this is a leg off of Argentinosaurusof them and its already the size of a two story house
like LOOK at the size of these fuckers
the fact that any land animal ever got to be as large as this is insane. this shit is only beat by fucking whales, creatures that dont have to support their weight on legs
Actually they were a lot lighter than you'd think for their size, they were FULL of air sacs specifically to make them lighter. They moved by having really, really straight legs so the weight was transferred straight down into the ground, and they walked on cushioned pads just like an elephant. Their lungs were sort of constantly cycling air around because otherwise it wouldn't be much good, and the whole point of having a really really long neck was specifically that they didn't need to move much!!!!
Like, they're incredibly unspecialised herbivores who just ate everything and let the gut handle it (hence why they had to get so big, just because they had to fit A LOT of gut in there) like their mouths were basically just Rakes.
This thing was built to sweep its head from high to low to near to far and rake in everything it could eat. By evolving a long neck it basically meant it was giving itself a huge range of motion to eat with but also being VERY energy-efficient because moving your legs takes a LOT more energy than just. Tilting your neck up and down, especially at that size. So this thing was basically built to be incredibly, INCREDIBLY energy efficient, light and weight-spreading for its size.
Blue whales sort of practice a similar feeding style, where because they're so Big and need so Much food, they just sort of went "ok im just going to take in AS MUCH food as possible as efficiently as possible" and the thing is. Using baleen takes 0 effort really other than opening and closing your mouth. Which is why whales can grow to be really big. See in the ocean weight matters less, so you can afford to just have a big mouth, but land animals have to do it differently.
Being Big isn't just a case of having lots of food available. It's about being as Efficiently able to eat it as possible. Hell, i mean elephants basically evolved the same thing, except they've just given themselves really long noses rather than necks. It means the elephant can stay in one spot while still reaching huge amounts.
Idk if you actually wanted answers, but, well, here they are.
Back in the Jurassic LORE FACTS #4 - Where on Earth??
Contrary to much of the public's belief, pangea actually started breaking up at the VERY start of the triassic and only got more broken up as the mesozoic went on.
So if not pangea, where did these terrestrial archosaurs reside?
Continents & Countries
That depends on what time you're in, of course!
If you lived in the Pliensbachian age like Saura (190.8-182.7 million years ago), you lived in either Laurasia (North America/Europe/North & East Asia) or Gondwana (Africa/South America/India/Arabia/Australia/Zealandia/Antarctica)
These two continents were also home to the only two countries in that age: The Democratic Republic of Laurasia and The Gondwanian Republic (though most refer to them simply by their continent's name). Laurasia was ran by a democratic oligarchy while Gondwana was ran by a constitutional monarchy.
If you lived in the Maastrichtian age like Russell (72.1-66 mya), the continents moreso resembled how they do today, just closer together and with a lot more shallow seas. North America was split into two land masses: Laramidia in the west and Appalacia in the east.
By the Maastrichtian, the Democratic Republic of Laurasia and the Gonwanian Republic had long since broken up into many smaller countries (albeit with some major power balance issues between them).
Villages, Hamlets, Towns, & Cities
In Back in the Jurassic, every character's hometown (at least for their species) is named after the formation they were found in. For instance, Saura is from Kota, Gondwana because barapasaurus fossils came from the Kota Formation.
Russell is a unique case in comparison (then again when is he not?). Russell's ancestors are all from the desert city of Flaming Cliffs (located where the Mongolial Gobi Desert is today). However, Russell himself was born a third generation immigrant and raised in the outskirts of Hell Creek (where Montana is today).
As for the locations and cultures before the Pliensbachian and between the two eras I described? Perhaps those will be revealed another day!
Back in the Jurassic LORE FACT #2 - Oh, the Taxonomy!
In the Back in the Jurassic world, dinosaurs came up with their own genus and species names long before mammals dominated the world!
But how did they come up with these names? And why do most of them end with "-saurus" when they're not lizards??
It all started long ago in the triassic. Dinosaurian knowledge was only just beginning to blossom and the relatively primitive dinosaurs of the time thought they came from a pantheon of lizard-like dragon gods. The king of the pantheon was named "Sauria," and so much like humans naming planets after Greek deities, the archosaurs started including these ancient mythological deities in their scientific names even long after the religion became simply mythology.
Beyond that, the genus and species got their names from their appearance, location, culture, notable (early) members of the species, or accomplishments of said members.
Some examples include...
Barapasaurus tagorei was named from the sauropods' stunning long legs and a famous early barapasaurus poet named Tagore (IRL, the species was named after Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore)
Velociraptor mongoliensis got its name from the most famous early velociraptors being passionate olympic runners and their early ancestors being dromaosaurian desert nomads that simply called themselves "the mongols" long before humans who occupied the same area would also call themselves that (IRL, their name literally means "swift thief from Mongolia" after their thin build, carnivorous diet, and country of origin)
Tyrannosaurus rex was named after "King Rex," a wrestler (with a very redundant name) that rose in popularity very fast from his unprecedented level of raw strength and the use of royal themes for his brand (IRL, the "tyrant lizard king" simply got its name from its large size and assumed dominance of the cretaceous food chain)
And so on. However, much like IRL modern taxonomy, there is debate in what actually counts as a different species or even genus in the mesozoic world. Groups that wish to be their own independent genus are sometimes only granted a different species name while other groups that are used to sticking together are informed that they are now suddenly considered two different species.
An example of the former would be Dyno's species rhodiensis. They were originally considered a species of Coelophysis, making them Coelophysis rhodesiensis. However, Coelophysis as a genus doesn't exactly have the sophisticated reputation that the species wants. So they insist that they're actually their own species and genus: Megapnosaurus rhodesiensis.
Whether their claim is valid or not has been debated ever since.
Back in the Jurassic LORE FACT #1 - Another Time, Another Place
Back in the Jurassic takes place in a world much different from the real world. However, the specific science facts we explain in our comics are true for both!
Some of the major differences in the BITJ canon include
Archosaurs happened to evolve very advanced syrinxes (avian vocal organs) and intelligence at the start of the triassic
Major reptiles that lived in the mesozoic era (including mosasaurs, ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, etc) developed their own intelligence and vocal organs as well in a case of convergent evolution
Animals were very brightly colored back in the mesozoic and happened to follow a color scheme depending on their time period
Modern avian descendants of the mesozoic dinosurs have actually retained their intelligence and have a secret society in the mammal dominant era. Human conspiracy theorists have caught onto what they're hiding, but the general public remains unaware
Modern human paleontologists are puzzled by ancient relics of what appears to be a mesozoic civilization
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