The Lone Giant
Summary: In the Morrison Formation, 140 million years ago, a solitary Female Brachiosaurus drives off a Saurophaganax attacking a juvenile who follows her for protection and soon more brachiosaurs join in. Now her leadership is put to the rest when the dry season hits and she must lead her new herd to find food and water.
Cast: Brachiosaurus(Focus), Saurophaganax, Eilonodon, Opisthias, Diablophis, Hallopus, Fruitachampsa, Kepodactylus, Tinodon bellus, Haplocanthosaurus, Apatosaurus, Brontosaurus, Barosaurus, Diplodocus carnegii, Camarasaurus, Allosaurus, Ceratosaurus, Stegosaurus, Dryosaurus, Tanycolagreus, Ornitholestes, Nanosaurus, Camptosaurus, Coelurus, Hesperornithoides, Stokesosaurus, Marshosaurus, and Gargoyleosaurus.
In the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, Thomas stands behind a femur arm bone as he speaks. "When People think of Dinosaurs, they think of the Gentle Giants that tower above us taller than the tallest giraffe and they were the largest and tallest land animals that have ever walked and lived outsized by the largest animal, the blue whale. These were the Sauropods, who appeared in the Late Triassic descending from the sauropodomorphs, they are known for their very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their body), and four thick, pillar-like legs and attaining enormous sizes. Mostly herbivores, they capture people's imagination when they think of dinosaurs, this upper arm bone about my height belongs to one of the most famous." Brings out a cast model of his hand. "Brachiosaurus whose' name means "Arm Lizard." Brachiosaurus is estimated to have been between 18 and 22 meters (59 and 72 ft) long; body mass estimates of the subadult holotype specimen range from 28.3 to 46.9 metric tons (31.2 and 51.7 short tons). It had a disproportionately long neck, small skull, and large overall size, all of which are typical for sauropods. Atypically, Brachiosaurus had longer forelimbs than hindlimbs, which resulted in a steeply inclined trunk, and a proportionally shorter tail. It is regarded as a high browser, possibly cropping or nipping vegetation as high as 9 meters (30 ft) off the ground. Unlike other sauropods, it was unsuited for rearing on its hindlimbs. It has been used as an example of a dinosaur that was most likely ectothermic because of its large size and the corresponding need for sufficient forage, but more recent research suggests it was warm-blooded. Among the most iconic and initially thought to be one of the largest dinosaurs, Brachiosaurus has appeared in popular culture, notably in the 1993 film Jurassic Park as the first computer generated dinosaur ever shown on the big screen. Most popular depictions of Brachiosaurus are in fact based on Giraffatitan, a genus of brachiosaurid dinosaur from the Tendaguru Formation of Tanzania. There have been few specimens and fossils found making them one of the rarer sauropods of the Morrison Formation. But why, Was it that they lived alone or perhaps they lived in herds like most sauropods?"
. . . . .
The Wild West of North America was a wilder place 150 million years ago, the Late Jurassic Period. This is the Morrison formation which stretches from Wyoming and Colorado, with outcrops in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, the panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Idaho covering an area of 1.5 million square kilometers (600,000 square miles). It was named after Morrison, Colorado, where some of the first fossils in the formation were discovered by American Geologist Arthur Lakes in 1877. That same year, it became the center of the Bone Wars, a fossil-collecting rivalry between early paleontologists Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope.
Back then the climate was dry and semi-arid and the environment was a flat floodplain similar to a savanna in Africa thus creating riparian zones that occur along the edges of rivers, streams, lakes, and other water bodies. Angiosperms or flowering plants have yet to evolve; the flora was quite different; it was dominated by Conifers, alongside ginkgos, cycads, tree ferns, and horsetail rushes. But it is here that the greatest creatures, some named after Cope and Marsh roamed this land, a time ruled by the Titans.
