Brachiosaurus Behaviour

Brachiosaurus probably roamed in herds and may have migrated when they depleted their local food supply. Brachiosaurus may have hatched from eggs, like other sauropods. Sauropod eggs have been found in a linear pattern and not in nests, presumably the eggs were laid as the dinosaur was walking. It is thought that sauropods did not take care of their eggs. Sauropod life spans may have been in the order of 100 years. Brachiosaurus used their huge size as defence. In addition, its long tail could powerfully swat away most attackers. Also, they had leathery skin, although this was not much of a defense against long, sharp theropod teeth. They also had clawed feet that were more pronounced in the young. Some palaeontologists had speculated that if they could have reared upon their hind-limbs even higher branches could be reached. However, their short tail and hind-limbs would have placed its centre of gravity quite far forward, and made such an action difficult.

Brachiosaurids existed until at least the late Campanian era (71 - 83 million years ago), as caudal vertebrae from that era have been found in Mexico. Brachiosaurids fossils were first found in Africa in the early 20th Century, and are now known to have existed in Europe and North America. The first evidence of Brachiosaurids in Asia was recovered in 2001, although it was only a few teeth.

The skull of Brachiosaurus was not identified until 1998, when Carpenter and Tidwell re-described a skull discovered by Othniel Charles Marsh in the 19th Century. Marsh had originally thought the skull belonged to Apatosaurus excelsus, however, the 1998 study found that it shared many similarities with African skulls belonging to the related Giraffatitan, and therefore must have come from Brachiosaurus.

The largest mounted skeleton in the world is a brachiosaurid, the Giraffatitan at the Humboldt Museum in Berlin, Germany.