Mamenchisaurus

Type Species: Mamenchisaurus constructus

Classification: Dinosauria – Saurischia – Sauropoda – Gravisauria - Eusauropoda - Mamenchisauridae

Time Period: Late Jurassic

Location: China

Diet: Herbivorous   

The sauropod Mamenchisaurus had a remarkably long neck that made up half its body length and was longer than a school bus. Mamenchisaurus was wildly successful during the early Late Jurassic, as multiple species have been identified. While most species ranged between fifty to eighty-five feet in length, the largest species, M. sinocanadorum, reached 115 feet in length and weighed up to eighty tons. Mamenchisaurus’ neck vertebrae had long struts running between them that would’ve limited its ability to turn its neck too sharply. It had spatula-shaped teeth designed for chewing coarse plant material. Scientists believe that Mamenchisaurus was primarily a low browser; it would’ve swept its long neck across a wide area of vegetation, cutting a crescent-moon-shaped swathe of destruction before walking a bit forward to continue eating. Once Mamenchisaurus reached a good locale, it could feed for several hours without having to expend too much energy. A discovery of another species of Mamenchisaurus in 2001 allowed for more accurate reconstructions of this dinosaur, one part of which was the tip of the tail where the vertebra was more robust with taller neural spines. Current thinking for this construction is that the tip of the tail was modified to be a weapon as seen in some other Asian sauropods like Shunosaurus. Such a weapon may have been used in dominance competition between two males, although it may have been a defensive weapon against an attacking predator.