Mamenchisaurus hochuanensis mah-MEN-chee-SOR-us
"Mamenchi lizard"
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Mamenchisaurus 25 m (82 ft) long
15 people holding hands
- Length
- 25 m (82 ft) — About 25 m long, ~15 tonnes — half of which is neck.
- Period
- Late Jurassic (160–145 Mya)
- Place
- Asia · China
- Food
- Herbivore — Plants from a wide range of heights — that astonishing neck swept across a huge volume of vegetation.
Mamenchisaurus had a neck longer than most dinosaurs had bodies — almost half of its total length was neck alone. Some species are known with necks over 12 m long, the longest of any animal ever. The neck was supported by stiff overlapping vertebrae and was probably held out roughly horizontal, sweeping side to side like a vacuum cleaner.
What we know
- Neck made up nearly half the body length — the longest known of any animal.
- Up to 19 neck vertebrae — most sauropods have 12 to 15.
- Lived in Late Jurassic China, in what was then a forested, humid environment.
- Some species had small head crests, others didn't.
What we guess
- Whether the neck was held high (like a giraffe) or low and sweeping (like a vacuum cleaner) — most evidence favors the latter.
- How it pumped blood up the neck — heart size or smaller hearts in series.
- How it kept the long neck stable while moving and feeding.