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"It didn't eat 'em. It's killing for sport."
Owen Grady after finding several Apatosaurus killed by the Indominus rex(src)

Apatosaurus is one of the most famous of the giant Jurassic plant-eaters. It was a sauropod, a member of a race of huge, long-necked dinosaurs. It was longer than two school buses and weighed as much as 4 adult male African elephants. 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. In 2015, the Brontosaurus genus was revived and several species of Apatosaurus were resigned to the Brontosaurus genus. [2]

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. Despite looking defenseless other than its huge size, the tail was like a giant bullwhip could probably make a loud cracking sound about 200 decibels, enough to scare or even deafen theropods such as Allosaurus.

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 grinded up by the stones.[3]

The Apatosaurus reaches its full size in 10 years.[4]


Wikipedia
Wikipedia has a more detailed and comprehensive article on Apatosaurus



Characteristics[]

Larger than their original fore bearers, the Apatosaurus clones were approximately 6 meters (20 feet) tall, measured 27.4 meters (90 feet) long, and weighed between 30 and 80 tons.[5] They have gray skin with dark blue striping and dark tan on its underbelly and portions of its face. Much like the cloned Brachiosaurus, it chewed its food unlike the original Apatosaurus, which only swallow their leaves and then swallow stones to grin in their guts to help the digestion.[6]

Behavioral[]

Apatosaurus, a type of sauropod dinosaur, have been observed to be relatively docile and gentle creatures. In certain instances, they have been shown to be vulnerable to attacks from the Indominus rex, a hybrid dinosaur. It is likely that they were easily killed by the hybrid due to their lack of defensive capabilities or experience in defending themselves. Apatosaurus may have lived peacefully for themselves, without much conflict or need to develop strong defense mechanisms.

Apatosaurus, like many other sauropods, exhibit herd behavior and often live in groups with a few other individuals. They primarily feed on vegetation, including leaves and foliage from trees, similar to other sauropods.

Like the real Apatosaurus, Apatosaurus can use a tail whip as a defensive mechanism against predators, as seen when it was fighting Rexy from a Dinotracker Sighting in Lake of the Woods, Oregon, United States, However, it is important to note that the tail whip of Apatosaurus is not as powerful as it could potentially be and it may slightly injure a predator. In reality, a full-force tail whip from Apatosaurus has the potential to cause much greater harm to predators.

History[]

Creation[]

Jurassic World 01

Apatosaurus near the riverbank with Stegosarus in the Cretaceous Cruise.

According to information from the Dinosaur Protection Group, Apatosaurus was originally planned to be an attraction for Jurassic Park on Isla Nublar, over 57% of its genome was completed by 1993.[7] Sadly, this was put on hold after the disastrous Isla Nublar incident. Apatosaurus was eventually recreated by InGen for the Masrani Global Corporation's Jurassic World, their new dinosaur zoo.[6] Their herds lives in the Gallimimus Valley, the Gyrosphere, and the Cretaceous Cruise, alongside Stegosaurus, Microceratus, and other prehistoric species. Some of the juveniles also lived in the Gentle Giants Petting Zoo.[6]

Jurassic World[]

Several Apatosaurus are seen in the Cretaceous Cruise. Others are shows in Gyrosphere Valley alongside other herbivorous dinosaurs when Gray and Zach are visting it. Later, an Indominus rex attacked six Apatosaurus during its rampage, killing five and fatally injuring one. Owen Grady and Claire Dearing found these sauropods and comforted the injured dinosaur, settling it down when it attempted to rise up, upon which it died peacefully. The death of such a harmless and docile creature caused Claire much sorrow, which was mixed with horror when they discovered the five dead ones. The discovery of these Apatosaurus made Owen realize that the Indominus was hunting for sport.[6]

Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous: Hidden Adventure[]

IMG 4956

Apatosaurus appears in the new Camp Cretaceous interactive episode, Hidden Adventure. They are first seen traveling alongside a herd of Brachiosaurus as a group of six survivors stumble upon them and three gyrospheres. However, the herd is suddenly attacked by a Tarbosaurus and run into a stampede, endangering the life of the survivors. One of the gyrosphere which two of them get in ran out of batteries and as two Brachiosaurus are going to crush them, another eventually led to strike a leg of a Brachiosaurus which caused them to fall and save the girls. The survivors eventually managed to outrun the stampede and get to safety.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom[]

Apato roaring

Apatosaurus roaring in the cage room in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

It is revealed that there are surviving Apatosaurus populations on Isla Nublar, as they will now face an impending danger, alongside many other creatures, in the form of an erupting volcano.

They were seen running alongside many other species away from Mount Sibo. At least five Apatosaurus were captured to be sold off and were last seen escaping the Lockwood Manor alongside many other dinosaurs.

