Diplodocus, << duh PLOD uh kuhs, >> was an extremely long, slender, plant-eating dinosaur that lived about 150 million years ago in what is now the Western United States. It belonged to a group of giant, plant-eating dinosaurs known as sauropods. The first Diplodocus bones were found in 1877 near Morrison, Colorado. The name Diplodocus means double beam and describes the beams of bone in the underside of the animal’s tail.
Diplodocus grew to about 90 feet (27 meters) long and weighed about 11 tons (10 metric tons). One species (kind) of Diplodocus may have reached 115 feet (35 meters) long. The neck was about 26 feet (8 meters) long and had 15 vertebrae. The skull was relatively small, only about 2 feet (61 centimeters) long, with slender peglike teeth in the front of the mouth. The tail had more than 80 vertebrae and stretched about 45 feet (14 meters), tapering to a whiplike end. The animal could have swung the tail to defend itself against predators (hunting animals). Diplodocus stood about 13 feet (4 meters) high from the ground to the hips. The front legs were much shorter than the hind legs. The dinosaur might have been able to stand on its hind legs, using its tail for support. Diplodocus ate large amounts of cycad, fern, and ginkgo leaves.
