Shedloads of Awesome, part 1: the Humboldt brachiosaur remount
November 27, 2008
We warned you that the Awesome was coming … now it’s here. The first installment of Awesome, anyway, and there’s plenty more to come.
Matt and I have just returned from a nine-day trip to Germany that was pretty much Heaven-on-Earth for us. The first three days were spent in Bonn, at the first open workshop of the DFG-funded Biology of the sauropod dinosaurs: the
evolution of gigantism project. Happily, Matt and I were each able to give two talks: his on the sauropod lung and the repeated evolution of very long necks, mine on limb-bone cartilage strength and habitual neck posture. (There is a lot more to say about this workshop, which was fascinating for all sorts of reasons, but I am going to press quickly onwards because you want to get to the pictures.)
After the workshop proper came a three-day field-trip, which took us first to the Dinopark at Münchehagen, where we saw the quite startling Europasaurus material, then to the Langenberg Quarry where Europasaurus is found, and finally to Berlin, home of the Humboldt Museum für Naturkunde and therefore also of Brachiosaurus brancai (at least, since it was dug up in Tanzania and sent there). Matt and I, and Mike D’Emic, stayed on for two further days after the field-trip’s visit to the Humboldt, to work on the Tendaguru sauropod material.
Soon we’ll show you some of the great stuff in the collections, but for now I want to concentrate on the public gallery. It’s three years since, at SVPCA 2005, I described this gallery’s brachiosaur mount as “the single finest object in the known universe”, and that was true even then. But now the glorious material has been remounted by RCI, under the supervision of Kristian Remes, in a more anatomically correct and far more dynamic pose, and it’s better still. (The photo at the top shows the remounted brachiosaur, with me for scale next to its elbow. I bet you didn’t even notice me there when you first looked at it.) Not only that, but Dicraeosaurus has also been remounted, along with the museum’s cast of the Carnegie Diplodocus (standing in for the Tendaguru diplodocines Tornieria and Australodocus), so that the three sauropods together make a stunning display of Tendaguru sauropod diversity. (There’s a picture of the whole exhibit at the end of this post). This is so awesome that I have had to revise my previous opinion that the public gallery of the OUMNH is my favourite in the whole world. It is now an honourable second.
The Humboldt staff were very good to us, and allowed us quite a bit of quality time alone with the mounts, in the mornings before the public arrived and in the evenings after they’d gone. Not only that, but they equipped us with a stepladder and a pair of arsegravies to stand it on, so it wouldn’t damage the exhibit’s floor covering — so we were able to get close to the material. Here, for example, is Matt, carefully checking the proximal caudals for [REDACTED], with Dicraeosaurus‘s head and neck in the background:
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Better still, I was able to get right up inside the brachiosaur’s torso, which I needed to do in order to measure its girth:
(There was no possible way to run a tape measure across the rib-cage without a second ladder, so I had to drop lines to the ground: Matt marked where they fell, then measured the distance between the marks. Brachiosaurus brancai is A LOT bigger than Diplodocus.)
When palaeontologists gather around a mounted skeleton, it’s traditional to pick holes in the mount: in extreme cases, you can find silly mistakes like the scapulae being mounted upside down (juvenile Mamenchisaurus casts at the FMNH), but there is always something to criticise. Well, almost always, it turns out. Matt and I stared at that brachiosaur mount pretty intensely for three days, and we came up with, basically, nothing. Kristian and RCI did a great job on it: it’s completely convincing not only as a piece of skeletal anatomy but also as an animal. It looks alive. (After a while I did manage to come up with one criticism: the most posterior cervical ribs are too long and thin. But that’s all I’ve got.)
Finally, here is that whole-exhibit photograph that I promised you. In case you need to be told, the brachiosaur is the big one, Diplodocus is to the right, and poor little Dicraeosaurus is half-hidden off to the left, behind the big fella.