By 2018 it was known that Apatosaurus was subject to cruelty at some point in the past, according to the DPG.[8]

Jurassic World: Dominion[]

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Apatosaurus at a snow-covered lumber yard in Jurassic World: Dominion

By 2022, the Department of Prehistoric Wildlife had records of Apatosaurus sightings in Nogerwalk, Austria, Toronto, Canada and Dehradun, India, with one of the herd members clashed against Rexy, in Lake of the Woods, Oregon, United States.[9] Later that year, an Apatosaurus wandered into snow-covered lumber yard, witnessed by Maisie Lockwood and some workers. Maisie helped the workers guide the Apatosaurus and its sleeping mate away from the area to safety. At the very end of the movie, two individuals were seen eating the leaves out of the redwood trees.

Gallery[]

Promotional Images[]

Jurasic World[]

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom[]

Jurassic World: Dominion[]

Vocalizations[]

Behind the scenes[]

Apatosaurus skeleton

The "Apatosaurus" skull from the Jurassic World website.

Apatosaurus was originally planned to be in the first Jurassic Park, most notably in the scenes now involving the Brachiosaurus, as well as in the cut river raft scene in which a carcass of the sauropod was going to be feasted upon by Rexy before it would give chase to Alan Grant and the Murphy kids, but this was changed due to budgetary reasons and the idea to replace the sauropod from the idea by Phil Tippett.[10]

In the script for Jurassic Park, Apatosaurus is listed as one of the embryos that Dennis Nedry steals in scene 49.

Mamenchisaurus were absent from the Game Trail in the script for The Lost World: Jurassic Park, with Apatosaurus taking its place. It does appear in the The Lost World: Jurassic Park Official Annual.

Apatosaurus is confirmed to be on Isla Sorna due to The Lost World Official Souvenir Magazine identifying the several skeletons spotted just outside of the Worker Village as belonging to an “Apatosaur”.

“Everywhere, the land is dotted with dinosaur skeletons. Some are huge apatosaurs, while others are smaller herbivores of many different species.” (The Lost World Souvenir Magazine, 42).

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Apatosaurus appears in the Jurassic Park III Movie Storybook as the first dinosaur seen from the plane.

Apatosaurus was originally going to be one of the dinosaurs that can be created in the video game Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis, but it was cut from the final product.

JURASSIC_WORLD_Building_the_Apatosaurus_-_Legacy_Effects

JURASSIC WORLD Building the Apatosaurus - Legacy Effects

Construction of the Apatosaurus animatronic used in Jurassic World.

The Apatosaurus skull that was seen on JurassicWorld.com does not belong to the dinosaur at all, rather it belongs to a brachiosaurid sauropod like Brachiosaurus.[1] This has since been replaced by a diplodocid femur. Furthermore, its icon on the Jurassic World website and the Holoscape is of Brachiosaurus as well.

In the storyboard for Jurassic World, Apatosaurus' relative Diplodocus was originally supposed to appear before Apatosaurus was chosen.[11]

There is concept art for Jurassic World that depicts an early design of the Indominus rex attacking a green skinned Apatosaurus,[12] suggesting that there was to be a scene that showed the Indominus' attack on the sauropod herd rather than this action taking place off-screen.

Jwapatosaurus

Concept art.

The boy that hugs the small Apatosaurus in Jurassic World is played by Bryce Dallas Howard's own son.[13]

The vocalizations of Apatosaurus in Jurassic World are reused from Brachiosaurus, while the one in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom had original sound effects, likely due to the Brachiosaur's return.

The base form Apatosaurus in Jurassic World: The Game looks the exact same as the one in Jurassic World.

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 JurassicWorld.com: Apatosaurus
  2. https://peerj.com/articles/857/
  3. Dinopedia on the JPI site
  4. JurassicWorld.com "Did You Know", 10 year.png see picture.
  5. ILM Fallen Kingdom Size Chart
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Jurassic World
  7. As seen in a InGen report of the inactive dinosaurs/DNA samples, leaked by DPG in 2018.
  8. 329F9EC3-8927-401F-AB2A-1CC8A9F698B4
  9. https://www.dinotracker.com/
  10. "See a Storyboarded T-Rex Scene Cut From the First Jurassic Park". April 2, 2017. Nerdist. Archived from the original on August 3, 2017.
  11. davelowerystoryboards - Jurassic World (July 31, 2015) Retrieved from http://dlstoryboards.blogspot.com/2015/07/jurassic-world_31.html
  12. ilm.com - Concept Art: Key Frames + Enviorments Gallery (March 14, 2016) Retrieved from http://www.ilm.com/concept_art/key-frames-environments/
  13. toofab.com - Bryce Dallas Howard Opens Up About Son's 'Jurassic World' Cameo, Chris Pratt and All the Talk About Her Heels (June 12, 2015) Retrieved from http://www.toofab.com/2015/06/11/bryce-dallas-howard-jurassic-world-chris-pratt-heels/#sthash.iuJdjj0I.dpuf

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