アパトサウルス　Apatosaurus 　オーストラリア恐竜大陸

和名：アパトサウルス
英文読み方：

分類所属：
Saurischia / Sauropodomorpha / Sauropoda / Neosauropoda / Family: Diplodocidae
First Described 1877 / Found: North America / Length 22-23m / Weight 25-30 t / Food: Plants / Young: eggs / Lived: Late Jurassic 161-145 mya

恐竜説明：
There are several different types of Apatosaurus known from Wyoming, Colorado, Oklahoma and Utah in the United States. When this giant sauropod was first identified and described, mistakes were made and the name Brontosaurus (Thunder Reptile) was used for identical skeletal remains. For many years brontosaurus was the more commonly used name.

Apatosaurus and Diplodocus both belong to the same family of sauropod dinosaurs, the Diplodocus was the longer of the two dinosaurs but Apatosaurus was much heavier. No skull of Apatosaurus has ever been found but it was probably similar to that of Diplodocus. Apatosaurus had a small brain. It relied heavily on its size for defense but there were two low ridges along its backbone which suggest that bundles of strong tendons {fibers which connect muscle to bone} or ligaments {fibers which connect bone to bone} held the neck high and enabled the animal to use its long tail like a mighty whip. The neck was about 6 m long and the tail was just over 9 m. Apatosaurus and Diplodocus swum in shallow water, using their front legs to push themselves forward.

大きさ比較：

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