Amargasaurus
Amargasaurus cazaui
Pronounced: a-Mar-ga-Sore-us
Diet: Herbivorous (Plant-Eater)
Name Means: "Lizard from Amarga"
Length: 33 Feet (10 meters)
Height: 13 Feet (4 meters)
Weight: 8 tons (7,200 kilos)
Time: Early Cretaceous - 130 MYA
Fossil remains for this Dinosaur have been found in Argentina, South
America
A medium-sized member of the Sauropod family, Amargasaurus had a short neck
with a double row of tall spines on top. The purpose of these spines is not
clear, but they may have supported a fleshy sail, or may have been covered in a
hard, horn-like sheath.
The splitting of the neural spines is common in the Diplodocoidea, but
reached a most extreme form in the Amargasaurus, developing into spines 50
cm (1.5 Feet) long. Amargasaurus had peg-like teeth, and could not chew its
food, so it swallowed "gizzard stones" that aided in the digestive process.
Amargasaurus is known from a single set of fossils, found without a tail,
so its size is not certain. |
