Q 01/05

Animators on Jurassic Park based the walk of Brachiosaurus on the gait of which living animal?

A) Camel

B) Giraffe

C) Ostrich

D) Horse

Answer · why

B) Giraffe

Giraffe movement was the model, scaled up to a far heavier body. It suits the fossils: the overall build of Brachiosaurus resembles that animal more t...

Q 02/05

Where did scientists once wrongly believe Brachiosaurus spent most of its time?

A) In thick rainforests

B) On open plains

C) In warm deserts

D) Partly underwater

Answer · why

D) Partly underwater

Partly underwater was the old picture, with the water holding up all that bulk. In 1904 its discoverer argued that hollow backbones and long limbs wer...

Q 03/05

What does the name Brachiosaurus mean, built from two Greek words by the scientist who described it?

A) Thunder lizard

B) Roof lizard

C) Arm lizard

D) Tyrant lizard

Answer · why

C) Arm lizard

Arm lizard fits because its front limbs were longer than its hind ones, the reverse of most of its long-necked relatives. That gave it high shoulders ...

Q 04/05

Which organ of Brachiosaurus may have weighed about 400 kilograms because of its towering height?

A) Liver

B) Stomach

C) Lungs

D) Heart

Answer · why

D) Heart

Heart size had to be huge: it pumped blood all the way up to a brain held many metres above it. Curving the neck into an S-shape shortened that climb ...

Q 05/05

What record did the discoverer of Brachiosaurus claim for it in the titles of his first reports?

A) Oldest known dinosaur

B) Largest known dinosaur

C) First American dinosaur

D) Longest known neck

Answer · why

B) Largest known dinosaur

Largest known dinosaur was the boast in 1901 and again in 1903. Only about a fifth of the skeleton had been found, so nobody tried to mount it for alm...