Isisaurus Characteristics

Isisaurus measured 60 feet (18 metres) in height and weighed around 15 tons (14,000 kilograms). Isisaurus had a short, vertically-directed neck and strong, long forearms, making it considerably different from other sauropods. It had spines that stood out on its neck and tails. Its tail was long and stiff and its head was very small. Its forelimbs were longer than its hindlimbs and its muzzle had a prominent bridge.

Isisaurus was a herbivorous dinosaur and eat huge amounts of plant matter to survive.

This was the closest dinosaur to the modern day giraffe. Fungus has been found in its excrement. Isisaurus is known from much better remains than most titanosaurs.

The type specimen, Isisaurus colberti, was originally described as Titanosaurus colberti by Jain and Bandyopadhyay in 1997, but was placed in its own genus, by Wilson and Upchurch, in 2003.

When its bones were dug up in 1997, this titanosaur was identified as a species of Titanosaurus, only after further analysis was it assigned its own genus, named after the Indian Statistical Institute (which houses many dinosaur bones). Reconstructions are necessarily fanciful, but by some accounts Isisaurus may have looked like a giant hyena, with long, powerful front limbs and a relatively short neck held parallel to the ground.