Measurement (length): Titanosaur
Challenge level ⭐
(designed for children with prior knowledge of the Year 3 programme of study)
Learning Objective
We are learning how to solve a natural world problem by using and applying our skills and knowledge of measurement and length (m and cm).
Useful prior knowledge:
- To measure lengths in m and cm
- To compare length using scaling linked to multiplication
Credit: BBC One - Attenborough and the Giant Dinosaur
Clip Description
The sauropods were the largest of all the dinosaurs and the largest land animals that ever lived. They had enormous pillar-like legs, a small head on an extremely long neck and a very long tail. The first sauropods evolved around 200 million years ago during the Jurassic period and survived until the extinction of the dinosaurs (around 66 million years ago).
In this fascinating clip, we are shown some fossilised thigh bones (or femurs) that belonged to different types of sauropod.The largest femur bone belongs to a a titanosaur – the biggest type of sauropod that scientists have discovered so far. This long-necked, plant-eating dinosaur lived over 100 million years ago in what is now Patagonia, Argentina. Where is your femur bone? Watch the clip to find out.
Quick Whiteboard Challenge
Despite the enormous size of a titanosaur, its brain was only the size of a tennis ball!
Around how many times bigger do you think a human brain is than a titanosaur’s brain? How do you know?