Brontosaurus

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Brontosaurus
A herd of Brontosaurus in King Kong (2005)
Alternate names Apatosaurus
Species Brontosaurus baxteri
Length 80-120 feet[1]
Allies Other Brontosaurus
Enemies HumansKK33, Venatosaurus
Created by None
Played by Stop-motionKK33, CGIKK05
First appearance Latest appearance
King Kong (1933) King Kong (2005)
Design(s) None

Brontosaurus is a famous genus of extinct large herbivorous dinosaurs that lived during the late Jurassic period. A Brontosaurus famously appeared in the 1933 film King Kong, while multiple Brontosaurus appeared in the 2005 remake of the same name.


History

King Kong (1933)

A Brontosaurus chasing after the Venture crew in King Kong (1933)

While the Venture crew pursued King Kong across Skull Island to rescue Ann Darrow, they came upon a large swamp. The men created a raft and attempted to cross the swamp, but the head of a Brontosaurus suddenly emerged from the water and destroyed the raft, grabbing several of the men in its mouth and tossing them away like ragdolls. Those who escaped swam to the shore and proceeded to run away into the woods, but the Brontosaurus climbed out of the water and followed them, charging through the forest and mounting a second attack. Jack Driscoll, Carl Denham and several other members of the crew scaled trees to escape, but those who were unable to follow them were quickly killed by the dinosaur. After roaring at the survivors, the Brontosaurus returned to the water and disappeared.

King Kong (2005)

A herd of Brontosaurus in King Kong (2005)

While searching for Ann Darrow, who had been kidnapped by King Kong, Carl Denham and his crew came upon a herd of Brontosaurus grazing. Denham attempted to film the dinosaurs, but the brontosaurs suddenly became agitated and began to stampede. The crew ran from the herd, with many of the men being trampled beneath the sauropods' massive feet. Denham and the others soon learned what the Brontosaurus were running from; a pack of Venatosaurus, small predatory dinosaurs descended from dromaeosaurs. The Venatosaurus pounced on their prey, causing the Brontosaurus to fall over, crushing the humans beneath them and causing rock slides, while some of the men were mauled by the Venatosaurus. Eventually, Denham and some of his crew managed to escape the stampeding herd and continued their trek through the island.

Filmography

Books

King Kong (1932)

While resting in a Skull Mountain Island lagoon, an aquatic Brontosaurus was disturbed by the crew of the Wanderer floating over the top of its submerged body in a makeshift raft. The Brontosaurus then lifted its head out of the water directly under the craft, breaking it to pieces in the process. The raging dinosaur chased after the fleeing sailors onto land, and ate a sailor who had climbed a tree in an attempt to escape it.

The World of Kong

After living on Skull Island for millions of years, the Brontosaurus population on Skull Island had evolved to give live birth, usually in litters of two to three. This was done to give calves, who could walk within hours of birth, the advantage of maneuverability to escape Skull Island's vicious predators. Herds were led by a single Bull Brontosaurus, who let off pheromones that prevented non-alpha Brontosauruses from reaching sexual maturity, so as to keep it as the father off all young. When females matured, they left to form new herds, leaving beta males, who seldom reached the size of a female behind, where they were effectively distractions for predators to keep the breeding stock safe. If predators did attack while grazing, Brontosauruses could send warnings to other members of the herd by stomping its feet on the ground, allowing the vibrations to sound the alarm.

Comics

King Kong: The 8th Wonder of the World

While a herd of Brontosaurus were traversing one of the ancient streets in the jungles of Skull Island, a group of humans drew close in order to film them. However, shortly after they began to shoot, a pack of Venatosaurus leaped off of ledges on the streets and attacked. This prompted the brontosaurus began to stampede, and to trample on the filmmakers. Out of fear, one of the humans shot at the front-most Brontosaurus, causing it to trip and fall. This lead to the rest of the herd tripping over its wounded body, resulting in a massive pile-up of the dinosaurs. The Venatosaurus snapped at some of the Brontosaurus as they walked over the dense pile to get to the smaller prey.

Video Game Appearances

Gallery

Screenshots

King Kong (1933)

Godzilla (1954)

King Kong (2005)

King Kong: The 8th Wonder of the World

The World of Kong

Post-Production

King Kong (1933)

Trivia

  • At the time the original King Kong was made, it was believed that sauropods like Brontosaurus were too large to be able to live on land and support their own body weight. For this reason, the Brontosaurus in the film is portrayed as an aquatic dinosaur, and is also portrayed as being violent and carnivorous. Scientists now know that Brontosaurus were fully terrestrial herbivorous dinosaurs.
  • The depiction of Brontosaurus in the original King Kong represent the animal at a time when it was sometimes considered to be in a distinct genus from the Apatosaurus, a related sauropod dinosaur. It was later decided that as a whole, Brontosaurus was just another species of Apatosaurus, and thus the genus fell out of usage in the first half of the 20th century. However, in the early 21st century, the genus was revived again and determined by another team of paleontologists to be separate from Apatosaurus.

Real World
Era Icon - RKO.png
Era Icon - Universal.png
Kaiju


  1. Weta Workshop. (November 22, 2005) The World of Kong: A Natural History of Skull Island, p. 44. Pocket Books.