Brontosaurus Facts for Kids
BRON-toh-SORE-us · its name means “thunder lizard”
A giant with a very long neck and an even longer tail.
Brontosaurus was a giant plant-eater. It had a long, long neck and a long tail. It walked on four big legs.
Brontosaurus used its long neck to reach plants without walking very far. Its tail was long and thin at the end. It is a cousin of Apatosaurus, and for many years scientists thought they were the same animal.
Brontosaurus and Apatosaurus are sauropods, the biggest animals ever to walk on land. For about a century scientists said Brontosaurus was just another name for Apatosaurus. In recent years a team compared many skeletons and argued they were different enough to be separate kinds, so the name came back. Its numbers here are its close cousin Apatosaurus's.
Every dinosaur number is scientists’ best guess from bones, so each one says where it came from.
How big was Brontosaurus?
Brontosaurus in numbers
| Length (nose to tail) | 69 ft21 m1up to; from its close cousin Apatosaurus |
|---|---|
| Height at the hips | no checked number yet |
| Weight | 30 tons27 tonnes1more than; from its close cousin Apatosaurus; scientists' estimate |
| When it lived | 150 million years ago150 million years ago2about; the Late Jurassic |
| What it ate | leaves from trees and low plants |
| Fossils found in | western North America, including Wyoming, Utah and Colorado |
| What kind | a sauropod: a giant long-necked plant-eater |
Wow!
- Its name means thunder lizard.
- For many years scientists thought it was the same animal as Apatosaurus.
- Its neck let it eat without walking far.
🦴 Brontosaurus’s bones
Books about Brontosaurus, free at the library
Ask a grown-up to tap the button: it shows where to borrow a book about Brontosaurus for free.
Where was the land back then?
The continents were in different places when Brontosaurus lived, 150 million years ago. Open Planet Earth, pick Drifting continents, and slide back in time to see where the land was.
🦖 Ride a Bronto in Dino DashThe game’s rare Golden Bronto is a made-up version of this animal.
Its neighbours in time
Where these numbers come from
- National Park Service, Dinosaur National Monument: Apatosaurus, checked 30 October 2026.
- National Park Service, Dinosaur National Monument: dinosaurs, checked 30 October 2026.
- Wikidata, Brontosaurus (Q3222766), checked 30 October 2026.
To read more: the Natural History Museum’s Dino Directory (see also, not copied).