(Sorry about the glass refections in this photo: it was taken from a room that has been fitted with unopenable windows, so I think this is unavoidable. Also sorry that the head is out of focus. To fit the whole exhibit in, I had to use a wide-angle lens, and it distorts the edges of the picture.)
In future Shedloads of Awesome posts, we’ll show you Dicraeosaurus in more detail, some of the Awesome down in the collections (including the brachiosaur skull, if we can find a way to fit something so off-topic into SV-POW!), and maybe, if you’re luckly, some of that Europasaurus material.
Sauropod Vertebra Picture of the Week 
November 27, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Well, my intestines weren’t blown out my ears, but that Brachiosaurus is awesomely awesome. I’s surprised how the dynamism of the pose brings out the size to me. I guess it is that it makes it more plausible as animal and thus to be judged by those standard rather than that of human buildings.
Oh, and it’s not just Dicraeosaurus that is “poor little”. Dipolodocus is just dwarfed. ‘Call _that_ a sauropod? _This_ is a sauropod!’
November 28, 2008 at 7:46 am
Does Remes consider it a positive that the neck was held so vertically? I honestly do not see a vertically loaded neck, given the attenuation of the centra and the highly spondylous nature of their interiors. The neural spines and long cervical ribs simply cannot seem to function in any useful way here save that the neck was horizontal. I think Paul’s swan-neck idea is a fallacy of his desire to make it elegant, outside of any mechanical knowledge, and it would seem the idea is so fantastic that many other people simply replicate it and argue “it’s possible” rather than “it’s probable”.
November 28, 2008 at 8:27 am
Yes, the Stevens & Parrish papers I’ve read argue convincingly for a more horizontally-oriented neutral neck position.
November 28, 2008 at 8:55 am
Jaime and Zach,
It is true that the near-vertical neck post of the Humboldt brachiosaur remount was influenced by commercial as well as scientific considerations — for example, I believe the management were keen for the mount to be in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s tallest.
However, having looked at that remount a lot from every angle, I don’t find the chosen pose particularly unrealistic. There is one joint (C12-C13) that is probably a little over-extended, but correcting that would still leave the neck very high. (Then again, let’s not forget that the neural arches are blown off ALL the B. brancai cervicals posterior to C8, so we’re flying blind really, with nothing but intuition to guide us.)
Also, I (and Matt and Darren) don’t find Stevens and Parrish’s argument quite such a slam-dunk as it’s often been portrayed. I won’t say more about this for the moment.
November 29, 2008 at 7:59 am
I can see flaws in the influence of the zyagophyseal contacts and the true ranges of motion available, but the mere nature of the postures advocated are usually in the upper ranges of dorsiflexion, anyway. The cervicals are elongated in Diplodocus, and despite this it’s not given a vertical neck.
The brachiosaur treatment started with snorkeling, and now it’s “posh” to illustrate it this way regardless of its habitat. Does that not sound strange? I’d find out posture first before trying to continuously support verticality (like G. S. Paul seems to do) regardless of the conflict. The best Remes could have done was put the neck into a giraffe-like 45 degree-ish angle, but as you say, that would not make for a “world record height”. Sheesh.
November 29, 2008 at 7:24 pm
I bet you guys took a lot more photos of this incredible animal. I’ve only seen a rather, in my opnion, bad cast of the berlin specimen. So, could you post some more photos or send some by e-mail so I can get some satisfaction until I get the oportunity to go to berlin myself? Also, I saw you guys taking some meausurements… Is there going to be some kind of report of your studies?
Thanks!
November 29, 2008 at 7:54 pm
I too find it hard to believe in the erect neck posture without seeing punishingly more-robust proximal cervicals. Actually, it’s hard to see how to hold up the the long necks at all, vertical or horizontal, without Dino’s pressurized ventral air bladders. The heavily camellate vertebra don’t seem organized to resist much longitudinal compression — although I haven’t seen inside the proximals. Has anybody?
