Barapasaurus Characteristics

Barapasaurus was a giant sauropod and had a very long neck, long tail, small head and short thick legs. Barapasaurus measured around 60 feet (20 metres) long, 5.5 metres (18 feet) tall, weighing roughly 48 - 53 tons. The femur (thigh bone) was 5.5 feet (1.70 metres) long. Barapasaurus was something of an 'all-purpose' dinosaur. For example, later sauropods developed hollow vertebrae, as a weight-saving measure. Barapasaurus vertebrae, on the other hand, were almost solid, with only the earliest hints of hollowing.

Barapasaurus was a herbivorous dinosaur. In order to support its massive appetite, Barapasaurus did not have time to chew its food. Instead it used its teeth to rake in leaves and swallow them whole. These leafs would then be ground up in its stomach by stones it had swallowed to aid digestion.

The first bones of Barapasaurus were recovered in India in 1960. Six partial skeletons have been found in Southern Indias Godavari Valley, however, no skulls or feet have been found though scattered tooth remnants have been identified, which helps experts reconstruct the probable shape of its head.

Barapasaurus was named in 1975 (Jain, Kutty, Roy-Chowdhury, and Chatterjee).