In Praise of Sauropods

The Sauropoda were the heavy-weights of the Dinosauria clade.  Lizard-hipped herbivores that evolved into the biggest terrestrial animals known to science.  Not all the sauropod dinosaurs were giants, some genera could even be described as relative dwarfs, for example Europasaurus and the tiny Magyarosaurus which was no bigger than a pony.  Over the last few months, we have seen the resurrection of the Brontosaurus genus and the discovery of a number of new types of sauropodomorph such as Sefapanosaurus which was announced in June.  These are interesting times for the long-necks.

Sauropod Dinosaurs

A Friendly Long-Necked Dinosaur Spotted in a Classroom

A colourful, friendly Sauropod.

A colourful, friendly sauropod.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Sauropods in Schools

In addition, to seeing lots of very colourful (and not very anatomically accurate), sauropods in schools, we too have been updating one or two of our sauropod illustrations, particularly the diplodocids.

Everything Dinosaur Updates Dinosaur Drawings

An Apatosaurus dinosaur drawing.

An Apatosaurus dinosaur drawing.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Papo Young Apatosaurus

The above dinosaur drawing is based on the Papo Young Apatosaurus dinosaur figure that came out earlier this year.  Papo have extended their model range and it now includes a replica of a young Apatosaurus.  This illustration has been used in a number of our downloads to schools and home educationalists to help support our teaching work and other educational projects.

The Papo Young Apatosaurus Dinosaur Figure

Available from Everything Dinosaur.

Available from Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

A spokesperson for UK-based Everything Dinosaur commented:

“The sauropods seem to be perennial favourites amongst school children with even Reception-aged children able to confidently talk about dinosaurs such as Brontosaurus, Apatosaurus and Diplodocus.  We are often surprised at how well informed they are.”

To view the range of Papo prehistoric animal models, the “Les Dinosaures” range available from Everything Dinosaur: Papo Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal Models.