What is a Giraffatitan?
Giraffatitan brancai was a brachiosaurid dinosaur that lived in Tanzania in the Tendaguru Basin. The German paleontologist Werner Janensch was the one who first described it.
Its name comes from Latin and means titanic giraffe. In this way it refers to its large size and its similarities with the giraffes we know today..
However, in 1988 Gregory S. Paul found differences between the characteristics of Brachiosaurus and the fossil remains found at Tendaguru. There was enough evidence to classify it as a new species, in this case the Giraffatitan.
It was one of the largest land animals of all. It was quadruped, had a small skull and a long neck similar to that of a giraffe. Its body was large and solid, it had a long, muscular tail, and long columnar limbs.
In its skull it had a robust and wide snout. Their thick jaws had spoon-shaped teeth. Added to this is a bony arch on the snout and in front of the eyes, which arched around the nostrils.
In the same way, it had large air sacs in the neck and torso to support the pulmonary system. It also had front legs that were longer than the back legs, something that was not common in sauropods.
It lived on the edge of large coniferous forests and groves of cycads, ginkgos and ferns. With its wide mouth and long neck it ate from the high treetops, feeding on vegetation that was inaccessible to other dinosaurs. Some specialists think that its volume could reach 200 kg.
It got its name from having a neck and structure similar to that of the giraffes we know today. It had nostrils on the top of its skull, suggesting that it had a highly developed sense of smell.
The Giraffatitan skeleton is on display at the Natural History Museum in Berlin. It is considered the tallest sauropod in the world.
A very interesting study was carried out in 2020 by paleontologist Verónica Díez Díaz and her colleagues from the Leibniz Museum of Natural History. These created a detailed three-dimensional reconstruction of the tail.
In this way they were able to accurately calculate the probable weight and volume of each muscle. Based on this, the tail would have about 2.5 tons. This weight would be in the front half of the tail, in which strong musculature also powered the hind legs.
© Dmitry Bogdanov
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Giraffatitan discovery
The first discovery of Giraffatitan was in 1906 when mining engineer Bernhard Willhelm Sattler noticed a bone protruding from the ground. It was during a trip to Tendaguru, a site in Tanzania meaning steep hill located near Lindi in German East Africa.
A year later his superior Wilhelm Arning learned of the discovery in Hannover. In this way he began a geographical investigation of the territories under the German protectorate. This led to confirmation that the bones were authentic and belonged to a dinosaur.
Everything indicated that the Tendaguru layers were especially rich in fossils. So money was raised to start an expedition that took place between 1909 and 1912. During that time about a hundred paleontological quarries were opened. In this way, large quantities of fossil material were obtained and sent to Germany.
The first discovery of Giraffatitan was at what was named Site D and consisted of a relatively complete skeleton of a medium-sized specimen, which included the skull, neck, and posterior vertebrae..
Later at Site IX, 150 disarticulated dinosaur bones were found, which also included parts of a Giraffatitan. Later, at what is known as Site N, they found a disarticulated skeleton composed of a back vertebra, a tail vertebra, a scapula, two ischiums, a humerus, and several unidentifiable parts.
However, a more important source of fossils was Site S, where parts of limbs and hips were found. Several ribs and a spine were also found.
Other places of importance were Site AB where they found two femurs and Site CC which had a disarticulated skeleton that included neck vertebrae, a scapula, a trunk vertebra and some ribs. Finally, at Site Y, they discovered a skeleton of a medium-sized specimen, which had a braincase, eight neck vertebrae, ribs, one trunk vertebrae, two scapulae, a left humerus, a coracoid, and a fibula.
He Giraffatitan brancai It was named by the German paleontologist Werner Janensch, who studied specimens obtained in 1909 and 1912 at Tendaguru.
The most famous specimen can be seen in the Natural History Museum in Berlin, which is one of the largest and tallest in the world, according to the Guinness Record.
The Brachiosauridae family
The Giraffatitan is part of the Brachiosauridae family, whose name means arm lizard. They were a family of large herbivorous quadruped dinosaurs. They were characterized by having front legs that were more longitudinal than the rear ones. Its neck was approximately 9 meters long.
