Brontosaurus Stomps Back to Claim Its Status as Real Dinosaur
Like Pluto losing its standing as a planet, Brontosaurus became a non-species. Now scientists say that may have been the wrong call.
If you grew up loving Brontosaurus only to be told it wasn't a real dinosaur, it's time to rejoice: the gentle giant may have received a new lease on life.
The giant sauropod, long thought to be an Apatosaurus that someone got wrong, was actually its own type of dinosaur all along, scientists say Tuesday in PeerJ.
In fact, Apatosaurus and Brontosaurus were different enough to be separate genera, rather than related species of the same genus.
The finding comes from a study on the evolution of diplodocids, the family to which these dinosaurs belonged. These giant herbivores lived in North America, Europe, and parts of Africa during the late Jurassic period, between 160 million and 145 million years ago.
“They’re a very