Towering above the conifers is the tallest land animal that has ever walked the earth at the time, this is a solitary Female Brachiosaurus approaching a tall conifer to feed on. She measures at 40 feet tall and outsizes every land animal including the predators. With her head held high above the heart, she would have had stressed cardiovascular systems. It is estimated that the heart of Brachiosaurus would have to pump double the blood pressure of a giraffe to reach the brain, and possibly weighed 400 kg (880 lb). The distance between head and heart would have been reduced by the S-curvature of the neck by more than 2 meters (6+ 1⁄2 ft) in comparison to a totally vertical posture. The neck may also have been lowered during locomotion by twenty degrees and she would have moved their necks in lateral directions more often than in dorsal-ventral directions while feeding on foliage above 5 meters (16 ft). Her diet consisted of ginkgos, conifers, tree ferns, and large cycads, with intake estimated at 200 to 400 kilograms (440 to 880 lb) of plant matter daily. The teeth were somewhat spoon-shaped and chisel-like and such teeth are optimized for non-selective nipping, and the relatively broad jaws could crop large amounts of plant material. Even if a Brachiosaurus of forty tonnes would have needed half a tonne of fodder, its dietary needs could have been met by a normal cropping action of the head. If it fed sixteen hours per day, biting off between a tenth and two-thirds of a kilogram, taking between one and six bites per minute, its daily food intake would have equaled roughly 1.5 percent of its body mass, comparable to the requirement of a modern elephant. As in other sauropods, animals would have swallowed plant matter without further oral processing, and relied on hindgut fermentation for food processing.
After she is done feeding, she continues to move along the riparian creek, her gait similar to a giraffe and a hippopotamus with the mass of an elephant. But her bones are hollow and filled with air sacs similar to that of birds to help support the weight of this large animal and being big means that she is warm-blooded. Like other sauropods, Brachiosaurus was probably homeothermic maintaining a stable internal temperature and endothermic controlling her body temperature through internal means at least while growing, meaning that it could actively control its body temperature , producing the necessary heat through a high basal metabolic rate of its cells. The nostrils end at the edge of her snout instead of way up high in her chest and inside a large nasal arch has been postulated as an adaptation for cooling the brain, as a surface for evaporative cooling of the blood.
Then she hears something in the distance and goes to investigate. In a clearing, a young adolescent female brachiosaurus is injured with many bite marks over her body and bleeding she is pursued by a predator. A Theropod called Saurophaganax, the top predator of the Morrison and the largest carnivore. Although rare, its name "lord of lizard-eaters" preys on large herbivores like sauropods.
The young brachiosaur groans in pain as the Saurophaganax was about to deliver the killing blow, then the adult Brachiosaurus arrives. The theropod hisses at the large sauropod and the Brachiosaurus bellows back and temporarily rears up to make herself bigger. She slams her front limbs on the large Theropod plummeting it to the ground as it hissed in pain. After the Brachiosaurus gets off the theropod having enough it runs off.
Seeing the Saurophaganax more of a nuisance, she goes off on her way. The adolescent Brachiosaur, injured and needing the companion of others, follows the Solitary adult female from a distance hoping she will be protected by her.
The Solitary Brachiosaurus realizes that she is being followed by the adolescent she groans and hisses at her and tries to swing her tail at the juvenile to keep her away. The adolescent avoids her tail and keeps her distance and she is quite persistent not taking no for an answer. The Solitary realizes that this adolescent is gonna follow her wherever she goes and won't drive her off so easily.
They arrived at a lake as they entered the water. The Solitary female can drink and cool off in the water as the adolescent female, the water could heal her wounds. Growing along the shores are Horsetails, a "living fossil", which for over 100 million years was much more diverse and dominated the understorey of forests. Among the horsetails are lizard-like reptiles called Eilonodon and Opisthias, they are Rhynchocephaliaswhich includes themodern day Tuatara of New zealand. They feed on horsetails which were nutritious and common in the Morrison Formation, but also high in silica, necessitating sharp and fracture-resistant teeth to process the plants. Basking on the rocks is Diablophis, a stem-snake which has legs. In modern times, snakes would lose their legs completely switching to a slithering locomotion. Flocks of small pterosaurs called Kepodactylus waded in the shallows to catch fish.