This family was first designated by Elmer Samuel Riggs in 1904, with the intention of placing Brachiosaurus within its own family. In 1908 the clade was defined by Wilson and Sereno, as a group that makes up the Brachiosaurus altithorax and any species that is more closely related to Brachiosaurus than to Saltasaurus loricatus.
This group had its greatest development during the last phase of the Jurassic. They included giant sauropods that had shoulders higher than their pelvis, something that elevated their neck.
With this they could eat the leaves of the tallest plants. The exact mobility of his neck is still debated.
The Brachiosauridae were part of the Macronia group. Although it has its peculiarities, specialists still debate whether they represent a different family or if they are basal Titanosaurs.
Some of its members are among the most popular dinosaurs, such as the Giraffatitan and the Brachiosaurus, which were some of the tallest known land animals.
They had unusually long and upright necks with which they consumed foliage high in the trees. They had long, spoon-shaped teeth with which they cut very hard plant matter.
Brachiosaurs existed in the Jurassic between 150 and 100 million years ago.
Characteristics of Giraffatitan
The Giraffatitan had to wait a few years to gain its own classification. Initially known as Brachiosaurus, paleontologists managed to establish its peculiarities, which you can learn about below.
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Classification
In 1988, Gregory S. Paul was able to observe special characteristics in the dinosaur initially known as Brachiosaurus brancai. You had differences with the North American Brachiosaurus.
Differences in the proportions of the vertebrae of the trunk and in its structure were sufficient for it to be established as the subgenus Giraffatitan brancai. This gained genus status in 1991.
Initially this designation was not supported by a comparison of both species, so not all scientists referred to this specimen as a separate species.
In 2009 Michal P. Taylor published one in 2009, in which he demonstrated that he differed from B. altithorax largely from bones, depending on proportion and shape.
Habitat and food
The Giraffatitan was a herbivorous dinosaur that fed purely on canopy leaves that it could reach without much effort. What differentiated it from other sauropods was that it carried its neck upright and not parallel to the ground.
It fed on conifers, cycads, ginkgos and ferns, which were the plants that developed during the Jurassic period.. It was initially assumed that it lived in water due to its enormous size, but this theory was dismissed.
And this was precisely due to its enormous volume, which would have prevented him from breathing normally, due to the pressure that the water would exert on his body.
The hypothesis that it had breathing holes in its crest was also ruled out, which would have prevented it from breathing underwater, as assumed.
Finally his legs and feet were too thin to hold on to the muddy ground. This made him less likely to walk on this type of terrain.
This was confirmed with a biomechanical study developed on computers. It was also taken into account that larger dinosaurs moved perfectly on land, as is the case of the Argentinosaurus.
Size
The possible size of Giraffatitan has been estimated largely from the skeleton assembled in Berlin, which includes authentic bones. This places it as a specimen whose height is around 21 and 23 meters, with a little more than 11 meters long.
Their body volume is usually more difficult to calculate, with general estimates setting a minimum of 15 tons and a maximum of 80.
Nostrils
The Giraffatitan had its nostrils near its snout. It has been suggested that sauropods like this had a proboscis. But this was ruled out because there were no narrow-snouted sauropods.
The strongest evidence for the absence of a tube has to do with the wear and tear of your teeth. This suggests that it was biting and tearing off plant matter, instead of simply crushing the material it fed on.
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When he lived
This tall dinosaur lived in the Jurassic period between 152 and 142 million years ago.
Where he lived
This specimen lived in German East Africa and Tanzania. His remains were found in the Tendaguru Formation.
Habitat
These dinosaurs lived in subtropical and tropical regions, where seasonal rains and dry weather conditions were abundant. They lived where the vegetation was high or low, thanks to their long and flexible necks.
Who did he live with?
There is no evidence that indicates whether it lived in packs, small groups or alone. Being a sauropod, it is possible to assume that it stayed in groups with which it searched for food and protected itself from predators.
Reproduction
They reproduced by laying eggs after mating in clutches. He took care of his young and the female was the most involved in their upbringing.
Life expectancy
After studying its development cycle, scientists have calculated that the Giraffatitan could live around 100 years.
When did the Giraffatitan become extinct?
The Giraffatitan disappeared at the end of the Late Jurassic. It is possible that the cause of the disappearance of this species is as a consequence of climatic variations and various natural calamities. Predators would also have played a very important role in this, given that it was a herbivorous species.