What it looked like
The Apaptosaurus was an enormous dinosaur, and probably weighed about 35 tons. It had only a small head on the end of a long neck, and a very tiny brain. It had a long whip-like tail and four massive legs. Its hind legs were larger than the front legs.

One strange thing was that its nostrils were on the top of its head. No one is sure why. At first scientists thought it was so they could breathe when they were in deep water, but their bones are not found near the sea or big lakes, so they don't think this any more.

What it ate
Apatosaurus held its neck horizontally (parallel to the ground). The long neck may have been used to "mow" wide areas of plants, or to poke over groups of trees to get foliage that other plant eaters could not reach. Scientist do not think they could live in forests, because they could not lift their necks up straight to reach the tree tops - they swung them from side to side. In a forest, they would keep hitting tree trunks! So they mostly lived in clear areas, where they could eat low lying plant material.

Apatosaurus swallowed leaves and other plants whole, without chewing them. In its stomach it had little stones that it swallowed, and these rolled around and helped to mush up and digest this tough plant material.

How it moved around
From looking at fossilised footprints, scientists think that the Apatosaurus moved very slowly on four legs, and sometimes used its tail to help balance while it was reaching for food.

How it probably behaved
It was hard for other meat-eating dinosaurs to attack an Apatosaurus, because they could not reach its head or the top of its neck. They would have to be very careful of its heavy tail that could whip around very fast, and its strong feet with big claws.

Apatosaurus may have been an animal who wandered around mostly on its own. They may have lived to about 100 years of age.The eggs they laid were big football shaped eggs about as long as your ruler. They have not been found in nests, and scientists think the eggs were laid as the animal was walking. They probably did not look after their eggs.

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