1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:07,520 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,600 --> 00:00:12,160 Speaker 1: Lauren Vogelbaum. Here, you know you've made it in this 3 00:00:12,280 --> 00:00:15,640 Speaker 1: wild world of ours when astronomers name something after you. 4 00:00:16,760 --> 00:00:19,920 Speaker 1: And On April eighth of nineteen ninety one, scientists at 5 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:24,079 Speaker 1: the European Southern Observatory spotted a previously unknown asteroid in 6 00:00:24,160 --> 00:00:27,880 Speaker 1: orbit between Mars and Jupiter. Since the thing needed a name, 7 00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:35,080 Speaker 1: they called it nine nine five four. Brachiosaurus a long armed, 8 00:00:35,159 --> 00:00:38,720 Speaker 1: long necked plant eating dinosaur. A Rachiosaurus resided in what's 9 00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:41,919 Speaker 1: now North America during the late Jurassic Period, about one 10 00:00:41,960 --> 00:00:44,320 Speaker 1: hundred and fifty five to one hundred and fifty million 11 00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:49,080 Speaker 1: years ago. Today, the animal lives on in our popular culture. 12 00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:52,560 Speaker 1: For example, in the original Jurassic Park film, a herd 13 00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:55,760 Speaker 1: of them grazing are the first majestic creatures we see, 14 00:00:56,080 --> 00:01:00,520 Speaker 1: set to John William's sweeping score. But this dinosaur fame 15 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:04,120 Speaker 1: comes with an astrisk. Portrayals of the giant reptile in 16 00:01:04,160 --> 00:01:07,520 Speaker 1: the Jurassic Park films were largely based on a different dinosaur. 17 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:14,679 Speaker 1: Its taxonomical name is Giraffetitan bronchi. This is a mix 18 00:01:14,760 --> 00:01:19,360 Speaker 1: up that goes back a long way in paleontology anyway, Okay. 19 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:22,679 Speaker 1: In the year nineteen hundred, while on a fossil finding 20 00:01:22,680 --> 00:01:27,120 Speaker 1: trip around Grand Junction, Colorado, paleontologist Elmer Riggs and his 21 00:01:27,160 --> 00:01:31,000 Speaker 1: assistant H. William Menki came across a very large and 22 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:36,200 Speaker 1: very incomplete skeleton of a sauropod. The sarropods were a 23 00:01:36,319 --> 00:01:41,039 Speaker 1: diverse group of herbivorous dinosaurs. Generally, they had long necks, 24 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:45,400 Speaker 1: small heads, and column like legs. Many species were flat 25 00:01:45,440 --> 00:01:49,400 Speaker 1: out enormous. Indeed, the biggest land animal to ever draw 26 00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:54,960 Speaker 1: breath was undoubtedly a sarapod, but the skeleton Rigs and 27 00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:58,720 Speaker 1: Menkey on Earth was missing several pieces. All that remained 28 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:02,160 Speaker 1: were some ribs and vertebraates, a partial hip, an incomplete 29 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:07,240 Speaker 1: shoulder blade, and two gigantic limb bones. Obviously, this animal 30 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:11,960 Speaker 1: was a sauropod, but it had weird proportions. Mossauropods found 31 00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:15,040 Speaker 1: before the year nineteen hundred had forelombs that looked much 32 00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:19,640 Speaker 1: shorter than their hind limbs. Yet the situation was reversed here. 33 00:02:20,639 --> 00:02:24,639 Speaker 1: Riggs was fascinated by the right humorus, or upper armbone 34 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:27,880 Speaker 1: that came with the skeleton at six feet or two 35 00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:30,960 Speaker 1: meters in length. It was slightly longer than the dinosaur's 36 00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:36,080 Speaker 1: right femur or upper leg bone, which was also preserved. 37 00:02:36,320 --> 00:02:38,359 Speaker 1: In an article published in nineteen oh one in the 38 00:02:38,400 --> 00:02:41,760 Speaker 1: journal Science, Riggs wrote that, along with some other bones, 39 00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:45,880 Speaker 1: the quote extraordinary length of the humorists suggests an animal 40 00:02:45,919 --> 00:02:49,160 Speaker 1: whose shoulders would rise high above the pelvic region, giving 41 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:54,720 Speaker 1: the body something of a draft like proportion. Two years later, 42 00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:59,040 Speaker 1: in nineteen oh three, he named the new animal Brachyosaurus althorax. 