Episode 125 is all about Omeisaurus, a sauropod that lived in the Jurassic in what is now China.

Calling all dinosaur enthusiasts: Join our growing community on Patreon!

https://www.patreon.com/iknowdino

Thank you to all our current Patreon supporters!

You can listen to our free podcast, with all our episodes, on iTunes at:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/i-know-dino/id960976813?mt=2

In this episode, we discuss:

News:

The dinosaur of the day: Omeisaurus

Name means “Omei lizard”

Sauropod that lived in the Jurassic in what is now China

The name Omei comes from Mount Emei (Omeisaurus was found there, in the Shaximiao Formation of Sichuan Province)

Described in 1939 by Yang Zhongjian, also known as C.C. Young

More fossils were found in the 1970s and 1980s, which was the “Chinese dinosaur rush”

There are six species of Omeisaurus: Omeisaurus junghsiensis, Omeisaurus changshouensis, Omeisaurus fuxiensis, Omeisaurus tianfuensis, Omeisaurus luoquanensis, Omeisaurus maoianus

Five of those species (all but Omeisaurus maoianus) were named after the locations where they were found

Type species is Omeisaurus junghsiensis

Lots of fossils found, so may have been the most common sauropod in the Late Jurassic in China

About 66 ft (20.2 m) long and weighed 9.8 tons

The smallest species was Omeisaurus fuxiensis, at around 35 ft (11 m) long

Had a rounded body, which gave it a small surface area compared to its volume (which would help it stay warm, by reducing heat loss)

Had nostrils that faced forward

Had a long neck helped it eat foliage, could probably eat one ton of plants a day

Omeisaurus tianfuensis had one of the longest sauropod necks (30 ft, or 9.1 m). Mamenchisaurus has a longer neck

Mamenchisaurusis thought to have replaced Omeisaurus

Scientists used to think Omeisaurus was part of the Mamenchisauridae family, now it’s thought to be part of Euhelopodidae

Scientists used to think Omeisaurus had a club tail, based on the club tail fossil being found near Omeisaurus fossils, (which made it hard to figure out which family Omeisaurus belonged in), but now it’s thought to not have a club tail, because a club tail would be too heavy and throw Omeisaurus off balance

Other dinosaurs that lived at the same time and place as Omeisaurus included the sauropods Abrosaurus, Dashanpusaurus, Shunosaurus, also the stegosaur Huayangosaurus, the ornithischian Agilisaurus, and predators such as Chuandongocoelurus, Kaijiangosaurus, Gasosaurus, Leshansaurus, Xuanhanosaurus, Yangchuanosaurus

Yangchuanosaurus were big enough to be a threat to Omeisaurus

Can see Omeisaurus at the Zigong Dinosaur Museum in Zigong, China, and at the Beipei Museum, near Chongqing, in China

Euhelopodidae is a family of sauropod dinosaurs, named by Alfred Sherwood Romer in 1956

Dinosaurs in this family include Euhelopus, Chiayusaurus, Omeisaurus, Tienshanosaurus

Fun fact: Some momma birds can feed their chicks without stomach acid because they have a special pouch in their esophagus called the “crop.” Dinosaurs may have also used a crop in a similar way, although it is hard to tell since soft tissue rarely fossilizes.

This episode was brought to you in part by audible, for a free audio book and 30-day trial of their service use our link http://www.audibletrial.com/IKnowDino