Dear Mrs. Vollenweider’s Pre-school Class,

Brachiosaurus was very large, but Haley Center is much larger. Haley Center is about 100 feet tall or 10 stories. At the shoulder, Brachiosaurus might have been 25 feet tall. So, I am not sure how this dinosaur could step on Haley Center unless it was already standing on something.

Brachiosaurus is one of the tallest and largest dinosaurs ever found. The name Brachiosaurus means “arm lizard.” The Brachiosaurus is known for its long neck, small head and relatively short, thick tail. Its front legs were longer than its back legs, which is unusual because most dinosaurs either had legs the same length or their back legs were longer. Its long neck and front legs made the Brachiosaurus look similar to a giraffe. Brachiosaurus also had small narrow feet for its size and walked on all four legs.





Brachiosaurus had nostrils or a nose located on the top of its head. Some scientists think because the nostrils were very large that Brachiosaurus had a really good sense of smell. Like many other dinosaurs, the Brachiosaurus was a herbivore, which means it liked to eat plants. It probably ate the tops of tall trees with its large teeth. It swallowed its food whole, without chewing it.

The first Brachiosaurus skeleton was found in Colorado in the western United States in 1900. Brachiosaurus probably did not live in Alabama, but we have no way of knowing. Brachiosaurus is a Jurassic dinosaur and no Jurassic dinosaurs have ever been found in Alabama. However, Cretaceous dinosaurs lived in our state, including a small meat-eating, tyrannosaur-like dinosaur, a bird-like dinosaur (ornithomimid), a duck-billed dinosaur (hadrosaur), and a tank-like nodosaur.

Thanks for your question,
Aubie and Dr. King