43 00:02:59,639 --> 00:03:03,480 Speaker 1: The name Brachiosaurus means arm lizard, while the species name 44 00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:07,960 Speaker 1: alt thorax roughly translates to deep chested, nice and descriptive, 45 00:03:09,639 --> 00:03:13,160 Speaker 1: but okay. Time for a plot twist. Between nineteen oh 46 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:17,120 Speaker 1: nine and nineteen thirteen, German scientists working in East Africa 47 00:03:17,160 --> 00:03:20,080 Speaker 1: removed two hundred and twenty five tons of fossils from 48 00:03:20,160 --> 00:03:23,400 Speaker 1: mainland Tanzania, which was part of a German colony back then. 49 00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:30,600 Speaker 1: The piece de resistance another massive sauropod skeleton. Unlike the 50 00:03:30,639 --> 00:03:35,520 Speaker 1: incomplete Colorado specimen, this individual came with an albeit partial skull, 51 00:03:36,440 --> 00:03:40,040 Speaker 1: plus most of the ribs and vertebra were recovered. They 52 00:03:40,040 --> 00:03:44,160 Speaker 1: were identified as Brachiosaurus. Material and eventually assigned to a 53 00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:51,680 Speaker 1: new species, Brachiosaurus bronchi. That African giant stretched over eighty 54 00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:54,600 Speaker 1: feet or twenty five meters long and could have carried 55 00:03:54,600 --> 00:03:57,720 Speaker 1: its head about forty feet or thirteen meters off the ground. 56 00:03:58,600 --> 00:04:01,280 Speaker 1: The towering specimen, and now on display at the Berlin 57 00:04:01,360 --> 00:04:05,000 Speaker 1: Natural History Museum in Germany, is a single tallest mounted 58 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:12,080 Speaker 1: dinosaur skeleton in the world. Crucially, Brochiosaurus bronchi gave paleo 59 00:04:12,200 --> 00:04:15,960 Speaker 1: artists more fossils to work with than North America's Bronchiosaurus 60 00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:20,440 Speaker 1: alta thorax. Ever, did the effects teams behind Jurassic Park 61 00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:25,320 Speaker 1: modeled their Bronchiosaurus design on the African species. Other artists 62 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:30,440 Speaker 1: have done likewise over the years. Then things got complicated. 63 00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:35,560 Speaker 1: One Gregory S. Paul, a renowned dinosaur illustrator, pointed out 64 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:39,640 Speaker 1: some anatomical differences between the two Brochiosaurus species in nineteen 65 00:04:39,640 --> 00:04:42,960 Speaker 1: eighty eight. He claimed the tusar pods were so distinct 66 00:04:42,960 --> 00:04:48,799 Speaker 1: from each other they really didn't belong in the same genus. Later, 67 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:51,359 Speaker 1: a two thousand and nine study written by Michael P. 68 00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:55,440 Speaker 1: Taylor and published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology concurred. 69 00:04:56,360 --> 00:05:01,080 Speaker 1: Brochiosaurus Bronchi has since been reclassified and renamed. It's now 70 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:07,640 Speaker 1: known as Giraffatitan bronchi. But okay, now that we've met Giraffatitan, 71 00:05:07,839 --> 00:05:12,359 Speaker 1: let's get to know the real Brochiosaurus, shall we? Because 72 00:05:12,360 --> 00:05:16,000 Speaker 1: of all the naming drama, Brochiosaurus altathorax, the dinosaur that 73 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:18,919 Speaker 1: Elmer Riggs described in nineteen oh three, is the only 74 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:24,599 Speaker 1: Brochiosaurus species that experts currently recognize. Brachiosaurus had a tail 75 00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:28,920 Speaker 1: that was both longer and taller than Gerrafhatitans. Also, as 76 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:31,800 Speaker 1: Taylor wrote in two thousand and nine, it carried a 77 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:35,360 Speaker 1: greater proportion of its mass on the forelimbs. Hey, you've 78 00:05:35,400 --> 00:05:37,440 Speaker 1: got extra large arms, you might as well use him right. 