place the two together.

Film canon
The name Brontosaurus is mentioned in the movie. 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.

In the A Tree For My Bed scene Tim calls:

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

In the script 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!"

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

The Lost World: Jurassic Park
In, the Gatherers arrive in a dinosaur graveyard after they have fallen from the cliff. This area, near the Worker Village, is dotted with dinosaur skeletons.

The script describes the place:

Everywhere, the sand is dotted with dinosaur skeletons. Some are huge, apatosaurs, sixty feet from head to tail tip. Others are smaller, herbivores of many different kinds.

Ian, Kelly, and Sarah passed a giant ribcage, which could be the remains of a sauropod. These could have been the Apatosaurus remains the script mentioned. However, the script also mentioned Apatosaurs during the hunt, while only Mamenchisaurus is seen on screen. So, it's unclear if Apatosaurus exists in the film canon.

Jurassic World
The Jurassic World Map shows that Apatosaurus lives on Isla Nublar during the events of. About the attraction Jungle Trek, the map says:

"A safari ride through Gallimimus Valley. Run with herds and see apatosaurus eat from the top of the trees. A wonderfull photo op!"

Games
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.

Trivia

 * An x-ray of a skull that resembles an Apatosaurus skull is seen on a poster in the Isla Nublar Field Lab in Jurassic Park: The Game.