Giraffatitan

Giraffatitan is one of the most famous sauropod dinosaurs, excavated from the rich Late Jurassic beds of Tendaguru in Tanzania. Long classified as an African species of Brachiosaurus, anatomical differences in the skull, spine, and body proportions led palaeontologists to separate it into its own genus. Built with forelimbs significantly longer than its hindlimbs, an upright neck, and high shoulders, Giraffatitan lived much like an enormous reptilian giraffe. It measured between twenty-two and twenty-six metres in total length and stood over twelve metres tall, granting it access to high tree canopies unavailable to most other herbivores. Its skull possessed large nasal openings positioned atop a bony arch. The magnificent mounted skeleton in the Museum f r Naturkunde in Berlin represents the centrepiece of our understanding of brachiosaurid anatomy.

The mounted skeleton in Berlin is the tallest mounted dinosaur skeleton in the world.

Where and when

Giraffatitan lived in the Late Jurassic, from 152.1 to 145 million years ago (Kimmeridgian-Tithonian age). Its remains come from Tanzania, in the Tendaguru Formation.

The numbers

Length 24 m (estimates run from 22 to 26 m). Mass about 37 t. Hip height about 4.5 m. That is 14.1 human-lengths, or 2.14 of a double-decker bus. These are estimates from near-complete skeleton; fields marked estimated by the site are length, mass, hip height.

Compare Giraffatitan with a bus Place on the timeline