In our 153rd episode, we got to chat with Cary Woodruff (@DoubleBeam), director of paleontology at Great Plains Dinosaur Museum in Malta, Montana, and also PhD candidate at the University of Toronto. Cary is an expert in sauropods, and is the author of a new paper about deciphering diplodocid growth: http://palaeo-electronica.org/content/2017/1918-deciphering-diplodocid-growth.

Episode 153 is also about Giraffatitan, a sauropod whose name means “giant giraffe.”

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In this episode, we discuss:

News:

The dinosaur of the day: Giraffatitan

Name means “giant giraffe”

Sauropod that lived in the Jurassic in what is now Tanzania, in Africa

Type species is Giraffatitan brancai

Originally thought to be Brachiosaurus brancai

First named and described in 1914 by Werner Janensch, but as Brachiosaurus brancai (based on specimens found in the Tendaguru Formation in 1909 and 1912, in Tanzania, which was then German East Africa)

Partial skeletons were found, including three skulls, limb bones, vertebrae, and teeth

Brachiosaurus was named and described in 1903 by Elmer Riggs. We cover it in episode 39

Brachiosaurus is one of the most well known dinosaurs, but its image is based mainly on Giraffatitan brancai, and not Brachiosaurus altithorax

However, Brachiosaurus and Giraffatitan are considered to be sister taxa

In 1988, Gregory S. Paul said that Brachiosaurus brancai had significant differences compared to Brachiosaurus altithorax (the one found in North America). He thought the proportions of its trunk vertebrae were different and that it had a more gracile build, so he created the subgenus Brachiosaurus brancai. In 1991 George Olshevsky said there were enough differences for it to be its own genus, which became Giraffatitan brancai

In 1998 a description of a North American Brachiosaurus skull was published. The skull was found almost 100 years earlier (and was the skull Marsh used in early reconstructions of Brontosaurus) and was identified as Brachiosaurus. The skull looks similar to Camarasaurus in some ways (with similar front teeth, and a longer, less hollowed out skull compared to the short-snouted, high crested Giraffatitan skull)

Not all scientists accepted Giraffatitan as a separate genus at first, but then Michael Taylor published a detailed comparison of the two in 2009. He showed differences between the two in every fossil bone that he could compare (differences in size, shape, and proportion)

Giraffatitan looked a little like a giraffe (had long forelimbs and a long neck)

For a long time, was the largest known dinosaur, but now other titanosaurs have been found that are bigger (Argentinosaurus, Patagotitan, etc.)

About 71.5-73.8 ft (21.8-22.5 m) long and 39 ft (12 m) tall, based on a subadult found

May have been longer (85 ft (26 m)), based on a fibula of another specimen found (fibula is 13% larger than the subadult’s)

Estimated to weigh 23-39 tons, though it could have been larger (estimates are based on the subadult)

Skull had a high crest

For a long time, scientists thought Giraffatitan’s nostrils were on the top of its head (early theories about sauropods were they used their nostrils like a snorkel and spent a lot of time underwater). Now scientists think Giraffatitan was a land animal

Had nostrils near its snout, not at the top of its head, even though the nasal openings were high above the eyes, according to Lawrence Witmer’s 2001 study

If the nostrils were near the snout, it’s possible Giraffatitan used the crest at the top of its head as a resonating chamber (possibly for communicating among its own species, attracting a mate, or displaying dominance)

Had spatulate teeth (looked like chisels)

There has been a hypothesis that Giraffatitan had a trunk, but Giraffatitan had wear and tear on its teeth that would have been from biting and tearing off plant matter (and not grinding, which would have been the case if it had a trunk and used it to rip off branches and leaves and then ground up its food)

Probably was a high browser, that could get to food at the tops of trees

Had claws on the first toe of its front feet and first three toe of its hind feet

Had a small brain, with a low encephalization quotient (which estimates possible intelligence) of 0.62 or 0.79

Some people used to think Giraffatitan had a second brain, because of a sacral enlargement above the hip (but was probably glycogen bodies, which stored energy)

Can see Giraffatitan brancai at the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin (one of the largest and tallest mounted skeletons in the world)

The Giraffatitan in Berlin is made of five individuals (it’s a composite) and has recently been updated based on what we know about it

Can also see Giraffatitan come to live on Google Cardboard or YouTube 360 in Giraffatitan: Back to Life in Virtual Reality. The skeleton comes to life and turns into a 3D dinosaur, and walks around

Fun Fact:

In the Two Medicine Formation, grey blue sediment indicates that it was an anaerobic environment which means their are likely good fossils. That’s because there aren’t bacteria or other organisms that need oxygen around to gobble up the dinosaur (or other organisms).

Sponsor:

This episode is brought to you in part by TRX Dinosaurs, which makes beautiful and realistic dinosaur sculptures, puppets, and exhibits. You can see some amazing examples and works in progress on Instagram @trxdinosaurs