Brachiosaurus is a dinosaur that lived 155–145 million years ago during the Late Jurassic Period. The species plays roles in various Disney projects, including Fantasia and the 2000 animated feature film Dinosaur.
Brachiosaurus is a sauropod that was first described by paleontologist Elmer S. Riggs in 1903 from fossils found in the Colorado River valley in western Colorado, United States. Riggs named the dinosaur Brachiosaurus altithorax; the generic name is Greek for "arm lizard", in reference to its proportionately long arms, and the specific name means "deep chest". Brachiosaurus is estimated to have been between 18 and 22 meters (59 and 72 feet) long; body mass estimates of the subadult holotype specimen range from 28.3-46.9 metric tons (31.2-51.7 short tons). It had a disproportionately long neck, small skull, and large overall size, all of which are typical for sauropods. Atypically, Brachiosaurus had longer forelimbs than hindlimbs, which resulted in a steeply inclined trunk, and a proportionally shorter tail.
Brachiosaurus is the namesake genus of the family Brachiosauridae, which includes a handful of other similar sauropods. Most popular depictions of Brachiosaurus are in fact based on Giraffatitan, a genus of brachiosaurid dinosaur from the Tendaguru Formation of Tanzania. Giraffatitan was originally described by German paleontologist Werner Janensch in 1914 as a species of Brachiosaurus, B. brancai, but moved to its own genus in 2009. Three other species of Brachiosaurus have been named based on fossils found in Africa and Europe; two are no longer considered valid, and a third has become a separate genus, Lusotitan.
In The Rite of Spring segment, a Brachiosaurus is seen when the Tyrannosaurus rex appears and kills the Stegosaurus. Three of them are also seen diving into a lake to escape the giant carnivore with a Triceratops entering the lake to escape nearby. The Brachiosaurus went extinct in the drought along with the other dinosaurs.
In Dinosaur, a herd of Brachiosaurus are seen. One particular dinosaur is Baylene, an elderly, dainty Brachiosaurus who is seen journeying with Eema the Styracosaurus and Url the Ankylosaurus as they travel to the Nesting Grounds.
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