We like long things. Long lasting pleasure, long relationships, long life, and similar things. Frankly, scientists are trying hard to find the secret of living a long life as an individual. During their research, they didn’t get it but some archeologists got the fossils of a long neck dinosaur.
Interestingly, this kind of neck didn’t evolve at once. Also, that dinosaur is not the biggest dinosaur in the world.
So, who holds the award of being the longest neck dinosaur? Read the whole article to know about it. You might be interested in the longest named dinosaur.
The Longest Neck Dinosaur – (Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum):
Saropouds were saurischian dinosaurs that are known for their extensive size and long necks. Almost every individual has a long neck and body but when the scientists discovered the fossils of Mamenchisaurus Sinocanadorum they were shocked.
This jaw-dropping dinosaur is the longest-necked dinosaur ever found. It is a Late Jurassic Chinese Saropoud that was discovered by the China–Canada Dinosaur Project team. The team was led by Dr Andrew J. Moore and Prof. Paul Barret.
These sauropods mostly lived in East Asia. The fossils were 162 million years old. The species lived 151 to 162 million years ago.
The giraffe is the longest-necked animal that is currently living but the Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum’s neck was 6 times longer than Giraffe’s.
According to the fossils that were found in China in 1987 discovery, the dinosaur’s neck was 15 meters long which is 50 feet.
Their long necks helped them a lot in searching for food. The neck contains a lot of bones but still, they were not able to curl their neck like a snake. Their long necks helped them a lot in various functions.
Characteristics:
The longest neck dinosaur had a neck that made up half the total body length. The first ever discovery was made in 1952 however the most details fossils were found in 1987. Two or more than two species were discovered before the 1987. This fossil belonged to Mamenchisaurus Sinocanadorum.
Dale Russell and Zhong Zheng named this species of Mamenchisaurus as a Sinocanadorum in 1993. Among the fossils, the most preserved material was the left cervical rib.
The fossils of this species show that this dinosaur was mature. After the discovery of these fossils and a brief study, scientists were shocked about the length of its neck, and they claimed that Mamenchisaurus Sinocanadorum was the longest neck dinosaur.
All species of this dinosaur were big in size but individuals have different lengths and sizes. Also, they were different in the structure of the skull and skeleton. These dinosaurs had large bodies but small heads.
Their shoulders were higher than their hips most species of Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum were up to 36 meters in total length.
The fact is that the exact length of its neck is still unknown. Still, it is the longest neck dinosaur. It is possible that it has a neck longer than 50 feet.
Benefits of Long Neck in Sauropds
They have many benefits of long neck. First of all, they were herbivores so it became very easy for them to search for food in long trees using their long neck. Also, their bodies were huge and it became difficult to move with such large bodies so their neck helped them to find food without moving the whole body.
Large necks are also good for mate attraction for sauropods. The long neck helps them increase their browsing range and conserve energy to get tons of food.
Their long necks also enable them to shed more body heat by increasing the area.
The structure of the Longest Neck Dinosaur is located in Xinjiang province in China.
