Apatosaurus

Part of Hall of Saurischian Dinosaurs.

Visitor views the full-length fossil skeleton of the Apatosaurus. Apatosaurus mount in the Hall of Saurischian Dinosaurs.
C. Chesek/© AMNH

The Museum's Apatosaurus, collected in the late 1890s, was the first sauropod dinosaur ever mounted. Museum preparators labored over the specimen for years before it went on view in 1905. It has been a focal point of the collection ever since.

For years, this Apatosaurus had the wrong skull. To this day, only one Apatosaurus has ever been found with its skull attached, but a cast of a skull found lying close to an Apatosaurus skeleton now sits on top of this gigantic fossil's neck.