With ventral bladders, the vertebrae would only need to act as a scaffolding to separate the bladders from the dorsal tendons, to provide a lever arm and dimensional stability. The weight, then, would be balanced as tension in the bladder walls and in the dorsal tendons.
November 29, 2008 at 8:56 pm
Oy veh. Don’t get me started on pressurised ventral air bladders.
November 29, 2008 at 10:47 pm
One last thing: The radius appears to span the distal humeral condyles in the mount. Is this a perspective issue and I’m just not seeing the proper articulations due to the angle from the second level here? The forelimb appears overly pronated for the sake of making the manus palmarly-posterior without working out the articulations. I am curious, because this seems the typical way all of the sauropods in the gallery have their forearms artioculated.
December 3, 2008 at 6:43 am
Mike: I may be cranky, but I’m no crackpot: a crucial credibility credential.
December 3, 2008 at 6:45 am
Mike: I may be cranky, but I’m no crackpot: a crucial credibility credential.
December 5, 2008 at 10:05 am
Wow! the skeleton is amazing! have you taken hips and shoulder height measures?
December 8, 2008 at 10:11 am
We did take those measurements, yes. Unfortunately, they are in Matt’s notebook, and so eight timezones away from me. (Nine right now, in fact, since I am currently in Denmark.) I don’t remember the numbers offhand, sorry.
December 20, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Awesome it is!
Could you send me casts of those please?
(kidding. my attic is full enough as it is. er, overfull.)
Seriously, there has to be scope for some up-market and accurate but not outrageously-priced skeletal models for sale. I reckon in this age of CT/laser scans and rapid prototyping it shouldn’t be unfeasible.
As well as wanting to get my own hands on such neat things, the availability of such kits would help prepare a whole new generation of skeletoliterate kids and students, and who knows? Young creative minds playing around with bones and articulations, relatively untrammelled by presuppositions, and inspired into deeper dino-musings by hands-on contact, might come up with some fertile novel hypotheses – to the benefit of all.
December 21, 2008 at 5:22 pm
[…] 21, 2008 In view of all the awesome that is the Humboldt Museum’s gigantic brachiosaur mount, it’s too easy to overlook another nearly-complete Tendaguru sauropod, mounted in the very […]
December 22, 2008 at 9:20 am
Hi, Graham. What you ask may just be slowly coming true. The Brachiosaurus brancai skull on exhibit in front of the complete mounted skeleton at the Humboldt is not a cast, but a printout of a 3d scan of the nearly-complete skull T1. Presumably there are no technological reasons why RCI, who did the work, could not print out many more copies, including scaled-down ones. The issues will be commercial — I am sure the Humboldt Museum would want to work out a royalties arrangement before such a production line could roll.
(Sadly, the skull is the only part that’s been scanned so far — none of the vertebrae.)
January 20, 2009 at 4:53 am
Not to rain on your parade, but there are several errors, both in the anatomy and in the posture (to find 4 or 5 of them attempt to put the feet of the mount into any known sauropod trackway…).
That said, I have to agree that it’s one of the better sauropod mounts done to date, and certainly the best brachiosaur. Making a mount that large look dynamic is quite a challenge!
January 20, 2009 at 4:54 am
P.S. the skull is not the only part scanned…although I don’t know of any vertebrae that have been. You’d definitely want to hold our for CT scans of those.
January 20, 2009 at 9:18 am
Well, Scott, it’s refreshing to be contradicted every now and then :-) I’m not sure what you’re getting at regarding the position of the feet — they are proportionally closer to the midline than in any other sauropod mount I’ve seen — care to elaborate?
It’s exciting to think that more of this specimen has been scanned thank just the skull — are you in a position to say more?
January 21, 2009 at 6:16 am
Sure, to make the case related to tradckways, being “proportionately closer to the midline” than other mounts is not the same as being close enough; the hind legs are still too far from the midline, in particular the retracted left leg, as the legs do not work in a perfect parasagital plane, but rather get closer to the midline during retraction.
