Abydosaurus
Abydosaurus was a huge, long-necked plant-eater that lived about 104 million years ago. It is special because scientists found its complete skull, which is very rare for sauropods. This dinosaur had narrow teeth, unlike its wider-toothed relative Brachiosaurus.21
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Fun facts
Abydosaurus is one of the few sauropods known from a complete skull. Sauropod skulls are very rare because they are small and fragile.2
Its skull was tiny compared to its body, only about 1/200th of its total volume. That is like a pea on a giant pumpkin.2
It had narrow teeth, unlike its relative Brachiosaurus which had broad teeth. This change happened over millions of years.2
The name Abydosaurus comes from the Egyptian city Abydos, where the god Osiris' head and neck were buried. The dinosaur's skull and neck were found together.12
Fossils of four different Abydosaurus individuals were found in the same quarry, including three partial skulls.2
Most asked questions about Abydosaurus
?What did Abydosaurus eat?
It ate plants. Its narrow teeth suggest it may have eaten different plants than its broad-toothed relatives.12
?How big was Abydosaurus?
About 18.3 metres long. That is as long as a bowling lane.1
?Where was Abydosaurus found?
Its fossils were found in northeastern Utah, United States, at Dinosaur National Monument.1
?When did Abydosaurus live?
It lived about 104 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous period.12
?Why is Abydosaurus special?
It is one of the few sauropods known from a complete skull. That is very rare because sauropod skulls are small and fragile.12
?Is Abydosaurus a dinosaur?
Yes, it is a brachiosaurid sauropod dinosaur.1
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Myth buster
Myth: Some people think all sauropods had wide, spoon-shaped teeth like Brachiosaurus.
Truth: Abydosaurus had narrow teeth, showing that some sauropods evolved different tooth shapes for different diets.2
For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Abydosaurus
- Named by
- Chure et al. 20103
- Group
- Long-necks
- Family / clade
- Brachiosauridae3
- Classification
- Sauropodomorpha > Sauropoda > Macronaria3
- Age of the rocks
- 100 to 94 million years (Cenomanian)3
- Rock formations
- Cedar Mountain3
- Countries
- USA3
- Fossil records
- 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
- Discovery
- Abydosaurus was named in 2010 by Daniel Chure and his team. The first complete skull was found in Dinosaur National Monument, Utah, USA, along with the first four neck bones.12
- Still debated
- Scientists are not sure exactly how big Abydosaurus grew, because only skulls and some postcranial bones have been found.1
Where the facts come from
- Abydosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
- First complete sauropod dinosaur skull from the Cretaceous of the Americas and the evolution of sauropod dentition - PMC (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- Abydosaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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