Another inhabitat is a Hallopus, a Crocodylomorph. It was a quite small animal, reaching a length of 1 m (3.3 ft) with long and slender limbs. With its light build and extremely elongated limbs, Hallopus was most likely a fast-running agile animal. Unlike most crocodylomorphs and crocodilians who are mostly carnivorous, this one feeds on some horsetails instead. The teeth were unserrated and mediolaterally flattened, not matching a carnivorous diet and instead being better suited for consuming insects and plant material than that of an omnivore. But another crocodylomorph is a hunter, Fruitachampsa, a relatively long-limbed terrestrial quadrupedal predator less than 1 meter (3.3 ft) long, with a short face and a prominent pair of canine-like teeth in the lower jaw. This crocodylmorph pursues small animals and insects it sees its prey and runs after its quarry and catches a small mammal, Tinodon bellus with its jaws and swallows it. Soon the Brachiosaurs, start to leave the water. As they walk up on shore they pass a sleeping Ceratosaurus sleeping under the shade of a conifer. As the sunsets over the Morrison and day becomes night.
The adolescent brachiosaur sleeps a distance away from the Solitary adult female as they sleep the adult female dreams of something in her past.
. . . . .
She imagines herself hatching out of her egg which was buried under plants and soil joining her siblings and hundreds of others and heading straight for the forest for safety. Over time as she grew up, she witnessed many of her kin killed or died either by predators and hazards like fire. But the tragic part is that she has never found a herd of her own and that's why she leads a solitary existence.
. . . . .
The Next morning, the Brachiosaur duo begin to feed off the conifers and ginkgoes. They later joined by other sauropods that share the landscape herds of Haplocanthosaurus, Apatosaurus, Brontosaurus, Barosaurus, Diplodocus, and Camarasaurus have gathered to feed on the ginkgos, conifers, tree ferns, and large cycads. As Brachiosaurus shared its habitat with many other sauropod species, its specialization for feeding at greater heights would have been part of a system of niche partitioning with the various taxa thus avoiding direct competition with each other. Tall conifers were relatively rare in the Morrison which might explain why Brachiosaurus was much less common in its ecosystem.
Haplocanthosaurus was one of the smallest sauropods, the others include Apatosaurus, Brontosaurus, Barosaurus, and Diplodocus, feeding close to the ground feeding on ferns and low-lying branches of trees. The taller Camarasaurus fed on a much higher level feeding on the ginkgoes and tree ferns, but the Brachiosaurus towers over them all. Feeding below them on the cycads is the iconic Stegosaurus known for its plates on its back and spike thagomizer tail along with the small ankylosaur, Gargoyleosaurus, he is joined by the ornithopods like Dryosaurus and Camptosaurus and the small agile Nanosaurus feeding on low growing plants and scrapes of the plants left by the large herbivores. Such gathering of large herbivores of different species offers protection and more eyes to spot predators. On a tall tree, an ornitholestes feasts on a Kepodactylus skewered on a branch that he had caught earlier, underneath a juvenile Camptosaurus passes by one of the land predators and the most famous or infamous of the Morrison, Allosaurus. This time, this individual has already had its fill and is not interested.
In the forest floor, Small carnivores like Tanycolagreus, Coelurus, Hesperornithoides, and Stokesosaurus, searching for small dinosaurs like Nanosaurus, young dryosaurus, and sauropods.
A creche of seven young Brachiosaurs younger than the adolescent found the herd of herbivores and found the Brachiosaurus duo seeing them as a source of protection. Soon the duo moves on followed by the creche of brachiosaurus.
Soon the small herd of Brachiosaurs have arrived at the lake to drink and soon a five young adult Brachiosaurs without a leader see them. The Female Brachiosaurus seeing how this is going decides to let them join them. As they bend their necks and suction pump the water from the lake. A Ceratosaurus is wallows in the water while a pair of Stegosaurus drink on the lake's edge.