Also, the manus is oriented with the palmar side facing too directly posterior (it looks to be a result of the ulnae and radii crossing too far distally), not in the 30-40 degrees off-axis position of sauropod trackways. (actually the feet should be a bit more “duck-footed” as well).
There are a few other niggles, but they would distract from the larger point that, while not utter perfection, it’s an altogether awesome mount. And on that account I am in whole-hearted agreement with your shedload series!
February 17, 2009 at 2:07 pm
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May 30, 2009 at 6:03 am
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September 9, 2009 at 6:10 pm
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September 16, 2009 at 3:31 am
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October 9, 2009 at 8:32 pm
Re-reading, I am puzzled by a couple of the comments above, which seem to imply that the more vertical the neck posture, the greater the loading and the more robust the vertebrae would need to be; and inferring from attenuated centra and highly-spondylous interiors of vertebrae that the neck was held more horizontally.
Surely, on the contrary, a vertical neck would require the least-robust bones and a horizontal neck the most-robust bones? since simple leverage would increasingly multiply the compressive loads the nearer to horizontal the neck was held; especially so for the vertebrae nearest the base of the neck?
October 10, 2009 at 8:55 am
Yes, Graham, it requires more effort to hold a neck horizontally than vertically — just as it’s harder to hold a weigh in your hand out straight in front of you than to hold it up in the air.
But don’t forget that whatever sauropods’ habitual posture was, they had to be able to move their necks between browsing posture (above horizontal) and drinking posture (ground level), so the necks were capable of sustaining a purely horizontal pose at least transitorily. So whatever support mechanisms we propose MUST be strong enough to handle that most demanding case.
October 11, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Mike, what puzzled me was not the possibilitiy of horizontal neck posture at times, but the direction in which several commenters were arguing, from the evidence of a lightly-built neck.
It may well be that sauropods were habitual drinkers.. though it might also be argued that they may have gotten all the water they needed from their diet. Drinking from bodies of open water would be, I imagine, among their riskier activities – as it is for present-day herbivores approaching water-holes – since predators are opportunists, capable of attacking or ambushing them there. Solitary drinkers would be at most risk; groups keeping a lookout (with heads high) while taking turns to drink would reduce but not eliminate hazards (I am thinking of submerged megacrocs).
Such danger if present would place a premium value on cautious drinking, group drinking, and ability to lower and raise the neck rapidly (and to swallow quantities fast while lowered).
However, I think almost certainly sauropods would lower their necks and heads at times for other reasons: to browse near-ground vegetation, adjust nest material and eggs, sniff (and regurgitate to?) their young, etc.
December 22, 2009 at 10:17 pm
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January 16, 2013 at 10:14 am
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September 15, 2013 at 12:28 am
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September 16, 2013 at 9:19 am
Thanks for this interesting blogpost about our dinosaur exhibition and a very special thanks for this huge compliment: ” This is so awesome that I have had to revise my previous opinion that the public gallery of the OUMNH is my favourite in the whole world. It is now an honourable second.” That makes us more than proud. We are curious about the next posts about your work behind the scenes. Give us a hint (maybe on twitter @mfnberlin) when it’s published!
Juliane
Museum für Naturkunde Berlin
September 16, 2013 at 9:39 am
Hi, Julianne, glad you enjoyed it! I hope you also saw the other two posts in the “Shedloads of Awesome” trilogy, on the Giraffatitan skull and Dicraeosaurus. Giraffatitan is a regular on our blog. (Just in case you didn’t know, Giraffatitan is, since 2009, the correct generic name for the species previously known as “Brachiosaurus” brancai.)
September 27, 2013 at 3:08 pm
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February 15, 2014 at 10:33 am
Just a side comment about the glass reflection: as glass reflection light is polarized, you should be able to almost completely remove it in your next photographs by a using a good polaroid filter. This will cost you a small fraction of the available light, but nothing that cannot be compensated by a greater time of exposure.
February 15, 2014 at 10:46 am
Thanks, I’ll put that on the Things To Look Into list.
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