Page 24 - Dinosaur (DK Eyewitness Books)

Little and large

SȢȺ qȥȪȯȰȴȢȶȳr Ȣȯȥ ȮȰȴȵ ȱȦȰȱȭȦ picture a beast as tall as a house. In
fact, most dinosaurs were no bigger than an elephant and weighed less.
But some sauropods were the longest and most massive animals ever to
walk on land. Built a bit like a giant giraffe, Brachiosaurus stood as high
as a four-story building. Diplodocus measured up to 110 ft (33.5 m)—as
long as a row of three buses. Both dinosaurs lived in North America.
South America’s Argentinosaurus was as long as Diplodocus, but bulkier—
almost as heavy as 10 bull elephants. Perhaps the largest of all dinosaurs
was North America’s Amphicoelias. Sadly, scientists found only part of one
of its vertebrae (backbones), then lost it. Any of these giants could have
stepped on the tiniest theropods and not even noticed. The theropod
THE HIGH LIFE
A mounted Barosaurus skeleton in the Compsognathus was little bigger than a chicken. Birdlike
American Museum of Natural History Microraptor was smaller still. Scientists
gives visitors a notion of the creature’s
awesome size. If sauropods ever reared, now know of tinier feathery
a Barosaurus could have towered as theropods that are
high as this mother shown trying
to protect her young one from a even closer to the
prowling Allosaurus. Her head is origin of birds.
50 ft (15.2 m) above the ground.

EXTREME SIZES
The head-to-tail lengths
of these dinosaurs are
compared to the height
of a human being. Dinosaur
giants included the sauropod
Argentinosaurus. The massive
theropod Carcharodontosaurus
dwarfed Mei long, its tiny theropod
relation. Iguanodon was one of the
larger ornithopods and Triceratops
held the record in terms of size for
horned dinosaurs.

Sharklike
Powerful
teeth in a
hind limb
massive jaw

Human Mei long Carcharodontosaurus Argentinosaurus
6 ft (1.8 m) 27 in (68.5 cm) 44 ft (13.5 m) 100–110 ft (30.5–33.5 m)

22