Apatosaurus was a sauropod dinosaur that lived during the Late Jurassic Period (about 152 million years ago) in what is now western North America. It was one of the largest terrestrial animals to have ever existed, measuring at least 70 feet in length and weighing about 20 tons. Scientific Name: Apatosaurus, meaning ‘deceptive lizard’ Characteristics: Apatosaurus was a quadruped with a long neck and whip-like tail. It had a small head with a peculiar short, squared-off snout and chisel-like teeth that were used to crop vegetation. Its body was stout, and its front legs were slightly shorter than its back legs. Being very large and heavy, they could not walk very fast. Size and Color: This model is 15.5 inches long and 6.5 inches high. It is medium gray-blue with subtle dark gray mottling on its back. Such coloring would have provided some camouflaging, but this would not have been that important for such a huge animal.