Over the next few days, the Female Brachiosaurus has gained some followers with the adolescents, the five young adults, and a creche of youngsters who travel with her for protection. Then they see a scene of mourning, a small herd numbering about eleven adults, four adolescents, and three youngsters. Their elderly leader has passed away due to health conditions like cancer and old age and they are mourning her without a leader they don't know what to do. Some of the predators including a gang of five allosaurus, a ceratosaurus, a pair of Marshosaurus, a Saurophaganax, four Ornitholestes, and several Tanycolagreus, Coelurus, Hesperornithoides, and Stokesosaurus are waiting to feast on the dead carcass.
Then the herd of Brachiosaurs see the Female Brachiosaurus and her small group, seeing she is the eldest member, they decided to follow her as their leader. Soon they have become a large herd, a family that the female Brachiosaur has always wanted. As they follow her, they leave the dead body as the predators advance and feast on the large carcass which would last the scavengers for months.
A couple of months have passed, and the mating season has arrived, male Brachiosaurus become more colorful around their backs, necks, and head, and inflate their throat gular sacs to attract females. It's a polygamous lek system with Males mating with multiple females, but sometimes there are fights among the herd. Two older male Brachiosaurus circle each other and size each other, showing their gular throat sacs, and rearing up occasionally. Eventually, they engaged with necking as the males slammed each other with their necks and sometimes rearing up and slashing their thumb claws on their front limbs for a short period of time. Soon the victor triumphs over the loser and approaches the adult female brachiosaurus as his mate. Soon she will lay her clutch of eggs in the forest and they will be on their own.
Soon the dry season has arrived, most of the vegetation and water sources dried up, most of the herbivores have migrated to other places, and some of the carnivores benefit by feeding on the weak and the dead. For the Brachiosaurs most of their natural food like the tall conifers have dried up or out of reach even for the Brachiosaurus when it rears up so they are forced to feed on what's growing on the ground. Their shoulders and bases of their tails have become fat storage reserves from the times of plenty to live off. They know if they don't find water and food soon they will starve or die of the intense heat and exposure of sunlight.
As dusk arrives, the Female Brachiosaurus remembers something, a place that saved her during a time like this. She gets up from the ground and bellows for the herd to move. She knows it's better to travel at night than during the day. Soon the herd is on the move following their new leader in the dark moonlight night, they use the stars as a compass to guide their way.
For the next few days, they stop around any waterhole they could find and hills that cast a shade shadow for them during the day and they travel at night. Until one day, as dawn breaks over the Morrison, the herd arrives at a forest of vegetation and tall conifers, the reason for this place being more green is that it's part of an ever-flowing river. The herd moves in at long last, having food and water as they browsed from the conifer trees and drank from the river. Eventually when the wet season arrives, they will travel back north and in the meantime they are living in paradise, the Female Brachiosaurus stands and watches her herd with pride and dignity who has finally found a herd of her own and a family as she is no longer a Lone Giant.
Trivia/References:
-With brachiosaurus fossils being rare, is the main plot of the story and some of it is based on fossil evidence in the environment.
-This is also based on how Bron became the leader of the Longnecks from Land Before Time.
-A camptosaurus walking by an Allosaurus is based on the artwork from "All Yesterdays."
-The Brachiosaurus and sauropod social structure is based on elephants and giraffes along with how sauropods fight.
-The fat reserves are based on animals like crocodiles and some birds.
-When the Adult Female Brachiosaurus unintentionally saves the adolescent from a Saurophaganax is based on a scene from "Walking with Dinosaurs the Arena Spectacular," Live show which I saw twice.
-The Ornitholestes skewering the pterosaur is a speculative behavior based on shrikes and artworks by WDGHK on DeviantArt.
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The Next Story is "Night in the Time of Chasmosaurs," in which a young male Chasmosaurs learns of the night life when he joins several others of his kind around the waterhole.
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