Mamenchisaurus jingyanensis
Click to enlarge image
Illustration of Mamenchisaurus by James Reece.
Image: James Reece
© Australian Museum
© Australian Museum
Fast Facts
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Classification
- Family
- Euhelopodidae
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- Size Range
- gigantic
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- Feeding Habits
- herbivore
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View Fossil Record
- Fossil Record
- Jurassic Period
(205 million years ago - 141 million years ago) - Cretaceous Period
(141 million years ago - 65 million years ago)
Introduction
Mamenchisaurus jingyanensis was a gigantic herbivore that lived around 150 million years ago and had one of the longest necks of all known dinosaurs.
Identification
Mamenchisaurus jingyanensis had:
- a nine-metre-long neck to help it reach leaves high up in trees;
- hollows in its neck bones to reduce the weight of its neck;
- a large and powerful heart to pump blood to the head;
- strong and thick blood vessels to cope with its high blood pressure;
- thick pads of fibrous tissues on its heels to help cushion its great weight;
- a 'second brain' in the spinal cord in the hip area to help control its hind legs and tail.
Feeding and diet
Mamenchisaurus jingyanensis was a gigantic herbivore.
Fossils description
Mamenchisaurus is named after Mamen Brook, in Sichuan where it was first found.
Evolutionary relationships
Mamenchisaurus jingyanensis was a sauropod belonging to the Chinese family Euhelopodidae, a group of massive dinosaurs that lived from the Late Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous.
