Brontosaurus

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Brontosaurus is a dinosaur that first appeared in Evolution of the World, It was brought to life using the stop-motion animation talents of special effects artist Ray Harryhausen.

Overview[]

Brontosaurus ('thunder lizard') is a famous genus of sauropod dinosaurs from the Late Jurassic Period, and distinct relative from Apatosaurus in the family Apatosaurinae.

This sauropod is massive, growing up to 80-90 feet long and standing over 20-30 feet tall. Its design is, once again, based on a Charles Knight painting with a Brontosaurus walking towards a lake to drink, or to swim with members of it's kind, which is impossible due to the animals 30 ton weight. It's even considered a favorite amongst fans and enthusiasts as well as the Sinclair Oil Company.

Evolution of the World[]

The Animal World[]

The Brontosaurus was first seen in the start of the prehistoric sequence, crushing a Neanderthal with its jaws.

The female Brontosaurus went for eating plants on trees, as the narrator stated that the Brontosaurus was engineered by nature in a freakish manner, so that she can hardly support her weight in land, because of the lack of support of her weight on land, she had to float on water, and only go to land to look for food or lay eggs. The mortal enemy stated was the Allosaurus, however, as the Allosaurus roared at it, the Brontosaurus just ignored the predator and walked away, it was then seen floating on the water.

A baby Brontosaurus hatched from its egg being incubated by the sun.

When a volcano erupts, the Brontosaurus was among the dinosaurs escaping, but it was killed by the fire.

One Million Years B.C.[]

A Brontosaurus was spotted by Tumak, whom ran away from it before he encountered a Giant Spider.

Appearances[]

Evolution of the World (1940, unrealised project)
The Animal World (1956)
One Million Years B.C. (1966)

Trivia[]

At the time where Harryhausen made Brontosaurus, this sauropod’s old depictions was shown to be too large to support its massive weight on land, mainly floating into the waters, therefore depicting it as a semi-amphibious dinosaur, this is likely because sauropods are buoyant, and it’s said old design often portrayed it as a violent herbivore, mainly attacking with its jaw, however, scientists now know that Brontosaurus was mainly a terrestrial sauropod, and it wasn’t that much violent then it was supposed to be.
- Because Brontosaurus was depicted in its Charles R. Knight reconstruction, its parts in that old depiction were similar to Apatosaurus and Camarasaurus, in that time, it was either sometimes distinct or a synonymous with Apatosaurus, it was later decided that, as a whole, Brontosaurus was just another species of Apatosaurus, and the genus fell out of usage in the 20th century, however in the earliest 21st century, an extensive study of diplodocid relationships by Emanuel Tschopp, Octavio Mateus, and Roger Benson concluded that Brontosaurus wasn’t a so-called "Camarasaurus-Apatosaurus amalgamation", but instead, it was indeed a valid genus of sauropod distinct from Apatosaurus. The scientists developed a statistical method to more objectively assess differences between fossil genera and species and concluded that Brontosaurus could be "resurrected" as a valid name. They assigned two former Apatosaurus species, A. parvus, and A. yahnahpin, to Brontosaurus, as well as the type species B. excelsus, with that as of now, Apatosaurus and Brontosaurus are distinct diplodocids from the diplodocid family, Apatosaurinae.
- However, some paleontologists and dino experts, despite all the information we have today, still believe Brontosaurus is a synonym of Apatosaurus, though that doesn’t change the fact that Brontosaurus is currently valid.