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Biggest Dinosaurs
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The first dinosaurs were meat eaters, but soon plant eaters came along as well. Plant-eating animals need a much bigger gut than meat-eating ones, and so plant eaters have longer bodies. They moved around on four legs to support their greater weight and developed long necks to reach their food.
These long-necked plant eaters became the biggest land animals that ever lived. Their heyday was in the late Jurassic period.
(A) HERDS
Masses of fossil footprints show that long-necked plant eaters, like these Omeisaurus, may have lived in herds.
(B) SMALL TYPES
Not all the plant eaters were huge. Shunosaurus was only 9.8 metres long - a third of the length of the biggest.
(C) LONG NECKS
Some plant eaters, like Mamenchisaurus from China, had necks which, at more than 9.8 metres, were as long as the body and tail.
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Previous:
Back
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Book:
Prehistoric Life
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Section:
Prehistoric
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Chapter:
Biggest Dinosaurs
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