Sonorasaurus
Sonorasaurus was a giant, long-necked plant-eater that lived in what is now Arizona, USA. It was about as long as a school bus and weighed as much as two elephants!1
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Fun facts
Sonorasaurus is one of the youngest brachiosaurid sauropods ever found in North America.2
It lived in a dry, woodland environment with seasonal rainfall, not a swamp or coast.2
The only known Sonorasaurus fossil shows that it grew slowly and unevenly, unlike many other sauropods.2
Sonorasaurus was about one third the size of its relative Brachiosaurus.1
It was named after the Sonora River in the Sonoran Desert, where its fossils were first found.1
On April 10, 2018, Sonorasaurus became the official state dinosaur of Arizona.1
Most asked questions about Sonorasaurus
?How big was Sonorasaurus?
About 15 metres (49 feet) long, 8 metres (26 feet) tall, and weighed 10 metric tons (11 short tons). That is about half the size of Brachiosaurus.13
?When did Sonorasaurus live?
It lived during the Early to Late Cretaceous, about 112 to 93 million years ago.1
?What did Sonorasaurus eat?
It was a plant-eater that ate trees and other vegetation.3
?Where was Sonorasaurus found?
Its fossils were found in southern Arizona, USA, in the Sonoran Desert near the Sonora River.1
?Is Sonorasaurus a dinosaur?
Yes, it is a brachiosaurid sauropod dinosaur.1
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Myth buster
Myth: Some people thought Sonorasaurus might be a hadrosaur (duck-billed dinosaur) or a therizinosaur.
Truth: Scientists now agree it is a brachiosaurid sauropod, a long-necked plant-eater.1
For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Sonorasaurus
- Named by
- Ratkevich 19984
- Group
- Long-necks
- Family / clade
- Brachiosauridae4
- Classification
- Sauropodomorpha > Sauropoda > Macronaria4
- Age of the rocks
- 106 to 94 million years (Albian / Cenomanian)4
- Rock formations
- Turney Ranch4
- Countries
- USA4
- Fossil records
- 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
- Discovery
- Sonorasaurus was discovered in November 1994 by geology student Richard Thompson in the Whetstone Mountains of Arizona. It was named and described by paleontologist Ronald Paul Ratkevich in 1998.1
- Still debated
- Scientists are still debating exactly how Sonorasaurus is related to other brachiosaurids, and more fossils are needed to be sure.2
Where the facts come from
- Sonorasaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
- Anatomy, systematics, paleoenvironment, growth, and age of the sauropod dinosaur Sonorasaurus thompsoni from the Cretaceous of Arizona, USA (cambridge.org)
- State Dinosaur (azlibrary.gov)
- Sonorasaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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