Brachiosaurus

2001. Acrylic on illustration board. 8"x7".

Publication History

Essay

Weighing almost seventy tons, Brachiosaurus was one of the biggest land animals that has ever lived. Since its front legs were longer than its hind legs, Brachiosaurus had a more upright stance than most sauropods. This dinosaur could raise its head almost forty feet off the ground to graze high in the trees and must have looked like a titanic, reptilian giraffe. However, since Brachiosaurus lived over one hundred million years before the first giraffe appeared, it may be more appropriate to say that giraffes are tiny, mammalian versions of the Brachiosaurs!

The figure of a six-foot tall man helps illustrate how immense this creature was.