Everyone knows that Dino off the show Flinstones is a Brontosaurus but do you know that Brontosaurus' never existed? Not that your teachers and the books you read were intentionally lying to you. It's just that wrong information has a way of getting around.

Brontosaurus - The Myth Begins

The bones that were put together to construct the Brontosaurus actually came from more than one dinosaur. The man who 'found' the Brontosaurus came across the body of an Apatosaurus, except the head was missing. He used the head of the closest dino he could find, which actually belonged to a Camarasaurus. He put these fossils together and named the 'new' dino Brontosaurus.

Brontosaurus - The Mistake is Discovered

Almost 100 years passed before the mistake was discovered. Because the body was that of Apatosaurus and it was discovered first, the name Brontosaurus was dropped. There never really was a dino that looked like a Brontosaurus. In fact, the name was dropped way back in the 1970s, but Brontosaurus is still a familiar name.

Apatosaurus - Will the Real Brontosaurus Please Stand Up

Apatosaurus was one of the largest animals that ever lived. Some people believe the earth shook when this dino walked. It could grow to over 85 feet long and over 15 feet tall at the hips. Apatosaurus is known for its very long neck, which made it easier to eat greens from trees. They also had big feet: yard-long footprints (called trackways) from this big guy found in Colorado. It had a small head along with a small mouth and probably spent most of its time eating to get enough nutrients from plants to stay alive.

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