Quick Seismosaurus Facts
- Weighed as much as 3 trucks
- Seismosaurus was found in New Mexico
- May just be a large Diplodocus
- Was the length of 2 bowling lanes put together
- Was almost 2 stories high
About Seismosaurus
Seismosaurus is a dinosaur that lived about 145-156 million years ago—during the Jurassic Period—in parts of Southern North America. It was initially discovered in the northern part of New Mexico by a group of hikers in 1979. The group of hikers who found it were Jan Cummings, Bill Norlander, Arthur Loy and Frank Walker. At the time, they reported it to the Bureau of Land Management but the State agency didn’t have the resources to remove the bones. However, Dave Gillette decided to remove the bones in 1985. He then named it Seismosaurus; a name which means “Earth shaking lizard.”
These dinosaurs were approximately 120 feet long, 18 feet tall and weighed around 30 tons. It had an extremely large neck that many paleontologist believe was impossible for this dinosaur to have lifted. Therefor, it’s believed that they keep their heads parallel to the ground.
These dinosaur also had a long tail which may have offset its neck and allowed it to hold up its head.
This dinosaur is believed to have been able to whip this long tail in much the same way as the Brontosaurus or Diplodocus did. Cracking the tail like a bullwhip. Computer models have since shown that the speeds of this tail flicking could have reached the supersonic level, producing a sound much like a cracking bullwhip. However, since the tail of these dinosaurs weighed in excess of 3500 pounds, the sound of this motion would be more like cannon fire and less like a whip crack.
There is some controversy surrounding Seismosaurus. An interesting fact is that some paleontologist believe that it is not a separate species of its own. It is believed that the fossils found of this dinosaur was actually a large example of a Diplodocus.
