Mamenchisaurus

Mamenchisaurus is a large sauropod from Late Jurassic China. The most notable and famous feature of Mamenchisaurus is its enormous neck, consisting of nineteen vertebrae, this neck allowed the dinosaur to graze from the treetops or reach low growing food in a large radius. While it does resemble Diplodocus and Apatosaurus, Mamenchusaurus comes from a different family, one unique to China. During the Jurassic, China was separated from North America by the expanding Atlantic ocean and from Europe by mountains and deserts that would have restricted movements of land animals. Therefore China became home to many unique animals, however it is interesting to note similarities to other major terrestrial Jurassic formations such as the Morrison formation in the USA, the Tendaguru beds in Tanzania and the Lourinha formation of Portugal. All formations contain sauropods, stegosaurids and small swift two legged ornithopods. However many of the species in China appear to stem from more primitive families; the large carnivores Yangchuanasaurus and Sinraptor are part of the metriacanthosauridae, an older family of therapods that ruled the middle Jurassic, but, along with the megalosauridae were becoming more rare in most other areas of the world with the rise of Allosaurus. Other primitives include even more primitive carnivores such as Monolophosaurus and primitive ornithopods Agilisaurus and Yandusaurus Some families such as the mamenchisauridae- a family of sauropods with characteristically long necks compared to others, seem to have been unique to China and have not been found anywhere else. However alongside these primitive and unique families, other dinosaur families that would rise to dominate the Cretaceous were also evolving, such the tyrannosaurs and the ceratopsians. Jurassic China therefore is a fascinating mix of old, unique and new and rich with dinosaur life.

There are currently seven species of Mamenchisaurus found, the largest Mamenchisaurus Sinocanadorum, is from the Shishugou formation in Xinjiang to the northwest of China. Here it lived alongside the primitive ceratopsian Yinlong, the stegosaur Jiangjunosaurus, the tyrannosaur Guanlong and a variety of other small carnivores. The top predators in this area were Monolophosaurus and Sinraptor. Packs of Sinraptor would have been the main threat to adult Mamenchisaurus, while Monolophosaurus and Guanlong would have preyed on younger members. Elsewhere in China Mamenchisaurus would have encountered Yangchuanosaurus, the largest carnivore in China during the Jurassic.

Mamenchisaurus, with its long neck may appear at first to be very cumbersome to visitors in your park. However, they will be amazed at the sheer gracefulness of this giant dinosaur. Mamenchisaurus makes a great addition to any sauropod exhibit or an exhibit focused on animals from Jurassic China.

### Mamenchisaurus' History in Mesozoica

Mamenchisaurus' most significant appearence is a small cameo in Jurassic Park: The Lost World, but since has been left out of the spotlight most of the time. It was announced as a Kickstarter Backer choice on November 13, 2015. It is currently one of the largest dinosaurs in the game.