79 00:05:40,160 --> 00:05:43,960 Speaker 1: There's no doubt that Brochiosaurus was a hefty beast. One 80 00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:47,560 Speaker 1: twenty seventeen paper published in the Journal Paleontology gave a 81 00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:52,280 Speaker 1: mass estimate of sixty four tons for Bronchiosaurus. Other researchers 82 00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:54,640 Speaker 1: think the dinosaur was lighter, perhaps to picking the scales 83 00:05:54,680 --> 00:05:59,520 Speaker 1: at only forty four tons or so. Judging by the 84 00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:03,159 Speaker 1: known false Brachiosaurus was probably around eighty feet or twenty 85 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:06,039 Speaker 1: five meters long. At the shoulder, it might have stood 86 00:06:06,040 --> 00:06:08,680 Speaker 1: twenty feet or six meters tall, though it could lift 87 00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:13,520 Speaker 1: its head much much higher. The exact shape of that 88 00:06:13,600 --> 00:06:17,560 Speaker 1: head is debatable. A possible Brachiosaurus skull emerged in Central 89 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:21,640 Speaker 1: Colorado during the eighteen eighties. However, apart from a single 90 00:06:21,760 --> 00:06:25,800 Speaker 1: neckbone which was accidentally destroyed, the head was found in isolation, 91 00:06:26,920 --> 00:06:29,080 Speaker 1: so as of this writing, there's no way to be 92 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:32,400 Speaker 1: sure if it belonged to a Brachiosaurus or some altogether 93 00:06:32,440 --> 00:06:37,800 Speaker 1: different sauropod. Besides Brachiosaurus, there were loads of other long 94 00:06:37,839 --> 00:06:41,599 Speaker 1: necked dinos stamping around North America during the Late Jurassic period. 95 00:06:42,920 --> 00:06:46,039 Speaker 1: A prehistory buffs should be well acquainted with the Morrison Formation, 96 00:06:46,839 --> 00:06:49,800 Speaker 1: internationally famous for its rich fossil record. This is a 97 00:06:49,839 --> 00:06:53,520 Speaker 1: geologic sequence of shales, sandstones, and limestones that range from 98 00:06:53,560 --> 00:06:55,680 Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty five to one hundred and forty 99 00:06:55,720 --> 00:06:59,520 Speaker 1: eight million years old. The Morrison runs all the way 100 00:06:59,520 --> 00:07:02,839 Speaker 1: from Monte Hannah and the Dakotas to New Mexico and Arizona. 101 00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:07,320 Speaker 1: Brochiosaurus altathorax is just one of many sauropods that have 102 00:07:07,360 --> 00:07:11,960 Speaker 1: been found in these rocks. By some counts, about thirty 103 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:15,520 Speaker 1: distinctive sauropod species lived in what's now the Morrison Formation, 104 00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:21,440 Speaker 1: including species of Diplodocus and Brontosaurus. It's fun to think 105 00:07:21,480 --> 00:07:25,120 Speaker 1: about how such giant animals could have coexisted, Though not 106 00:07:25,200 --> 00:07:28,440 Speaker 1: all of sauropods represented in the various Morrison deposits lived 107 00:07:28,480 --> 00:07:33,720 Speaker 1: at the exact same time as for Brochiosaurus. The good 108 00:07:33,720 --> 00:07:37,520 Speaker 1: old arm lizard still makes headlines now and then. A 109 00:07:37,600 --> 00:07:41,600 Speaker 1: juvenile sauropod found in a Wyoming quarry was tentatively identified 110 00:07:41,680 --> 00:07:45,720 Speaker 1: as a young Brochiosaurus in twenty twelve. Measuring around six 111 00:07:45,720 --> 00:07:48,840 Speaker 1: feet or two meters long, the little tyke would have 112 00:07:48,840 --> 00:07:51,240 Speaker 1: been a far cry from the titan that Rigs and 113 00:07:51,280 --> 00:08:00,360 Speaker 1: Menkey discovered. Like they say, big things have small beginnings. 114 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:03,160 Speaker 1: Today's episode is based on the article will the real 115 00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:06,360 Speaker 1: Brachysaurus Please Stand up? On HowStuffWorks dot Com? Written by 116 00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:09,440 Speaker 1: Mark Mancini. Brain Stuff is production by Heart Radio in 117 00:08:09,520 --> 00:08:12,440 Speaker 1: partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. 118 00:08:13,040 --> 00:08:16,120 Speaker 1: Four more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 119 00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:19,160 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.