DinoGuide: Apatosaurus louisae

Carnegie Museum of Natural History's specimen is the most complete skeleton of Apatosaurus that has been collected to date.

The skull of Apatosaurus is very similar to that of its close relative Diplodocus. Carnegie Museum's skull was the first found for this animal. The name louisae comes from Andrew Carnegie's wife, Louise, in whose honor this dinosaur was named.

Carnegie Museum paleontologist Earl Douglass and his crew discovered this Apatosaurus skeleton on August 17, 1909. It was the first skeleton found at the Carnegie Quarry in one of the world's greatest accumulations of dinosaur bones—now known as Dinosaur National Monument.

A young Apatosaurus, which appears with the adult Apatosaurus louisae in a life-or-death struggle against an attacking Allosaurus, is the most complete skeleton of its kind ever found and the only one in the world on display.

CARNEGIE SPECIMEN NUMBER:
Adult skeleton: CM 11162
Adult skull: CM 3018

SCIENTIFIC NAME MEANING:
"Louise's deceptive reptile"

CLASSIFICATION:
Dinosauria : Saurischia : Sauropoda : Diplodocidae

LENGTH:
Up to 77 feet (23.4 meters)

GEOLOGICAL FORMATION & LOCALITY:
Morrison Formation; Dinosaur National Monument, Uintah County, Utah

COLLECTOR:
Earl Douglass and field crew, 1909

TIME PERIOD:
Late Jurassic, 145–150 million years ago

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