Camarasaurus supremus, (Marsh, 1877b)
The paleontologists who excavated the Camarasaurus released the large bones from the rock themselves. They carved out the smaller bones with surrounding rock and all. They were packed in 116 boxes and released here. The whole thing filled a container of 6 meters in length that was shipped to the Netherlands. 4 preparers (2 from Naturalis and 2 external) worked for 2 years on the preparation and setting up. The fossil is now 10 meters high and 18 meters long. It weighs approx. 3,000 kilos. (Thigh 1.60 m; 265 kg). When he was alive, it weighed about 20,000 pounds. Camarasaurus lived and died in an area of rivers, lakes and swamps. It is fossilized in calcareous rock. He ate bark and needles, but also ferns. But it could not chew or grind up his food. it just had some kind of incisors (watch it). Still, plant foods must be finely ground. Because otherwise it will come out almost undigested. How then did it grind his food? Well, in some more or less intact fossils, stones have been found where the stomach must have been (gastroliths). So we think they swallowed stones. When the stomach started to knead, the food was ground between those stones. That is not surprising, because some animals of the present do the same, do you know them? Now, e.g. pigeons and chickens. The seeds they eat are soaked in the crop. In the gizzard, they are crunched between the gastroliths. In the glandular stomach, further digestion takes place by digestive juices.
Palaeontologists used to think the gastroliths helped to break down plant matter, but new studies suggest they may have provided nutrients, like calcium, from various minerals.
What do we see? Three bones and a joint socket. The joint socket is open on the inside. The pubis protrudes downwards and to the front(hence the name: lizard hip), the ischium downwards and to the back. The legs are positioned directly under their bodies. Crocodiles and lizards have legs that sprawl out to the side. Try to walk like a crocodile; only width the arms will do. Then try to walk like a dinosaur. Wich way is the easiest?
