The Diplodocus : Five Interesting Facts About This Dinosaur

The Diplodocus (pronounced di-PLOD-o-kus) was a herbivore that lived in the late Jurassic period. The first fossil was found in 1877 and the dinosaur got it's name in 1878. A lot of the dinosaurs fossils have been found near the Rocky Mountains in the United States.

Origin of the Diplodocus name

It's name basically means "double-beamed" as an obvious reference to it's long neck and long tail, but it was really because of a special feature built into its back that helped to support it's long neck and tail. It is probably one of the most widely drawn dinosaurs and just about everyone is familiar with it's shape. Earl Douglas and Samuel Wilkiison found the first fossils in 1877 and Othneil C. Marsh came up with it's name in 1878.

The Diet of a Diplodocus

Since this dinosaur lived in the late Jurassic period, it's diet probably consisted of the wide spread conifers. As a secondary source of food it's diet probably included gingkos, seed ferns and various other plants such as club mosses and cycads. By examining it's teeth we can determine that it had square blunt teeth only on the front jaw which was good for stripping foliage from trees.

The Size and Body Type of a Diplodocus

The dinosaur was about 90 feet long and about 16 feet tall at the hips and probably weighed in the neighborhood of 10 to 20 tons. It's neck was about 26 feet long and it's tail was about 40 people but its head was probably only around 2 feet in width. This will allowed it to snake in between branches of the tall trees to gather food. Archeologists have recently speculated that this dinosaur could not hold its bed above 17 feet over the ground. So, when Diplodocus sought food it almost had to come from the top of the tree down or rather since it's head was so small it basically fed from the side of a tall tree, but could not reach up into the tip of it. The Diploducus' front legs were shorter than the back and resembled that of an elephant with basically the same foot. It did have a claw on the foot that probably was used for digging and protection.

Life Cycle and Nesting Habits

It developed into maturity at about one decade old and continued to grow steadily from there. There is evidence that the female of the species laid eggs like some of the other dinosaurs that it was closely related to at this time. These "nests" would have been massive and the eggs would've been covered by vegetation to disguise them from predators. So archeologists estimate it's life span to be about 100 years.

The Diplodocus Enemies & it's Extinction

Like many of the large sauropods in this time frame the Diplodocus died out at the end of the Jurassic period. The Diplodocus might have been prey to Tyrannosaurus Rex or it's relative the Allosaurus, but it's sheer size probably kept it safe from most predators of this time period which would mean that most of the Diplodocus died from old age, diseases or other natural causes than they did from predators.