“The Most Common Sauropod of the Jurassic West”
Binomial Camarasaurus supremus · kam-uh-ruh-SORE-us
Late Jurassic - 155-145 Ma
IllustrationCamarasaurus fossil records in Fossil Atlas are mapped as selected modern discovery locations, with 137 source-backed records currently shown. Western North America, with many selected Morrison Formation records in the current dataset. Key mapped formations in the current dataset include Morrison Formation, Morrison Fm, Morrison. These pins are fossil record locations, not a complete ancient habitat map.
Camarasaurus was a broad-bodied sauropod from the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation. It is unusually well represented for a sauropod, including skull and skeletal material. Fossil Atlas uses it to deepen the Morrison Formation card and map loop.
Drawn true to scale on a metre ruler.
Length
measured18 m · 59 ft
Largest known specimens
Height
measured5 m (16 ft)
Body mass
estimate20,000 kg · 44,000 lb
Typical adult
Top speed
estimate11 km/h · 7 mph
Modelled, debated
Camarasaurus was the most abundant large dinosaur in the Morrison Formation and correspondingly the best-understood Morrison sauropod. Its broad, spoon-shaped teeth and short, deep skull suggest a feeding style different from the peg-toothed diplodocids, probably better suited to tougher or broader-leaved vegetation. It likely occupied a mid-level browsing niche between the very high browsing of Brachiosaurus and the low feeding of diplodocids.
The skull
Short and deep compared with other sauropods, with large nasal openings and robust, spoon-shaped teeth extending around much of both jaws. Better at processing tougher plant material than the thin peg teeth of Diplodocus.
The vertebrae
Camarasaurus means chambered lizard, referring to the hollow spaces in the vertebrae that reduced weight while maintaining structural strength.
Abundance
More Camarasaurus specimens are known from the Morrison than any other sauropod, including partial skulls, which are rare in most large sauropods.
Growth
Juvenile skeletons are known, allowing researchers to study how the animal grew and how its proportions changed from hatching to full adult size.
Position of this animal’s known range across 252 million years of the Mesozoic and beyond.
155-145 million years ago
Camarasaurus is one of the more common sauropods in Morrison Formation fossil records.
Its name refers to chambered spaces in its vertebrae.
Its skull is better known than the skulls of many giant sauropods.
Oramel W. Lucas collected the first material in Colorado in 1877 and Edward Drinker Cope named the genus the same year. The Bone Wars period produced large quantities of Camarasaurus material from multiple quarries across Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. The Carnegie Museum's Quarry 11 in Dinosaur National Monument produced particularly well-preserved specimens, including a nearly complete juvenile skeleton that remains one of the most detailed sauropod growth records available.
Animals known from the same deposits and time as Camarasaurus.
Other members of Camarasauridae.
Brachiosaurus
A macronarian relative with much longer forelimbs and a high-shouldered profile.
Haplocanthosaurus
A primitive Morrison sauropod that helps trace the early history of the group in North America.
Europasaurus
A dwarf island sauropod from Germany, showing how the macronarian group adapted to very different environments.
Pins show selected fossil records for Camarasaurus; use them as modern discovery evidence, not a complete range map. Modern fossil discovery map: pins show where selected fossil and specimen records were found today, not ancient Earth positions. What does this mean?
Specimen evidence
These are sourced specimen assets, separate from reconstruction artwork. Only media with clear open or reusable rights is displayed by default.
USNM V 5730_18
Michael Brett-Surman
Camarasaurus is represented here by selected fossil records from western north america, with many selected morrison formation records in the current dataset. Fossil Atlas maps those records as modern discovery locations.
No. The map shows modern fossil discovery locations from selected records. Ancient habitat and paleogeographic reconstructions are separate questions.
The current Fossil Atlas records include Morrison Formation. Formation coverage depends on the selected dataset and may not be complete.
Yes. Use the expedition card generator to turn the Camarasaurus map and specimen profile into a shareable card.
Selected fossil records from PBDB and museum biodiversity aggregators. This is not a complete fossil count by country; source labels and confidence notes help distinguish canonical paleobiology records from specimen-media records.
Reconstruction images are labeled illustrations and do not represent fossil evidence. Size, speed, and bite-force figures are typical published estimates and remain subject to revision as new specimens are described.
Maps use curated PBDB, museum, and specimen-source records with visible caveats.
Pins show where fossils were found or reported today, not exact ancient habitat positions.
Artwork is labeled separately from specimen photos, maps, and source records.
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