Brachytrachelopan

dinosaur · sauropod · short-necked · Argentina

The weird short-neck. Brachytrachelopan was a sauropod dinosaur, but instead of having the long, stretching neck that all its cousins had, this one had a short, thick neck. Its name actually means 'short-necked Pan,' named after Pan, the ancient god of shepherds.

Lived long ago. Brachytrachelopan roamed Argentina during the Late Jurassic period, when dinosaurs ruled the Earth. It walked on four massive legs like other sauropods, even though we only know about it from a few bones.

Found by a shepherd. A local shepherd named Daniel Mesa discovered the only skeleton we know about while he was searching for his lost sheep in the hills of Argentina. Scientists named the dinosaur to honor his discovery.

Incomplete but special. The fossil was found with its bones still in place next to each other, which helped scientists understand how it was put together. Unfortunately, erosion had destroyed most of the skeleton, so scientists only recovered its backbone, ribs, and a few leg bones.

Ancient river deposit. The bones were found in sandstone that came from an ancient river that flowed through Argentina about 160 million years ago. This tells us that Brachytrachelopan probably lived near water in a landscape of rivers and floodplains.