New finds hint at larger size for Apatosaurus

We all know this guy, a child hood classic that immidiately comes into the mind when we thing "sauropod". It was huge, at around 21 meters(70 feet) and weighing in at thirty tones, it was immense.

But, a new find coming from Grand Junction, Colorado, hints at an even larger size for the species.

Though only a femur, it's gigantic. Standing taller then the average man at 6'7'', it dwarfs the previous record holder which stood 5'10''. It's almost a certainty that this thing belonged to an apatosaurus at some point, and it fits quite comfortorably into the size range of this animal. Why, you may be asking? 

• Even the biggest-known Apatosaurus wasn't a fully grown adult when it died . So it is widely believed that even larger Apatosaurus are probably out there, just waiting to be found.
• Kay's new femur is 12% longer than the femur of CM 3018 (which was previously the longest-known Apatosaurus femur). There is an incomplete Oklahoma Apatosaurus specimen (no intact femur), and each of its bones outsize the bones of CM 3018 by 11-30%. Kay's 12% longer femur fits comfortably in that range, putting it easily in the realm of Apatosaurus-size-possibility.

Analysis of quadrupedal animals is more difficult since the position of the center of mass of an animal determines the weight supported by either pair of legs. Such a determination in extinct animals is difficult since the internal systems of these animals is poorly understood or studied. We can use extant animals today as a guide.

For the sake of saving y'all from a headache, i won't go into that...but instead a more basic, yet just as accurate method.

the largest specimen had a femur 5'10'' tall, and that animal measured 20 meters TBL. Apatosaurs' weren't exceptionally heavy creatures either, this one weighing in at 28 tons.

so..

by extrapolating the overall size of other apatosaurs(and their femurs) Our new 6'7'' femur would belong to an animal 22 meters long, and weighing in at 35 tons.

But, that's not all. An oklahoman specimen, discovered sometime in 2012, is of even larger size . It's is known by the 5th dorsal vertabrate.

I haven't seen any numbers on it, but it is indeed massive.

So, there we have it. Apatosaurus just got that much bigger, showing once more of how little we actually have of this amazing prehistoric creature, and its relatives.